In result of the discussion which is initiated by Bart - Jan LePoole in;
Discussion -- Class Discussions -- Future Networking Module -- Year 07 / 08 -- Re:Creative Innovative Minds
I would like to proceed with a new discussion.

I worked in a hotel which was a normal 4 star property in the surroundings of Maastricht. (Valkenburg a/d Geul)
The hotel had a huge opportunity namely; becoming a "*care hotel".

* Care Hotel = A hotel which provides the nessecities for hospital patients to recover from injuries and surgery.

My question in result of this, to all of you, is:

Is it possible to mingle "normal" hotel guests and convalesce guests?

- What kind of boundaries are there to take in account?
- What are the possibilities to succeed, for the hotel?

Regards,


Robert

P.S.: Please, also take a look at the news article; Creative Innovative Minds in "Future Networking Mod.".

Yes, everything is possible, but I can not see the advantages in this.

I mean, segmenting problems, marketing problems, image problems, guest (non-ill) dissatisfaction because of disturbance, high facility costs because of serving two totally different segments, lack of knowledge in this field... I want to be positive, but I just don't see the advantages of combining these two in one location.

Well JP,

The facts for the hotel the hotel were simple.

They had 96 rooms and they were right in the middle of a huge medical centre.

- Leuven --> Maastricht --> Aachen

They had a normal holiday hotel which was very much depending on seasonality.

To break the seasonality they wanted to transform to "care hotel". But of course not ONLY care hotel, they wanted to find a way to combine this.

The advantages for them to enter this new segment are:
- The constant occpancy
- higher ADR for these "special rooms"
(they had the possibility to develop the rooms at a low cost so the investment was low)
- They have good relations with care institutions.

But the main focus for this would be to focus (allthough you disagree) on the fact, if or if not it is possible to combine these guests.

And more important, HOW?!

Regards,


Robert

It's a nice idea Robert, but I don't think it would work either. The customer segmentation is just far too different!!

Like JP said, there would be problems of image, problems concerning the services offered, etc...
To sell itself the hotel would need to focus either on one or the other market segment, because both demand and requiere completely different services.

However, if the hotel would focus exclusively on providing services for hospital clients that needed to recover from injuries and surgery, then the hotel would probably no longer depend on seasonality would it??

I think that if the "care hotel" concept were to be adapted it would only work if it were specialized on offering services for "ill" customers. This would reduce seasonality and allow the ADR to increase, because you're then offering a service which is much more than only accomodation.

Hi guys,
Robert,I think too that there would be so much problems that is not feasable from my standpoint.
You should take in account the needs of an "ill" guest; specialised care staff, room equipment(special beds, special bathrooms, room dimension), seat of wheels, infrastructure,...
The problems in segmentation; to satisfy the expectations of both,care and "regular" guests, the hotel have to change its image from head to toe each x months.The same should happen in order to offer a quality service to achieve guest loyalty.
Thus, to implement the changes in this 4*Hotel to become a care hotel is translated too huge money just to avoid seasonality. I think there are other ways to do that in a profitable and efectiveness way.
Xavi

Let me explain better why is so difficult to meet "ill" guest needs. As a wide range of illness exists different recovery needs are required during after-treatment.For that the hotel should be able to host any "ill" guest, otherwise the hotel should be specialised, segmentated among "ill" market customer.

All,

Thank you for your responses on this subject.
But I will change it a bit because I´m not completely satisfied.

Regarding to Xavier:
The entire hotel will be renovated by the end of 2008. All rooms are useable for convalesce and ´normal´ hotel guests. That is not an issue at all, the rooms are nto going to look like the traditional convalesce rooms with aids everywhere on walls etc.. They will be perceived by the normal guests as very comfortable because everything will be bigger etc.. They really covered that part.

The specialized staff will not be necessary but I will explaint that int he next paragraph.
And the infrastructure is allready present and will be improved during the renovation.

All:

The segmentation problem you are all talking about is not much of a problem either.
They will only attract the convalesce of a certain level. So the level of care needed will be kept low.
No serious cases of people lying in bed for 2 or 3 months but people who are able to help themselves. For example only those who have a broken leg or at least ´simple cases´.
The normal guest will not suffer severe discomfort from the presence of the others.

They do not want to concentrate on the leisure only.
That is the challenge...

I will launch another question:

How can the hotel change the normal guest perspective of being a "hospital in a modern way"?

I think so far you thought too much into detail about the convalesce guest. There will be no guests walking around, coughing and shouting. They will also not accept those who are not able to eat in a proper way.

The connections with the hospitals are already present. The hotel entrepreneur only needs to focus on his job of "being a hotel entrepreneur"!

So, if I understood correctly, the main question is how to position the hotel, which has two different target groups?

Tima,

Well understood!

How to position the hotel?

- Which guests should be attracted
- Which guests go together (in harmony)