Three Growth Levers Hospitality SMEs Can Pull During Uncertain Times

By Matthew Adams-Nel, Managing Director of Hospitality at ClearCourse (https://clearcourse.co.uk/)

Independent hospitality businesses face a lot of uncertainty going into 2026. The U-turn on how business rates are calculated for pubs, alongside new support packages, was a small win for a section of the industry. However, targeted support also needs to be rolled out to restaurants and hotels for the sector to not just survive but thrive.

That’s not to say, though, that there aren’t existing opportunities to be successful. In fact, now more than ever, hospitality businesses need to make sure they’re pulling the growth levers that are within their control to win customer loyalty and stand out from the rest.

The quickest way these businesses can enhance operational success is with integrated management systems that can help them respond to consumer trends, navigate curveballs and protect their bottom line.

This might be with embedded payment solutions that improves service accuracy and speed or flexible management systems that can help leaders jump on consumer trends as they happen and deliver great experiences.

Here are just three ways hospitality businesses – namely hotels and restaurants – can take matters into their own hands to ensure long-term success.

Staying ahead of the trends
Beyond policy changes, consumer trends have a huge impact on the bottom line for hospitality businesses. Trends like ‘Dry January’, for example, can drive demand for more low-to-no beverages at pubs and restaurants, while key moments like Valentine’s Day give hospitality businesses a boost.

With nearly half of customers saying they won’t return to a business after just one bad experience, independent restaurateurs and hoteliers can’t afford to make mistakes or underdeliver when demand changes. This is where technology can support, helping businesses stay agile, maintain a smooth service and deliver a hyper-personalised experience for customers.

Forecasting platforms and centralised data analytics, for example, help business owners take stock and pivot quickly when a new trend emerges. This unified data can help leaders make sure they have enough staff when demand peaks, or ensure they are well stocked in trending beverages to keep customers happy and coming back for more. Joined up booking systems also make last minute changes easy to manage compared to a paper-based or disconnected system.

Having digital systems that speak to one another is critical to avoid booking errors and frustrating guests.

Automating these processes not only reduces friction and improves accuracy for both staff and customers, it helps businesses capitalise on new opportunities and stay competitive.

Payment solutions
Payment systems make a huge difference to customer experiences and business efficiency. It can be a point of frustration for customers and businesses if there are multiple systems to switch between, resulting in clunky consumer experiences and manual reconciliation processes that don’t match up.

Having an embedded payment system ensures everything is done in one place, connecting reporting across all sites (whether that’s room service, or the hotel bar or restaurant) to give leaders a more comprehensive oversight of money flowing in and out of the business.

Beyond financial admin, embedded payment solutions also help make it easier for customers to pay the way they want. During COVID times a push for quick unintegrated order and pay systems has left a legacy of disjointed data and poor experience. Now, we’re seeing businesses adopt a hybrid approach, powered by integrated technology, where customers have the choice to order and pay on their phones or pay on a card machine with a server.

Having embedded, secure payment systems is essential to meeting changing customer expectations, improving the back end of the business so teams can focus on delivering the best experience possible for guests.

Maintaining customer loyalty
Nurturing customer relationships and delivering personalised experiences is essential to getting a business through tough times. In an increasingly digital world, these experiences don’t just start and end when a guest is in your establishment – it extends to before they arrive and when they get home, with digital marketing that confirms reservations and thanks them for their patronage.

To stay ahead of the competition, customers look for that extra layer of care to make their experience that much more special. This is something small businesses do well inherently, building a strong, community-centric customer base and delivering hyper-personalised experiences in person. This can be translated into digital experiences, with gifting options and CRM tools.

In the UK, 75% of consumers prefer businesses that reward their loyalty, and having a smart CRM system means you can track repeat visits and use this data to prompt personalised communications. A great personal touch can be using this tool to monitor when customers have kept their reservation despite wider disruptions – like bad weather or train strikes – and using this data to trigger personalised communications such as thank-you emails, loyalty points, and exclusive discounts to make customers feel appreciated and keep them coming back.

Future proofing your business
Hospitality SMEs are experiencing unprecedented times when it comes to the uncertain business environment. However, that’s not to say there aren’t opportunities for success and growth.

By adopting the right, integrated technology solutions, hospitality businesses can overcome age old challenges that paper-based or disjointed systems are no longer fit to handle.

By making use of specialist software that supports them, hospitality businesses can take control, unlock productivity gains, use data to uncover new ways to deliver great customer experiences and stay one step ahead of the competition.