{"id":918,"date":"2025-12-17T21:23:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T20:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/torreshospitalityconsulting.com\/?p=918"},"modified":"2025-12-17T21:24:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T20:24:17","slug":"from-it-companies-to-towels-why-hospitality-needs-a-culture-shift-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torreshospitalityconsulting.com\/en\/2025\/12\/17\/from-it-companies-to-towels-why-hospitality-needs-a-culture-shift-now\/","title":{"rendered":"From IT companies to Towels: Why Hospitality needs a culture shift now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"ember61\">If you&#039;ve recently read AT&amp;T&#039;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/att-ceo-john-stankey-email-employee-feedback-survey-rto-policy-2025-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">internal memo<\/a> from their CEO, you may have noticed a striking theme: <strong>businesses that cling to old models are walking straight toward irrelevance<\/strong>. And while the memo was directed at telecom professionals, its core message couldn&#039;t be more relevant for us in <strong>hospitality<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember62\">We too are midstream in a multi-year journey: not just to optimize the hotels we have, but to <strong>build the industry we need.<\/strong> Yet, many hospitality businesses still operate with a mindset of hierarchy, tradition, and &quot;business as usual&quot;, a comfort zone that&#039;s becoming dangerously outdated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ember63\">\u00abThe way we&#039;ve always done it\u00bb Is not a strategy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember64\">AT&amp;T&#039;s CEO noted that some employees still cling to the old employment deal: tenure = security. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember65\">In hospitality, we often hear similar sentiments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cI&#039;ve been in this role for 20 years; I know what guests want.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cWe don&#039;t need to focus on upselling; it&#039;s not part of our culture.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cKPIs are for finance, not for front-desk or F&amp;B staff.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember67\">But here&#039;s the hard truth: <strong>Loyalty, tenure, and tradition don&#039;t drive revenue. Performance does.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember68\">And in today&#039;s hyper-competitive travel market, where guests expect personalization, efficiency, and innovation, <strong>we need to evolve just like tech companies have.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ember69\">Results-driven cultures work. Across all industries<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember70\">Let&#039;s draw a parallel. In the tech world, AT&amp;T moved away from being a utility and towards being a tech-forward, customer-centric company. They did this by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Rewarding <strong>capability and contribution<\/strong>not just presence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Embracing <strong>cross-functional collaboration<\/strong> over siloed teams.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tracking <strong>data and behaviors<\/strong> to ensure alignment with business goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember72\">Now, compare that to a hotel still working without:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>KPIs<\/strong> like TRevPAR or RevPASqM.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Upselling metrics<\/strong> such as % of arrivals upsold, or Ancillary revenue per occupied room.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)<\/strong> or <strong>Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)<\/strong> analytics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember74\">Is it any wonder many hotel teams operate reactively, rather than proactively?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ember75\">Culture shift: From service-only to service + strategy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember76\">A front desk that doesn&#039;t upsell is a missed opportunity. A spa that doesn&#039;t track revenue per hour is running blind. And a hotel that measures employee satisfaction without tying it to performance is\u2026 well, AT&amp;T before their pivot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember77\">Hospitality needs a <strong>culture shift<\/strong>, from service <em>only<\/em> to service <strong>plus strategy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember78\">We need to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Equip our teams with <strong>training<\/strong> on how KPIs relate to their day-to-day roles.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Incentivize <strong>revenue contribution<\/strong>not just tasks completed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Share <strong>performance dashboards<\/strong> in team meetings, not just reviews.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Encourage <strong>transparency<\/strong>, showing how each role impacts GOP (Gross Operating Profit) and guest satisfaction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember80\">When you give people the &quot;why&quot; behind the numbers, you empower them to make a measurable impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ember81\">Real example: Upselling isn&#039;t salesy. It&#039;s Strategic<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember82\">Let&#039;s say your front office staff begins tracking upselling revenue by room type. In a month, you notice that 20% of premium rooms are being sold at check-in. Great, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember83\">Now imagine you dig deeper and find that only <strong>one team member<\/strong> is driving 80% of those upgrades. Instead of assuming it&#039;s luck, your KPI dashboard highlights their conversion rate, their scripting, and guest feedback. You now have a blueprint to replicate success across the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember84\">This is what a <strong>market-based, performance-driven culture<\/strong> looks like. It&#039;s not about pressure. It&#039;s about clarity, recognition, and growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ember85\">Disruption is the cost of relevance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember86\">Every major legacy company has had to <strong>disrupt itself<\/strong> to stay relevant\u2014Apple, Netflix, IBM, and yes, even Hilton and Marriott.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember87\">As the AT&amp;T CEO said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember88\">\u201cIf you dislike change, you&#039;re going to dislike irrelevance even more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember89\">Hospitality must stop treating change something as to be tolerated. It needs to become something we <em>embrace<\/em>. Just as AT&amp;T is evolving from fixed-line legacy to 5G innovation, we must evolve from room-night tracking to <strong>total revenue optimization per guest.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ember90\">Let&#039;s Build the industry we want<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember91\">We can&#039;t just optimize the hotels we have. We need to <strong>Build the industry we want<\/strong>. One where KPIs are everyone&#039;s business, where tech supports (not replaces) human touch, and where results speak louder than r\u00e9sum\u00e9s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember92\">To get there we need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Courage to confront legacy thinking.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Systems that show the real numbers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Leaders who inspire cultural change; not just manage operations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember94\">Let&#039;s stop admiring the problem and start measuring the solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember95\">The path to relevance is paved with <strong>KPIs, commitment, and change.<\/strong> If tech companies can evolve, so can we in the Hospitality industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember96\">The next time someone says \u201cwe&#039;re not a tech company,\u201d remind them: <em>we&#039;re not just hospitality anymore: we&#039;re hospi-tech-lity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember97\">Onwards and upwards, Pablo<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember98\">Excited to launch my new website: <a href=\"http:\/\/torreshospitalityconsulting.com\/en\/\"><strong>torreshospitalityconsulting.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember99\">Discover how we help hotels boost <em>ancillary revenue<\/em> through tailored strategies and guest-centric experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ember61\">Let&#039;s unlock the full earning potential beyond the room!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Drawing inspiration from AT&#038;T\u2019s strategic pivot, this article argues that hospitality businesses clinging to legacy models are walking toward irrelevance. The shift from a culture of tenure to one of performance is essential for an industry that must move beyond being a mere utility. By embracing tech-forward mindsets and tracking modern metrics like TRevPAR and Customer Lifetime Value (LTV), hotels can transform their staff from service-only roles into strategic contributors. Ultimately, building a \u00abresults-driven\u00bb culture\u2014where KPIs are everyone\u2019s business\u2014is the only way to evolve from room-night tracking to total revenue optimization and remain relevant in a hyper-competitive market.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,58,66,53,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-talento","category-leader","category-opinion","category-revenue","category-tecnologia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/torreshospitalityconsulting.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/torreshospitalityconsulting.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/torreshospitalityconsulting.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torreshospitalityconsulting.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torreshospitalityconsulting.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/torreshospitalityconsulting.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":920,"href":"https:\/\/torreshospitalityconsulting.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918\/revisions\/920"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torreshospitalityconsulting.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/torreshospitalityconsulting.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torreshospitalityconsulting.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torreshospitalityconsulting.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}