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Currently,Hotel accommodation is becoming a serious business challenge in Nigeria recently due to many factors. Historically, lodging facilities have easily been able to get away with neglecting their properties and mistreating their customers because often they do not get repeat customers, since many people will only travel to a location once. These hotel accommodation problems are all easy enough to fix with minimal investment, training or policy changes. Most hotels seem to truly care what their customers want. Nevertheless, these same issues keep showing up at hotels across the country, from budget class to four- and five-star hotels.

In the light of this,in this article is a list of common problems a guest at a hotel, motel, or other place of lodging may encounter. These situations are generally not pleasant, and in severe cases, may ruin one’s vacation. The likelihood of them can be reduced if one has prior knowledge of the hotel before making a decision to book a lodging facility or asks to see the place prior to checking in.

Hotel Accommodation Problems in Nigeria

These problems are classified into Staff Attitude, Integrity Breach, Environmental and management deficiencies. Solutions proffered ranges from minor staff disciplines to a more serious business re-engineering processes that will bring an over-all turn around. It is advised that good business consultants would be involved in this re-engineering exercise.

Hotels are rated according to their quality. The number of stars attached to a hotel defines its quality. In this regard, a 5-star Hotel is of better quality than a 4-star hotel. So there are 5-stars, 4-stars, 3-stars,Mid-class hotel and what is called Budget-class hotels.

The quality of the hotels defines also the charges of such hotels, as such a 5-star hotel is costlier than a 4-star hotel. The cost rating continues to go down until Mid-class hotels and Budget-class hotels which are cheaper. The Budget-class hotel is just cheap and good for one to put down his head overnight. As the quality and cost differ, so also the services offered.

Hotel Accommodation Problems in Nigeria

Hotel Management

As explained above, hotels vary in quality. That is why you experience different attitude, service, facility etc. in different hotels. The common problems associated with these hotels are many but we have tried to summarise then in these few sub-headings. Highlighting these problems and proffering some solutions to enable you fix them and by that make your business more marketable. When you get at a better level in the conditions of your hotel you will make more money. Whatever that will make you make more money is my concern.

The staff attitude manifest into rudeness, incompetence, discrimination and breach of clients privacy. Rudeness ranges from the outright refusal to help or give the guest the required service, to employees performing their duties unprofessionally or not in the manner expected. 

Rudeness

This is when staff displays some negative behaviour to customers who seek them for their expected duties. Rudeness may range from the outright refusal to serve the guest who has a rightful expectation to the service, to sheer coldness while performing his/her duties. My advise is that only qualified staff should be employed and trained before placing the them on duty. If you are involved in employing your relatives that you can not control nor sack when they misbehave this challenge will become your hotel trade mark. 

Incompetence

This explains when employees perform duties unprofessionally or not in the manner expected. The result is substandard service in a variety of possible ways. The management should take this blame. In addition to the solutions proffered above, there should be hierarchy of supervision in place. The scalar chain of the hotel should be well defined. If you have problems of this nature there re professional business advisers that can help you out.

Discrimination

Racism and religious sentiments are not suppose to be part of hotel management behaviours. Where guest is mistreated or in some cases completely denied accommodation due to their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or social class, to name a few, does not look like a good business-wise policy. My advise is that if your hotel is a business outfit, the hotel management should revisit her corporate policy template and make some adjustments.

Invasion of privacy

You know that individual privacy is important at all times and everywhere. In as much as you want the housekeeping service to clean your room and make your beds up, you do not expect them to snoop unnecessarily around your privacies. But unfortunately, there are some nosy hotel workers out there getting at what they are not suppose to. I would want you to conduct regular training sessions for your staff.

Integrity has to do with truthfulness. When your service, facilities, environment fall below expectation integrity questions rise. Integrity issues include false publicity inform of advertisements that give different outlook from what the actual is, theft of guests belongings, and overcharging of customers and intentionally refusing to give customers refunds. Now read on as we discuss these integrity breach questions.

Poor quality of facilities available.

When you visit a hotel that looks fine but having different outlook inside, integrity question rises. This ranges from deteriorating facilities, to dirty rooms, unpleasant odours ,uncomfortable bedding to non-working existing facilities. My mind is that you need money to upgrade your facilities. You need a re-engineering Business Plan that will address these challenges , especially one that will help you source fund for the upgrading of your facilities. The management team of the organisation needs serious business coaching which only professionals can provide. 

ALSO READ: A winning Business Plan Checklist

Unpleasant odour

This is another integrity issue. Where the room exhibits an unpleasant smell to the guest, the guest feels cheated. Example is where the room smells like cigarette smoke, which is unpleasant for a non-smoker. My advise is that room attendants should take care of this before the room is available for another guest. It is also possible for separate smoking and non-smoking rooms be made available for guests.

