Written by: Alan Benjamin, President

The success of every project depends on the communication between all team members throughout the project and a clear understanding of the owner’s goals.  While this sounds obvious, it is amazing how many projects start off without a proper kick off meeting and without a CLEAR understanding of the owner’s goals. It is the owner’s money at stake, and not just the amount spent on a renovation, but rather, the entire hotel asset and its ROI is the owner’s interest during and after any CapEx work. What is the owner’s ownership time horizon? What is the owner’s capital structure and lender requirements? What is the specific target market the owner is trying to address?

During the beginning of a project, every goal the owner has should be clearly presented.  Once the major goals are understood, team members can dive into the project specific goals, whether it be the budget, schedule, minimum brands standards during a PIP, life safety, technology, new brand standard roll out, LEED points, W/MBE goals, etc. A valuable tool to assist in this conversation and document all team members roles and responsibilities is a differentiation document. A well defined differentiation document will cover the key areas of “design/specified by; purchased by; and received/installed by” for every item. Once the owner’s goals are clearly defined and the differentiation document is agreed to by all parties, the team has the ability to work toward the owner’s project specific definition of “a win.”

If all is clearly defined and voiced by the owner, the team members can all strive for a consistent set of goals throughout the project. 

Another key area to be discussed is how the team members should best communicate with themselves (and of course, with the owner). To be successful, this requires a commitment to authentic communication, which is not always “comfortable communication” but is essential to avoiding a “yes man” culture.  Reality is far better, no matter what the reality, than anything in “CapEx fantasy land.” Of course, it is Benjamin West’s job, as well as the other consultants on the project, to create a “reality” that is far improved from what the owner originally thought was possible!

It seems simple, but by understanding the team’s personality and structuring the communication style, ie. weekly conf calls, email, phone calls, highly detailed reporting or basic overviews, the team dynamic will be stronger.  The higher the performance of the entire team, the better the results the team can achieve for the owner. Never lose sight of whose money all consultants are spending and whose goals we must all achieve: THE OWNER’S.