Awards ceremonies, office parties, catch-up lunches. Not to mention the pre-peaks preparation and the arbitrary project deadlines to meet (“if we can just get this finished before Christmas”).

It’s a hectic time of year and you know it’s time for a rest when even the reception class Nativity play seems full of travel business issues. For example, it’s very clear that Bethlehem was facing the same chronic hotel capacity constraints we’ve seen in the Western Med during recent summer seasons, when consumers returned to familiar destinations like Spain, Portugal and Greece in their droves. The lack of availability and the resulting hike in bed prices has led to a squeeze
on margins felt by many travel businesses that aren’t lucky enough to own their own hotel chains. Mary and Joseph did eventually find a place to stay, of course, but travel agents might argue that ending up in a lowly stable surrounded by farm animals is exactly the sort of thing that goes on in the sharing economy and it’s just one more reason to book with a trusted adviser.

It’s very clear that Bethlehem was facing the same chronic hotel capacity constraints we’ve seen in the Western Med during recent summer seasons

To be fair, we’ve seen worse rental outcomes this year: according to a widely reported travel blog, one group of renters discovered a rotting corpse in the garden of their Parisian Airbnb. Possibly the most iconic image in the Nativity story is that of the wise men following a star to plot their course.

Metaphorically speaking, it’s a tactic that many visionary leaders use to set the direction of their business. The star in their case could be a key performance metric or value that acts as a clear signpost, tracking progress while galvanising the team around a shared vision or destination.

Alas, all too often we see wise men and women in the travel industry picking the wrong star to follow. As a common example being if management only ever talks about sales compared with last year, then guess what the rest of the company will assume is the only thing that matters?

But sales is a vanity metric and profitability is far more important. If the unit cost of staffing your call centre, running your websites and paying for marketing add up to more than the commission you are making, your business might be heading backwards.

Likewise, tracking call volumes, website visits or Facebook likes is virtually meaningless without the corresponding data on conversion into enquiries and bookings. Yet time and time again we see businesses focusing on the former without any systematic way of tracking the latter. New year is traditionally a time for setting new targets. Maybe it’s time to think about following some different stars. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy some well-earned rest. Wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Martin Alcock is director at the Travel Trade Consultancy