Uncomfortable beds

Uncomfortability means the facility is below standard, and it is an integrity issue. If the bed(s) are extremely hard, high or low, old, or otherwise uncomfortable to sleep on and the pillows are too hard, too thin, or worn, or the linens are made of an unpleasant fabric, the guest will feel uncomfortable. As I have discussed above good fund base and management team will make the difference. 

Hotel Accommodation Problems in Nigeria

Infestation

Where the room is infested with insects or rodents, commonly cockroaches or bedbugs, the guest becomes very uncomfortable. Most people can’t sleep under such conditions. I am of the opinion that this integrity issue is very simple to solve. Along the line of administrative authority there is someone who is not doing his/her best. You have to find out who he/she is and compel him to do his duty or be fired.

Deteriorating facility

It can be frustrating when one or more of facilities are malfunctioning. No one likes to have an air conditioner that does not work on a hot day, or Wi-Fi that simply will not connect meanwhile these are what you have paid for.

The building or the room within are falling apart, and have not been well maintained for some time. Some examples are excessive peeling paint or wallpaper, a leaking ceiling, dripping pipes, rust, broken windows, or loose tiles, to name a few. Again I suggest that the management team should be able to take care of these challenges with a running Business plan. 

I have discovered that many of the so called mid-class and Budget-class hotels are located in dirty and noisy environments. This is due to in most cases the cost of land and other associated cost for erecting such buildings. Environmental problems could be:

Quality of area

You know that Hotel location matters all the time This is because the surrounding area can be the problem more than the facility itself. The owners of the hotel should have considered this while locating the hotel there. I suggest that the management team should be able to take certain measures that will mitigate these environmental challenges.

Crime ridden area

Another issue that has to do with the location of a hotel is the social environment of the area. If an area is filled with crime, including drug sales, prostitution (where illegal), theft, or even worse, violence, the safety of the guests will be threatened. The owners of the hotel should have noted these while locating the hotel. However, where such environment were not envisaged while locating the hotel, the management team should also take some mitigating measures to avoid it leading to loss of business. 

Hotel Accommodation Problems in Nigeria

Noisy area

Areas can be noisy for a variety of reasons. This could include heavy volumes of traffic, railroads, factories, or airports, just to name a few. In urban areas, noise is a part of life. Some urban dwellers are used to this and view it as a fact of life. For others, this may be the cause of quite a lot of uneasiness. After all, why staying in a hotel that has the same environmental problem with your resident or work place. So you see why you should take good measures to address this challenge. A good hotel should be a Home away from Home.

Dirty area

Refuse dump sites, water lugged areas, mining and construction sites are no good areas for hotel location. Such areas could have large amounts of pollution affecting air quality. This may make it hard for some, especially those with allergies or lung diseases, to breathe. I still feel that there are a lot of alternative measures that could be put in place to ratify these challenges. It could be a subject of an expansion program. Expansion programs would require a well designed Business Plan such that will make your business witness a turn around for good.

A good management must have a focus. Such focus could come from a functional Business Plan. Business Plan is a management road map. With well articulated time line every aspect of the management function or project will be on track as designed. Good business plan will establish a functional scalar chain which defines the line of authority in the operations. It will define the horizontal and vertical hierarchy of power. Get a functional Business Plan today and all your business challenges will be well managed.

Lack of good business plan manifests into the following in addition to all that I have discussed with you above.

Mishandled reservation

You know that the way reservations are managed matters a lot to the good image of the hotel. You know that in some cases the way reservations are handle are not encouraging. You can imagine one who makes reservations but could not access such reservations on arrival, if you were the one how would you feel. In relation to this is unexpected evictions. For no just cause known to you, the management wants you out. I still feel this is a management matter. Take my advises in this article and these problems will be over. When these problems are over, your turnover will increase. I encourage you to not only read this article but also to take action immediately.

Hotel Accommodation Problems in Nigeria

Safety issues

You have to do something to make your guests feel safe and secured as they should. In fact a hotel that exhibits some of these problems highlighted in this article will not guarantee their guests’ security. Lack of fire protection, weak locks on the doors, low security facility, water or electrical problems, or even falling hazards, etc. could make a guest fee unsecured, especially women.

HospitalityNet reports that hotel management globally are grappling with Escalating Operating Costs, which tends to erode the bottom line and advises that operators need to monitor energy cost, labour cost, and renovation costs among others.

I still think that taking immediate action to solve most of these problems will be the best.  

Where you have challenges please ask for help.

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