In the vast majority of situations, there is neither wrong nor right
Sharon Xu, who is currently the director of Marriott Risk Management for the Asia Pacific region, has been working in this industry for eight years. During that time, she, along with a great number of other people working in a variety of fields, had the opportunity to witness the severe economic repercussions of the epidemic and how businesses handled their recoveries after borders and restrictions were eventually lifted.
In a previous section, she discussed what has changed since COVID, as well as how this new environment ought to be characterized by higher-quality risks and improved contracts. In the second round of her talk with the Corporate Risk channel of Insurance Business, Xu offers some words of wisdom to businesses in the hospitality industry as well as her fellow risk managers as we face new dangers and hazards in a world that has recovered from a pandemic.
According to Xu, “for hospitality operators, I think there is no material difference [now] to how we would operate the business prior to the implementation of COVID; however, I think people need to stay alert.” “After three years, it’s possible that a lot has changed, whether we’re talking about consumer behavior, client base, or even the interactions that customers have with one another. Perhaps in the past, in a particular country, we have had a greater number of tourists from other countries; however, in recent years, the number of visitors from other countries has increased in addition to the rise in the number of local visitors.
Xu went on to explain that domestic travelers and tourists from other countries may have different appetites, and he emphasized the importance of keeping an open mind when observing and trying to comprehend the behavior of customers.”On the one hand, this includes providing more customized services for clients. On the other side, I believe that we also need to learn how to cope with the various requirements that customers have. In a manner, everything begins with the behavior of the customer, and everything comes to an end with the behavior of the customer,” she remarked. “At the end of the day, we tailor our services to meet the specific requirements of each individual customer. I do not believe that this is something that is so widely practiced across all hospitality companies.
A new environment also brings with it a new set of regulations, policies, and processes to follow, as well as different standards. According to Xu, there should be evaluations in place to determine how well they are standing up in the current business environment and how future-proof they are for new difficulties that have not yet presented themselves. Xu noted that these reviews should be in place.
“Coming from the insurance industry, I think – and there’s no doubt about it – that there will be an increase in the number of claims filed since we are providing our services to a greater number of clients. I am confident that we will be able to gain additional knowledge from the data that will arise from these claims once they are processed. I believe that this is a useful resource for understanding how we might improve our performance. “I think that all of these are very much connected, and it is the risk manager who is responsible for driving different functions within these fields,” Xu said. “Insurance, claims, contracts, and operations.”
Communication, as well as the art of striking a balance
The pandemic brought to light a great number of things that the vast majority of us tend to take for granted without giving them much thought. Because of the constraints placed on where we could travel and the fact that most individuals were confined to their homes, communicating became a significantly more challenging endeavor. In a sense, this was the thing that truly stood out. According to Xu, who has been in risk management for eight years and worked as a broker for many more years before getting into risk management, effective communication need to be at the center of every risk manager’s guidebook.”Over the past few years, one of the most significant lessons I’ve learned is that communication is essential. Sometimes there’s technical stuff, but we can always go through these with our brokers; however, there’s still a need to translate the insurance language to non-insurance language, to communicate with our financial partners and business partners in a plain language so that they realize the risks,” Xu said. “It’s important that they understand the potential consequences of their actions.”
According to Xu, one of the parts of her job that presents the greatest challenge is the inability to adequately express the gravity of certain potential dangers. There are occasions when the risk is apparent, but because it is not effectively conveyed, its severity is misunderstood. This results in a business side that would rather just push things through without being aware of the probable implications.
According to Xu, “the ultimate responsibility of a risk manager is to strike a balance between the various interests of the stakeholders and everyone else who is involved.” “In the vast majority of situations, there is no such thing as right or wrong; in the end, everyone believes that they are acting appropriately according to the roles that they play.” We are only here to try to strike a balance; when you strike a balance between risk and reward, we strive to draw attention to the question of whether or not the risk justifies the gain. There are situations in which the potential downsides outweigh the potential benefits; because of this, you should probably consider whether or not this choice is the best one to make. Communication and utilizing terminology that is not related to insurance are both pretty crucial.
According to Xu, another essential component of the role is ensuring that one does not lose sight of what is truly important. This necessitates that risk managers keep a close watch on the insurance industry and all of the advancements that are associated with it at all times.
“We risk managers speak to the market on a daily basis through our internal business partners,” she explained, contrasting her experience working with an insurance broker. I believe that it is important for us to keep in mind the direction in which the insurance market is heading. In light of this information, we were able to come up with our own thoughts, ideas, and viewpoints concerning the development of the market. After you have developed your own ideas, it will contribute to the growth of critical thinking, which will subsequently lead to productive conversations with our brokers and insurers.
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