PRODUCTIVITY PARTNER

Overview

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Travelodge hotels set a target to reduce operating costs by £12M annually of which the associated operational changes had to be identified, implemented and realised in the Profit & Loss within 3 years.  Customer experience scores had to be maintained or improved with any operational change.   Travelodge had limited in-house capabilities and capacity to successfully execute the changes so they engaged LMCG to be their productivity partner.  The partnership would require a diverse range of skillsets including transformation experts, productivity specialists, change managers, project managers, business analysts, lean experts, and financial astuteness.  The partnership also required consultants to be available at short notice and the ability to adapt with the fast paced and continually changing business.   

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Approach

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•Conducted diagnostic studies and ‘time and motion’ studies to identify and quantify the operational waste that existed whilst cleaning a room and activity outside of rooms.

•Reviewed the customer proposition and identified opportunities to streamline the room setup and cleaning policy which would reduce both labour and linen requirements whilst not reducing customer satisfaction e.g. optional (not mandatory) clean of stayover rooms. 

•Developed a ‘hopper’ of cost saving opportunities, determined ‘ease v benefits’ of implementation for each idea, and built a 3 year implementation plan.

•Defined optimum ‘flow’ (process) within the room, and optimum preparation activities outside of the room e.g. trolley setup, linen room setup, frequency of meetings etc.

•Designed, led and delivered trials in a live environment and measured performance (time saving and customer experience) to quantify the benefits of each opportunity.  This included ‘training the trainer’, coaching frontline staff, analysing trial performance data, and making recommendations to senior management.

•Created detailed business cases that would be scrutinised by the finance department to demonstrate savings were ‘real’ and could be achieved if the changes were implemented.   

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Outcome

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•£12.6M cost savings realised in the Profit & Loss by successfully delivering 8 projects over the 3 year period.

•Upskilled Travelodge staff in how to design, deliver and measure trials, and measure time & motion.  Trained and coached staff in a 3-day foundation Greenbelt Lean Six Sigma course, which means Travelodge can continually improve their business without external support.