No Compass, No Direction: The Hidden Cost of Operating Without Focus in Hospitality

When growth stalls and guest experience fades, it’s not always about marketing, sometimes, it’s a matter of clarity.

❘ The Familiar Picture

Over the past few years, I’ve had the opportunity to audit hospitality properties across Mexico, resorts, urban developments, family-run hotels with legacy, hybrid hospitality projects. And while each one carries a unique soul, a recurring theme persists: operations are running, but without a compass.

Management relies on inherited processes. Teams operate without KPIs. Products are being sold, but not fully understood. And the guest? Often buying what’s available, not what’s meaningful.

❘ When Numbers Are Missing, Opinions Take Over

One of the clearest signs is the lack of detailed budgets by division or revenue center. Restaurants with no set average check. Spas without defined treatment costs. Activity centers with static pricing and no seasonal strategy. Intuition drives the business, but intuition doesn’t pay payroll.

When team leaders don’t know their numbers, they lose decision-making power. Talent burns out. Momentum stalls. And opportunities quietly slip away.

❘ Product Without Soul = Sales Without Emotion

Another common issue is the disconnect between what the property could be and what it currently offers. There’s no narrative. No signature identity. No evolution of the guest experience. The offerings remain generic when they could be purpose-driven, emotionally compelling, and tailored by season or customer type.

I’ve seen spas with world-class potential reduced to anonymous treatment rooms. Activity programs that could spark awe, reduced to unmemorable lists. Destinations with wellness potential that have never paused to define what “wellness” even means for their audience.

❘ And the Guest? No One Follows Up After Check-Out

Too often, there’s no CRM system in place, no segmentation, no automated follow-up, no loyalty strategy. Properties invest in acquiring guests, but not in building lasting relationships. They forget that the guests who already know them are the easiest to bring back.

In membership-based resorts, this is even more pronounced. Properties are sitting on goldmines of data, yet most don’t use them to inform decisions or design new experiences.

❘ The Day Everything Changes: When a System Is Built

When a property takes the time to pause, assess itself with honesty, and reconfigure both its operational and conceptual model, a new chapter begins. It doesn’t require overengineering. Sometimes, it’s about refining the basics:

• Set meaningful KPIs by department
• Build real, measurable budgets
• Redesign the product with purpose and emotion
• Connect departments through a shared customer journey
• Listen to the guest, beyond the check-out moment

❘ What Works: Strategy With Soul

This isn’t about cookie-cutter solutions. It’s about finding each property’s unique purpose, aligning it with today’s traveler expectations, and building systems to sustain it.

When that happens, numbers improve. Teams get inspired. Guests feel the shift.

And that’s when true hospitality begins, the kind that inspires, transforms, and endures.