Interview with Alex Moreno: Practical Design Thinking Workshops for Crisis Management in Boutique Hotels
Alex Moreno has led operations at three boutique hotel brands over the past decade, driving innovation through hands-on design thinking workshops focused on crisis response and recovery. We talked to Alex about what actually works—and what’s just trendy talk—when running these workshops as a mid-level operations professional.
What’s the main value of design thinking workshops during a hotel crisis?
Design thinking often gets billed as this creativity booster, but in a crisis, it’s more about structured collaboration under pressure. From my experience, design thinking workshops help break down silos quickly. They bring front desk, housekeeping, F&B, and management together to solve real problems, rapidly prototype solutions, and figure out what communication works.
For example, during a sudden water outage at a 40-room boutique property last year, one workshop helped the team go from confusion to a clear guest messaging protocol in under 3 hours. That saved time, reduced guest complaints by 30%, and got operations back on track fast.
That said, if your team isn’t trained in the basics of facilitation or doesn’t have clear roles ahead of time, these workshops can descend into chaos. So, preparation is key.
How do you run a design thinking workshop focused specifically on crisis response?
I break it down into four practical steps:
Set a clear, focused goal: Define the crisis scenario upfront. For boutique hotels, this could be anything from a kitchen fire to a sudden COVID-related staff shortage. Be specific. Vague goals like “improve guest experience” waste time.
Gather a cross-functional team: Don’t just invite managers. Include frontline staff who interact directly with guests — front desk agents, housekeeping leads, even part-time F&B workers. They see pain points no one else does.
Map the guest and staff journey during the crisis: Using tools like journey mapping, chart out every touchpoint affected. Where are the bottlenecks? Communication breakdowns? Use sticky notes or digital tools like Miro for remote teams.
Rapid ideation and prototyping: Focus on quick, low-res prototypes. For example, drafting a new guest notification template or a checklist for emergency room clearing. Test those ideas by role-playing or running quick A/B tests during operations.
In boutique operations, where budgets and resources are tight, these quick experiments matter more than long reports. One workshop I led cut average guest wait-time post-check-in from 15 minutes to 7 by simply redesigning the luggage hold process.
Which design thinking tools do you find most effective in crisis workshops?
Journey mapping is essential—it helps visualize where the crisis impacts guests and staff. For communications, empathy maps reveal what guests think and feel in those stressful moments.
When it comes to feedback collection, I often recommend Zigpoll alongside tools like Typeform or SurveyMonkey. Zigpoll’s quick pulse surveys are ideal for real-time guest sentiment during recovery phases.
Also, don’t underestimate the power of simple affinity diagrams. Grouping staff feedback quickly helps identify recurring issues without getting bogged down in semantics.
What common mistakes do mid-level ops professionals make when running these workshops?
A big one is trying to cover too much ground in a single session. Crisis management demands rapid decisions, so keep workshops laser-focused on a single problem—be it guest communication or supply chain interruption.
Another is skipping the “define” phase. Jumping straight into solutions without clarifying the problem causes wasted energy and frustration. One boutique hotel I worked with tried redesigning check-in during a power outage without first understanding the bottleneck was actually in guest messaging.
Also, don’t make the mistake of treating these workshops as “one and done.” Crisis scenarios evolve, so repeat workshops or quick follow-ups are necessary to iterate solutions.
Can you share a concrete example of how a design thinking workshop improved crisis recovery in boutique hotels?
Absolutely. At a seaside boutique hotel in 2023, a major storm caused flooding and forced an evacuation. The ops team ran a design thinking workshop immediately after to address guest communication and staff coordination failures experienced during the event.
They:
- Created a new standardized evacuation script for front desk agents.
- Developed a simple app notification template tested with a subset of guests.
- Redesigned the staff call-out system using WhatsApp groups segmented by department.
Within 48 hours, guest satisfaction scores on crisis communication improved from 62% to 84% (according to post-stay Zigpoll surveys). Staff reported feeling more confident and less overwhelmed, which sped up recovery.
How do you balance speed and depth in these workshops?
Crisis response demands speed, but shallow solutions can backfire. The trick is to timebox each phase: 15 minutes to define, 30 for ideation, 20 for prototyping. Then, test in real-world conditions immediately.
The downside is your team might miss deeper systemic issues if you focus only on immediate fixes. That’s why follow-up workshops scheduled a week or two post-crisis are helpful for root cause analysis.
How does boutique hotel culture influence the success of design thinking workshops?
Boutique hotels often have a more intimate, entrepreneurial culture compared to big chains. This agility can help, but it can also mean informal processes and unclear ownership.
In my experience, success comes when the ops lead explicitly assigns roles during workshops—who facilitates, who documents, who drives implementation. Otherwise, enthusiasm fizzles out quickly.
The personal, guest-centric nature of boutique hotels also means that including guest-facing staff in workshops matters a lot. They’re your eyes and ears on the ground during crises.
What are some advanced tactics for ops pros who want to improve their workshop impact?
Pre-workshop pulse surveys: Use tools like Zigpoll 2-3 days before the session to gather anonymous input on the crisis pain points from staff and guests. This primes the discussion and surfaces blind spots.
Scenario simulation: Run tabletop exercises that simulate the crisis scenario you’re tackling. This makes ideation concrete and reveals operational gaps.
Visual dashboards: After the workshop, create simple dashboards tracking key indicators like guest complaints, resolution time, and staff availability to monitor progress on solutions.
Cross-property sharing: If your company runs multiple boutique hotels, share workshop outcomes across properties. Sometimes a solution at one site can be adapted quickly elsewhere.
Are there situations where design thinking workshops don’t work well for crisis management?
Yes. If your crisis demands immediate, top-down decisions—like a fire evacuation—you don’t have time for workshops. Also, if staff morale is too low or there’s deep mistrust between departments, workshops can just surface conflict instead of solutions.
Lastly, if your team isn’t trained in the basics of design thinking facilitation, the workshop risks becoming a pointless brainstorming session.
Final practical tips to get started tomorrow
- Start small: Run a 1-hour workshop tackling a recent minor disruption rather than a massive crisis.
- Keep it visual: Use sticky notes, whiteboards, or digital tools to map problems together.
- Rotate facilitators: Give different team members chances to lead workshops, building skills and engagement.
- Follow up: Schedule a quick 15-minute post-workshop check-in to review progress and adjust plans.
- Use guest feedback smartly: Incorporate real-time tools like Zigpoll to measure guest reactions to changes.
Design thinking workshops aren’t magic wands but, when done well, they turn crises into opportunities to improve how your boutique hotel runs—and how your team communicates under pressure.
Comparison: Design Thinking vs. Traditional Crisis Meetings
| Aspect | Design Thinking Workshop | Traditional Crisis Meeting |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Problem definition + rapid solution testing | Status updates + action assignments |
| Team Composition | Cross-functional, including frontline staff | Mostly management |
| Pace | Fast, timeboxed phases | Often longer, open-ended |
| Outcome | Prototypes, tested ideas | Decisions, directives |
| Communication Flow | Collaborative, visual | Top-down, verbal |
| Follow-up | Planned iterative sessions | Often ad hoc or missing |
A 2024 Hospitality Trends Report by Boutique Hotel Insights found that properties running design thinking workshops for crisis management saw a 22% faster recovery time and 18% higher guest satisfaction post-crisis compared to those relying on traditional meetings alone.
If your boutique hotel hasn’t tried this approach, it’s worth experimenting with. The key is keeping it grounded, focused, and inclusive—especially when the pressure is on.
