No business can survive without ongoing investment, especially in this age of online transparency, writes HELLEN WARD

I’ve just returned from a star-studded party in Sardinia. The host recommended a list of hotels, and I think I must have drawn the short straw and picked the Italian version of Fawlty Towers – not that you’d know it from the pictures and video on the glossy website.

The hospitality industry shares many similarities with our sector. Both focus on customer experience, offer very personal services and guests/clients have myriad businesses to choose from. However, each market faces its own challenges – with hotels it’s the threat of Airbnb, with us it’s the advent of at-home services and freelance contractors.

Doesn’t it say everything about the hotel when the first thing the receptionist says is not “welcome, enjoy your stay and let me know if there’s anything you need” but “beach towels are €3 a day to hire and if you don’t return it you will be charged”? The writing was on the wall for my trip.

“You can only charge what you’re worth – people have choice. There is no shortcut”

Price factor

The hotel wasn’t cheap and one of the other party guests, being a hotel critic, was equally unimpressed; he valued it at €70 rather than the €250 they charged. And therein lies the rub; the hotel was charging for something it clearly wasn’t delivering. Nobody minds paying (within reason) if they get what they perceive to be value for money. But how can €250 per night warrant a room in dire need of refurbishment, horrendous customer service, junk and rubbish strewn around the badly maintained public areas, inedible food and extortionate drinks? In fact, what the hotel really needed was to be closed, bulldozed and reopened after a total rethink.

It struck me that someone had seriously given up on this hotel as a business. And in not knowing what to do, they’d simply put the prices up to cover up the huge problems. It’s akin to sticking a band aid on a heart attack. As soon as you give up on a business, it’s like a ticking timebomb. Client numbers will fall and the short-term fix of sustaining turnover through increased prices only masks the issue. But you can’t hide; it’s going to become evident very quickly, especially in this internet era. This was a hotel that was unloved, uncared for and just milked for its money – no reinvestment, no attention to detail, no customer service, no decent staff – it was floundering to its natural conclusion; closure. But I was still paying full market value for it.

Short-term fix

If you want to run a business in that way, it’s only a matter of time until you’re found out. You simply have to love and nurture a business if you want to sustain it. You can only charge what you’re worth – people have choice. There is no shortcut.

The outcome? I gathered my photographic evidence, and on check out, presented it to the manager, who hid, and refused to come out of her office until I insisted, because “everyone is complaining.” I issued my rehearsed ultimatum; I would put my photographic evidence on TripAdvisor unless she discounted my bill. She argued that my opinion was subjective; I informed her that health and safety issues (broken tiles and live electrical wires next to the swimming pool where children were playing) were not. “I’m just the manager,” she said, passing the buck. “The owner doesn’t care – tell him”. Don’t worry, when his business fails spectacularly, he’ll know, I assured her. PB

Hellen Ward is managing director of Richard Ward Hair & Metrospa in London, one of the most profitable independent salons in the UK. She is beauty ambassador for the National Beauty Federation (NBF). Send your feedback to hellen@professionalbeauty.co.uk