Trust is the Final KPI
This story is about trust.
Not the trust that exists when everything goes well, but the trust that survives disagreement.
The more mature I become, the more suspicious I become of success that destroys trust.
The immediate outcome may appear attractive, but the long-term cost is often invisible until it arrives.
Agreement proves little. Trust reveals itself when people remain connected despite conflict.
For many years, I searched for better metrics.
Today, I sometimes wonder whether trust was the metric all along.
The numbers told the story. At least that is what I thought.
I was trained to believe that successful hotel projects could be recognised quite easily.
Revenue increased. Profit improved. Market share grew.
Guest satisfaction rose. Budgets were achieved.
Property value improved. Debt service secured.
Investment plan on schedule.
Then I started noticing something.
When I looked back on the projects that remained most meaningful in my memory, I rarely remembered the final spreadsheet.
I remembered the people.
A conversation years later. An unexpected phone call.
A recommendation. A friendship.
A door that remained open long after the assignment itself had ended.
Or occasionally, a door that closed forever.
That observation forced me to reconsider what success actually meant.
One organisation in particular taught me this lesson.
The engagement lasted several years.
The discussions were often challenging.
The expectations were not always aligned.
At times I pushed harder than the organisation wished to move.
At other times the organisation moved more slowly than I wished to accept.
There were disagreements.
There were difficult conversations.
There were moments when it would have been easier for both sides simply to stop talking.
Yet something survived.
Trust.
Years after the project ended, the relationships remained.
The conversations remained. The respect remained.
Even some of the disagreements remained.
What disappeared was the need to be right.
What remained was confidence in each other’s intentions.
That fascinated me.
The project itself had eventually stopped.
The relationship had not.
And that forced me to ask a question. What exactly had been created?
Certainly not a report. Certainly not a spreadsheet.
Certainly not a KPI.
The answer, I believe, was trust.
Not blind trust. Not emotional trust. Professional trust.
The confidence that somebody will tell you the truth, even when it is uncomfortable.
Also when it’s me on the receiving end.
The confidence that disagreement does not imply disloyalty.
The confidence that criticism serves improvement rather than politics.
The confidence that intentions remain aligned even when opinions differ.
Looking back, I increasingly believe trust is one of the most misunderstood assets in business.
Everyone talks about it.
Few measure it.
Yet organisations built upon trust can survive extraordinary pressure.
Organisations without trust often struggle even under favourable conditions.
The same applies to partnerships.
Teams. Families. Perhaps even countries.
Trust rarely appears on a balance sheet.
Yet its absence eventually appears everywhere else.
Thank you for reading my story.
This story is part of a series—”The Banana Republic Hotel and What It Taught Me About Myself”—in which I share lessons learned throughout my professional and personal journey and how those experiences have shaped my thinking and led me to develop my own principles.
If you enjoyed reading the story and have the appetite to read another one, you are invited to visit G&A’s website, in particular its INSIGHTS page, where you can find all stories.
Alternatively, click here to be taken to the next story.
I hope it has provided some food for thought, encouraged curiosity, and inspired you to keep learning.
Curiosity, humility, and continuous learning remain among the most valuable tools we possess.
Terminology for non-hoteliers:
- SOP: Standard Operating Procedure – a documented process describing how a task should be performed to ensure consistency, quality, and compliance.
- KPIs: Key Performance Indicators – measurable indicators used to monitor performance and progress against objectives.
- ADR: Average Daily Rate – the average room rate paid by guests.
- RevPAR: Revenue per Available Room – a measure combining occupancy and room rate to assess hotel revenue performance.
- Occupancy: The percentage of available rooms that are occupied.
- DOF: Double Occupancy Factor – the average number of guests staying in each occupied room. A DOF of 1.0 means every occupied room has one guest; 2.0 means every occupied room has two guests.
- AGC: Average Guest Check – the average amount spent by each guest in a restaurant, bar, or other food and beverage outlet.
- CRS: Central Reservation System – the central booking system that manages a hotel’s room inventory, rates, and reservations across all sales channels.
- PMS: Property Management System – the software used to manage reservations, guest accounts, and hotel operations.
- OTA: Online Travel Agency – websites such as Booking.com or Expedia that sell hotel rooms on behalf of hotels.
- GDS: Global Distribution System – a worldwide booking network used by travel agents and corporate travel departments to reserve hotel rooms, flights, and other travel services.
- CRM: Customer Relationship Management – systems and processes used to manage guest relationships and marketing.
- F&B: Food & Beverage Department – all restaurant, bar, banquet, room service, and catering operations within a hotel.
- Half-Board: A hotel meal plan that includes breakfast and one additional meal each day, usually dinner. Drinks other than those specifically included are generally charged separately.
- MICE: Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events – the hotel business related to corporate meetings, conferences, exhibitions, and incentive travel.
- ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning – an integrated software system that connects key business functions such as finance, procurement, inventory, human resources, sales, and reporting into a single platform.
- USALI: Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry – the internationally recognised accounting standard used by hotels to measure and compare financial performance.
- GOP: Gross Operating Profit – the operating profit generated by the hotel before management fees, rent, financing costs, depreciation, taxes, and other non-operating expenses.
- EBITDA: Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation – a widely used measure of an organisation’s operating profitability.
- COS: Cost of Sales – the direct cost of producing the goods sold, such as food, beverages, or merchandise, expressed as an amount or percentage of revenue.
- FTE: Full-Time Equivalent – a standard measure of staffing that converts part-time and seasonal employees into the equivalent number of full-time employees.
About the Author
Raoul Gransier is a Senior International Adviser and owner-focused hotelier with more than 30 years of operational and advisory experience in hospitality, tourism, governance, and performance improvement.
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