Lessons from athletics: what can hospitality learn from the games?
There are few finer examples of the pursuit of excellence than the world of athletics. It's a global stage for people to push themselves to new achievements, demonstrating remarkable physicality, skill and dedication.
Thankfully, hoteliers don’t need to worry so much about pushing physical boundaries (unless you’re carrying some inexplicably heavy luggage for your guests), but skill and dedication remain key traits for hospitality success.
What else can athletics teach us about running a successful hotel? Glad you asked. Here are four ways that the events and its athletes can inspire us.
No train, no gain
Over 10,000 of the world’s finest athletes are competing across Paris, each of whom are among the very best in their field. This level of excellence is exactly what hoteliers should strive for, both operationally and when it comes to the guest experiences.
Not one of these athletes got to where they are through natural ability alone; they also needed dedicated, specialized training. If you have talented, personable staff, it’s possible to run a functioning hotel without proper training. But to win that gold medal and provide truly outstanding service, you need a team that is confident in using their technology.
For instance, a tool like Mews University provides role-specific, multi-lingual training, with video courses, certification and optional live sessions. This helps new team members get up to speed quickly and confidently.
However, training isn’t a one-time deal. Especially because the technology you’re using continually evolves – at least, it should. Just like an athlete meticulously looks after their body, your hotel staff should keep operations fine-tuned by regularly consulting release notes and training updates.
Friendly competition
You rarely see bad blood between athletes. Although they’re competing at the highest level, there’s a spirit of camaraderie that unites them, based on shared experiences, interests and attitudes. It’s a community, encapsulated by the concept of athlete villages, residential complexes that hosts all the delegations.
Hoteliers don’t have their own hotelier village per se (though Mews Unfold comes close), but it’s important to remember that in a world of chasing RevPAR and ADRs, we’re all part of the same community. Every hotelier and hospitality worker wants our industry to succeed, and that’s most likely to happen if we’re all working towards a common goal of delivering remarkable hospitality.
That’s exactly the thinking behind Mews Community, an online forum where Mews hoteliers can share tips and best practices, ask questions and seek advice from their peers.
Partner up
The very first athletic meets were rudimentary affairs by today’s standards. Athletes competed, spectators watched, and that was about it. Cut to 2024 and it’s a global behemoth with the kind of organizational complexity that makes a hotel look like child’s play. But it didn’t get there by itself.
Modern-day athletic and sporting events partner with other business to lean on their support with funding, technical services and products. You probably see where we’re going with this.
Make the most of the rich world of hospitality technology. Connect and test new software, whether it’s AI chat bots, guest feedback tools or upselling revenue generators. Mews Marketplace offers over 1,000 of the industry’s best solutions – many of which are plug-and-play – with no connection fees.
You can also look beyond technology to community partners. Join forces with local restaurants, gyms and attractions to enrich your guest experience and broaden your demographic.
Investing for the future
Athletes and sports teams encourage us to dream big. The events can leave a lasting legacy not only when it comes to sport, but also with the cities that host them. Barcelona transformed much of its waterfront and revitalized its infrastructure in 1992, which played a huge role in turning it into one of Europe’s most visited cities today.
What would you change at your property to make it more successful? Don’t get trapped in the status quo, in accepting frustrating workarounds and tedious repetition.
If you spend most of your time searching for short-term solutions or feel like you’re treading water keeping your hotel operations running, it’s unlikely you’ll ever provide truly remarkable hospitality. Invest in long-term improvements like sustainable design, comprehensive training and – most importantly – technology that can adapt and scale as guest behavior and demands change.
Want some help to kick start your imagination? Check out our guide on The Best Way to Reimagine Hotel Spaces.
While we wait for check-ins per minute to become a recognized sport, there’s plenty more tangentially insightful reading about seeking hospitality inspiration. Check out these articles:
- Lessons from the air
- Lessons from Taylor Swift
- Lessons from Eurovision
- Lessons from football
- Lessons from gaming
About Mews
Mews is the leading platform for the new era of hospitality. Powering over 5,500 customers across more than 85 countries, Mews Hospitality Cloud is designed to streamline operations for modern hoteliers, transform the guest experience and create more profitable businesses. Customers include BWH Hotels, Strawberry, The Social Hub and Airelles Collection. Mews was named Best PMS (2024) and listed among the Best Places to Work in Hotel Tech (2021, 2022, 2024) by Hotel Tech Report, as well as World's Best Hotel PMS Provider (2023) and World's Best Independent Hotel PMS Provider (2022, 2023, 2024) by World Travel Tech Awards. Mews won the Top 250 Golden Scaler Award in 2024, given to the fastest growing company in the Netherlands, and most recently, was awarded the Tech Hero 2024 Award at CIODAY. Mews has raised $335 million from investors including Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Kinnevik and Revaia to transform hospitality.
Katie Halfhead
Senior Communications Manager
Mews
