Becca Krug, client services director at Davies Tanner, shares a six-step strategy for managing crisis and protecting hotel reputation.
Crises can happen to any business – how you respond is crucial to your organisation’s reputation, its bottom line and, potentially, its survival. That’s where crisis communications comes in. A toolkit for limiting damage and restoring trust, crisis comms seeks to protect a business’ reputation after unforeseen events that could cause it harm.
A crisis communications plan is something your business should already have in place. Because unexpected things happen all the time. Just take the current war in the Middle East – hotels and hospitality businesses across the region will now be deploying crisis comms as they navigate the threat on the ground to guests and the potential impact of the conflict on travel and tourism in the months ahead. Having a plan in place means you’re prepared and, while preparation won’t stop a crisis from happening, it’ll make you better equipped to deal with it when it does. And do so successfully.
It also means you can practise it – role playing the plan’s deployment in different scenarios – so in the event of an actual crisis all employees are clear about their responsibilities and those of everybody else. Who’s the media spokesperson, for example? Who’s in charge of internal communications? A pre-determined structure is crucial for keeping everyone on message, reassuring all parties, and making sure no party is accidentally overlooked.
If your business doesn’t have a plan, take this as a friendly reminder to get one, and fast. So, what do you need to know?
Six steps to successful crisis management
Much like any emergency, the first few hours are critical and, in that time, there are six steps to managing the initial response successfully.
Step one: Intelligence. Gather as much information as possible – who, what, where, when, why and how. You can’t respond effectively if you only have half the facts. This response will be scrutinised by the public and media so, alongside collecting information, make sure it’s reliable. Rushing to get a response out will only do your business a disservice in the long-run if you haven’t verified the facts. Ask yourself, for example: Is the source credible? Can multiple sources verify the information? What is our record on this? Where are my knowledge gaps?
Of course, you don’t always control the timeline and, sometimes, media will be ahead of the story before you’ve had chance to gather your intel. While it might be tempting to release a statement in haste, do not. Release a holding statement explaining you’re investigating the situation and will provide further information as soon as you can, but don’t release a response statement until, based on the facts, you can be sure of what that response is. As we’ve said, your response will be scrutinised, so above all it needs to be accurate.
Step two: How bad is it? Determining the crisis level helps you determine the response level. Is it, for example, level one – a crisis that barely registers with the media or public. Is it level two – a crisis attracting a small but consistent amount of media attention? Is it level three – a crisis attracting significant local and regional media attention, including the potential for affected parties to share their stories? Or is it level four – a crisis attracting broadcast and print media to cover live from the scene?
Step three: Stay in control of the information. Reliable information about what’s happened and what’s being done about it comes from your business and your business only. If it doesn’t, the media and public believe you don’t know what’s going on and don’t have a grip of the situation – you’ll seem incompetent at best, negligent at worst. The same goes for saying ‘no comment’. Don’t do it. This gives the impression you know what’s going on but aren’t admitting it. That will make you look untrustworthy and it leaves a void that will be filled by gossip and misinformation.
So, what should you say? That’s step four. Plan your message. Prepare a script that covers all essential information clearly. Make sure it answers the questions different parties may have, and consider preparing separate statements for each party (media, guests, those directly affected etc). Be open to including your company’s record on the crisis in question, if needed (for example, safety record), and stick to the facts – speculating on what might happen inflames the situation and makes you look inept and unreliable if it turns out not to be the case.
Likewise, focus on how you’re solving the crisis rather than assigning blame to others. And keep your messages flexible – as you gather new information, you may need to update your script/s to reflect the developing situation. Keep in mind, if the crisis is level three or four, the message should include a note of empathy, if appropriate.
Step five: Once approved, it’s time to get your message out there. The timing of this depends on the crisis level. For example, in a level three or four crisis, employees should receive a statement within the hour. For media and the public, this should be within two hours for a level three crisis and one hour for a level four crisis. All parties need to be consistently updated so, as new information becomes available, steps one to five should be repeated. A helpful tip is to date, time and number your press releases so journalists can easily follow the flow of information.
This then leaves step six. Monitor coverage. Doing so lets you correct any serious misrepresentation, and it also provides you with a wealth of useful information. For example, if the focus of the media story changing, you may need to change the angle of your messaging in response. This is incredibly helpful in adapting to the current crisis and learning lessons to help you plan for future crises.
Action, not apathy
Crises can be managed well. In 2010, for example, BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded, killing 11 workers and leading to one of the largest marine oil spills in history – a human and environmental disaster. Taking responsibility, BP got to work, issuing regular updates, gathering resources and organising containment and clean-up efforts, and setting up a compensation process for those impacted. While this damaged BP in the short-term, long-term damage was mitigated by the company’s swift actions in taking ownership and proactively trying to solve the crisis.
You could also look to Ryanair which, in 2022, faced a backlash for cancelling tens-of-thousands of bookings when staff went on strike. In a detailed public apology, the airline’s CEO explained what was going on and what he was doing about it, and the airline issued frequent updates, including offering refunds, rebooking, and a compensation package. By actively working towards a resolution and doing so with transparency, Ryanair was able to effectively begin rebuilding confidence.
Final thoughts
While crises come in all shapes and sizes, what binds them is the need for accurate information and an action-oriented response, conveyed in a timely manner. In those first few hours, all people want to know is what’s happened and what’s being done to remedy the situation – ensure all efforts are focussed towards answering these two questions if you want to limit reputational damage.
