A supplier’s promise to provide “prompt support” is difficult to manage when an air-conditioning fault affects occupied rooms or a booking system stops working overnight. A service-level agreement turns expectations into definitions, measurements and a route for resolving repeated failures.
Contract terms should be adapted to the service, supplier and applicable Portuguese law. Review the Feathers Hospitality management approach, explore the operational platform, and speak with the team about supplier and operational oversight.
At a glance
- Define what counts as an incident and when the clock starts.
- Separate acknowledgement, response, workaround and restoration.
- Review evidence and escalation when performance falls short.
Describe the service and its operating window
List systems, locations, hours, users and dependencies covered by the agreement. State whether service is needed around the clock or only during defined hours, and how holidays or planned maintenance are handled. A vague scope can create disputes before performance is measured.
Identify the supplier and hotel responsibilities. For example, the hotel may need to provide safe access, an incident number or a local contact before a technician can attend. These dependencies should be explicit and practical to meet.
Use clear incident categories
Define priority levels by operational impact, affected rooms, safety risk and availability of a workaround. Give examples so the front desk, maintenance team and supplier classify a failure consistently. Avoid making every incident “critical” because that makes prioritisation meaningless.
State what evidence starts the response clock, such as a logged call or portal ticket, and whether time is measured in calendar or business hours. Define what happens if the reporting system itself is unavailable.
Separate response from resolution
A supplier acknowledgement is not the same as diagnosing a fault, attending the property or restoring service. Set distinct targets for acknowledgement, initial action, onsite attendance, workaround and restoration where each matters to the hotel.
Some problems cannot be fully resolved within a short period because of parts or specialist access. In those cases, require a safe interim plan, an update cadence and an estimated next step rather than accepting an open ticket with no communication.
Choose a small set of useful measures
Track service availability, response and restoration times, repeat incidents, unresolved backlog and completeness of reports where these relate to the service. Define the calculation, exclusions, evidence source, review period and minimum acceptable performance for each measure.
Government procurement guidance recommends linking KPIs to contract objectives and assessing them during delivery. That is a public-sector comparator, not Portuguese law; the useful principle is to measure outcomes that matter to this hotel and can be verified.
Agree escalation and remedies before a failure
Name operational and management contacts, escalation intervals and what happens after repeated or severe breaches. Clarify service credits, corrective plans, termination rights or other remedies only as agreed in the contract and reviewed for legal suitability.
Provide a route for urgent incidents outside the normal account-management hours. Check that the supplier’s subcontractors, parts chain and regional coverage can support the response level promised for the property’s location.
Review performance with evidence
Hold regular reviews using ticket records, timestamps, hotel impact, supplier explanations and open actions. Distinguish a true supplier miss from incomplete reporting, unavailable site access or an incident outside scope, while recording any disagreement.
Update the agreement when the system, operating hours or risk changes. Keep the signed version, service catalogue, contacts and measurement definitions together so a new manager can verify expectations without relying on an informal email.
Frequently asked questions
Should every supplier contract include an SLA?
Not necessarily. Use a formal service-level schedule when service availability, response or recovery has material operational consequences. For low-impact purchases, simpler acceptance and support terms may be enough.
Which response time should I require?
Set it from the likely impact, available workaround, operating hours and supplier capability. A generic target borrowed from another contract may be impossible or unnecessary for this service.