On the last episode of That Bad Review, I spoke to Grant Wilckens, CEO of Discovery Holiday Parks and chairperson of the Caravan Industry of Australia. Given his background in corporate finance, Grant has some interesting things to say about how to make a business work in the hospitality industry.

Grant’s business sense combines the analytics of finance with the intuition and people skills that you’ll find in successful park owners. Here are a few points he made during our talk that anyone in our industry would find useful:

Feedback is a Gift

Good leaders know the importance of feedback, favourable or not.

Feedback, particularly comments you receive from guests while they’re still at your property, is the best way to find out what you need to change. If a guest lets you know that you have a leaky faucet in a bathroom, you can adjust it before it becomes a problem that ends up in a long-lasting online review.

Realise that comments from your guests are blessings, even if they’re delivered in a way that you find hostile or rude. It’s always preferable to a one-star blemish on your TripAdvisor page.

Aim, Fire, Adjust

Failure is the backbone of any success. The CEOs and managers you admire, they went through a lot of bad ideas and half-baked plans before they learned what really works, and what guests respond to the most in the accommodation industry.

Changing your attitude about failure if critical to personal growth. If a business fails, and you your heart is set on making it in this industry, don’t take it as an indication that you aren’t cut out for this line of work. As Grant says, “Aim, fire and adjust.” Do your best to execute an idea — may be a new seasonal menu at a restaurant or dynamic pricing. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, think about how you can augment the idea and move on.

Competition is Important

The accommodation industry is known for being something of a big family. We like helping each other, and would generally rather have a beer with the caravan park owner across town than think of ways to outdo them.

But healthy competition can stimulate performance in our industry. Having new entries into the marketplace can cause a needed necessity for existing businesses to up their game — by starting a new social media campaign, for example, or putting in high-speed WiFi throughout their property.

Healthy competition is key. It keeps businesses from stagnating and taking their patrons for granted.

It’s Hard to Tell Someone to do a Job if You’ve Never Done it Yourself

If you’re a manager, too much time spent in your office will quickly make it difficult for you to empathise with your workers. And if you never cut your teeth in your industry and don’t know how to do the tasks that your workers do on a daily basis, you’re going to find yourself becoming the kind of boss that workers distance themselves from.

If anything, approaching hospitality with the philosophy that connecting with guests is the best way to go about running a property. Keep this in mind and things will naturally fall into place.

Listen to my entire conversation with Grant here.