Why the status quo deserves regular review.

Every accommodation business has a status quo.

Rooms reflect an established standard. Staffing structures are in place. Systems and processes have evolved. Services have been developed. Capital projects have been undertaken, deferred or dismissed.

Some of these decisions may have been made recently. Others may simply reflect how the business has operated for years.

The question to ask regularly is what should change — and whether everything that remains unchanged deserves to stay that way.

When the status quo becomes the default

Decisions about whether to maintain the status quo arise constantly throughout an accommodation business.

A recurring maintenance problem may continue to be patched rather than permanently resolved.

An inefficient manual process may remain because replacing it requires investment, implementation and training.

A traditional room key system may continue to serve its purpose, but still warrant consideration as technology and guest expectations evolve.

A staffing arrangement may continue because it has always operated that way.

Rooms or facilities may remain unchanged even as guest expectations and competing properties evolve.

There may be perfectly sound reasons not to make changes.

The concern is not that something might be left unchanged. The concern is when it remains unchanged simply because nobody has stopped to consider whether the current approach is still appropriate.

Maintaining the existing position may come at a cost — in money, management time, employee productivity, guest satisfaction, reputation or lost opportunities.

Sometimes those costs are relatively minor. Sometimes they accumulate quietly for years

The business does not stand still

The costs and uncertainties of making a change tend to be visible.

A refurbishment requires capital. A new system involves implementation costs and training. Changing an established process may create disruption. Altering the staffing structure may require difficult decisions.

These costs and risks should be carefully assessed.

But there is also risk in allowing existing decisions and practices to continue from year to year without being reconsidered.

Competitors invest. Buildings age. Costs increase. Technology changes. Guest expectations evolve. Market conditions change.

Maintaining the current approach does not mean the environment around the business will remain unchanged.

A decision made several years ago may have been entirely appropriate at the time. Equally, some practices may never have resulted from a deliberate decision at all — they may simply have evolved over time.

The objective is not to favour change over the status quo.

It is to regularly test whether the status quo remains appropriate.

The alternatives may not be all or nothing

Challenging the status quo does not mean that every issue requires significant change.

A property considering refurbishment, for example, may have several alternatives.

It might undertake a major refurbishment now, complete a smaller targeted refresh, stage the work over several years, address only priority areas, or defer the major expenditure while incorporating it into a future capital plan.

Similarly, an inefficient operating process may not require an entirely new system. A smaller change might solve the underlying problem.

The appropriate course may be to act now, maintain the current position for the time being, or plan for action in the future.

Each can be a sound business decision.

Deferring action is not the same as avoiding it — provided the reason for deferral is understood, the future requirement is considered and the position is regularly reviewed.

An annual opportunity to challenge the status quo

Running an accommodation business makes it easy to become absorbed in what needs attention today.

An annual Business Plan provides a natural opportunity to step away from those day-to-day demands and consider the business more broadly.

It should not simply look forward to what the business intends to achieve and do in the year ahead. It should also provide an opportunity to reconsider the decisions, assumptions and practices already embedded in the business.

Is the property’s positioning and value offering still appropriate?

Are its rooms, facilities and services keeping pace with the market?

Are existing operating practices and systems still effective?

Are staffing arrangements appropriate for the way the business now operates?

Are capital priorities still the right ones?

What has been deliberately deferred, and should it remain deferred?

And perhaps most importantly:

Given where the business stands today, what should happen next?

The answer will not always be change.

Some existing practices should continue. Some investments should remain deferred. Some proposed initiatives may not warrant proceeding at all.

But those conclusions should reflect the business as it exists today — not simply decisions and practices carried forward from previous years.

For some owners, this assessment can form part of their own annual planning process. Others may value the perspective of an independent specialist consultant to challenge assumptions, test priorities and help determine where action is genuinely warranted.

The outcome should be a clearer understanding of what requires attention now, what can appropriately remain unchanged, and what should be planned for the future.

Doing nothing is still a decision

What matters is that the status quo is being actively reviewed rather than simply inherited from one year to the next.

The cost of change is usually easy to see.

The cost of doing nothing may not be as apparent.

Doing nothing is not the same as deciding to leave something unchanged.

One is the absence of a decision. The other can be the result of a very good one.