Spotlight: What I Do As a Hotel Manager
How difficult is it to run a hotel? It’s all just folding towels and changing sheets, right? When you increase this to hundreds of rooms where guests come and go every day of the week, resource management – both labor and bedding – can get pretty chaotic.
To find out more about what it’s like to run a hotel, we spoke to a young Louisiana manager who literally started out as a valet and worked his way up.
Tell us a little about yourself and your experience.
I’m in my early twenties and work in a large hotel with 150+ rooms in a large Louisiana city. My official title is Operations Manager. I have worked in hotels since 2007, first as a valet and bellboy at a 200-room corporate resort in coastal Alabama for two years, then at the front desk of a small independent hotel. After that, I worked as a front desk agent at a corporate 300 room hotel in Dallas, where I was promoted to front desk manager, and finally moved to Louisiana a year ago. I started working at my current hotel as a front desk manager and was promoted to operations manager a couple of months later. I have been living in this hotel for a year.
What prompted you to choose your career path?
Nothing led me on this career path other than the need for money for beer. I lived with my parents at the time I started working in my first hotel as a valet valet, and since then I continue to work in hotels because you meet a lot of interesting people all the time. This is my number one reason why I continue to work in hotels. You meet amazing people. It is never boring in a hotel in the city or in a resort.
Even if you don’t think you are pursuing a career in hospitality, hotels provide opportunities to connect with people from all walks of life who work in all possible fields and who could possibly help you land your dream job. The nature of business is that there are always people who check and new people are checked. I realized that I truly thrive in a fast-paced environment where you need to make hasty judgments and act on the fly. I have also learned that if you want to be successful in a hotel career, you need to have a strong sense of professionalism, a willingness to do whatever it takes to provide excellent service, and the ability to anticipate people’s needs. All this comes easily to me.
How did you get a job? What kind of education and experience did you need?
To get my first hotel job, I just stopped by and applied. Getting an entry-level position is easy. To become an operations manager, you usually require a bachelor’s degree in hospitality / business management or, like me, a monstrous work ethic, a willingness to exceed expectations, work overtime, and volunteer for hotel-related tasks. outside of your job description.
Do you need any licenses or certificates?
I didn’t need any licenses or certifications to get the job, but if you become a corporate hotel manager, you will need to complete at least three different training sessions a year on everything from hurricane procedures, fire procedures, and medical examinations. , corporate responsibility, hotel standards, employee training, etc.
What do you actually spend most of your time on?
I spend most of my time supervising staff in different departments and making sure everything is ready for check-in. Imagine you are hosting a dinner party at your home. You will probably clean thoroughly before the party, make sure you have towels in the bathroom, and make sure you have enough food and drinks for all of your friends and guests. You should also consider that everyone has different tastes and preferences, so you probably want variety. You will also make sure that the house smells, looks great and has a welcoming atmosphere, because you want to make the best possible impression, right? Then your guests come and you want everyone to be happy, comfortable, and having a good time. In this case, you need to ensure that dinner is ready on time. If you run out of ice or ice, you may have to run to the corner store to get more. Once the party is over and your guests have gone home, you need to clean up the mess. Maybe someone drank too much, or he’s just an asshole, broke one of your lamps and vomited in the bathroom, or took your favorite pillow home without telling you, or there are dirt marks on the carpet. This is the worst part of the party, but it has to be done. Now imagine repeating this process every single day, and you have over 100 bedrooms and 200 guests, all of them sleeping and wanting to have breakfast in the morning. This is what running a hotel is like.
Among other things, I have to make sure my employees are happy because they are just as important as the guests. If you check into a hotel with disgruntled staff, it will show. So I have to make sure everyone reports any concerns or opinions; this includes daily meetings with the heads of each department. I can’t do all of this alone, so I need to train all employees to think the way I think and also make sure they have all the tools they need to get their jobs done.
What misconceptions do people often have about your job?
I think people have two biggest misconceptions about hotels: First, every hotel secretly reserves one or two rooms in reserve in case President Obama or Kanye West suddenly and unexpectedly turns up. It is not true. Most hotels never do this because it is advisable to rent out every room every night. An empty room is more expensive than renting it. I had people standing at the front desk when I was working nights when we were 100% full and for five minutes insisted that I had an empty room that I just didn’t tell them about. Therefore, if a front desk employee tells you that they have no rooms to rent, you must trust them because they are telling the truth.
The exceptions are numbers that are out of order; rooms can be disabled and left empty for a variety of reasons. Sometimes this is a serious problem, such as a leaking ceiling or a broken water pipe, or a lack of heat, and sometimes a minor problem, such as a bathtub being repainted or the TV is broken. These numbers are negotiable. I’ll rent you a room without a TV or a shower at a discounted price if you look desperate, but not a room with a broken plumbing or no heating because I don’t want to give you the opportunity to sue. So it doesn’t hurt to ask about broken rooms when the hotel is fully booked.
The second misconception is that you shouldn’t tip the hotel staff or just certain employees, or you shouldn’t tip at certain hotels. Not true. Tipping is everything. Tipping fairly and consistently will open up a whole new world of service and respect. Seasoned travelers know this, but the average Joe doesn’t. It doesn’t even have to be a lot. If you tip the driver two or three dollars every time you see him during your stay, he will remember you and take extra care of your car. He will park it next to the front door so he can quickly pick it up for you while the rest of the non-dumpers will wait for their cars and he will park it away from places where it might get scratched or scratched. … Even in busy hotels, the valet has downtime, so he might even show his gratitude by washing his hands. If you tip the front desk staff all the time, they can upgrade you to a suite for free or make sure you are taken care of faster than other guests.
I once had a guest who constantly tipped me when he checked into my hotel and as a result I made sure that I always had a higher category room for him or restaurant reservations in a city where it was impossible to get pre order. j. Even if you are not interested in these perks, you should still tip because it is a decent human act and most employees are paid a small hourly rate. Especially the housekeepers. If you don’t tip anyone, tip them because they are the hardest working people in the hotel and they wash your dirty, smelly sheets, so leave them a five dollar bill on the nightstand at least before you leave.
What’s your average uptime?
On average, I work six days a week, 12-16 hours a day. Hotels are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. So I’m always in touch in case of emergency, unless I’m in town.
What personal tips and shortcuts have made your job easier?
Well, it helps to have the right attitude and very thick skin. If you are easily offended, shy, have anger management issues, or are impatient, this industry is probably not for you. (The exceptions are cooks and chefs — the best of them, in my experience, are always angry.) Many people can be rude, disrespectful, demanding, and sometimes downright insane. You hang out with many of these people on any given day, and it can easily tire you out if you don’t have thick skin. I used to let these people get to me and I was very unhappy as a result, but I learned to just let it slide and now my job is much easier. You must understand that people’s problems with hotels have nothing to do with you personally in 99% of cases, so it’s ridiculous to take it personally, and everything can be corrected in one way or another.
Countless times the guests shouted in my face and even sometimes threatened with violence because of something that someone did or something completely beyond my control, but I remained calm and just listened to them, letting them know that I was listening, and in in the end they also calmed down. On the other hand, I once had an employee who worked the night shift and was always on edge; if someone was angry, he too was angry and argued with them. If they were screaming, he would start screaming too. In the end, we had to let him go because he had terrible human skills and we got tons of complaints. Even if the guest is wrong, as you know, it is not your job to prove that he is wrong. Your job is to make a difference and make them happy so that they have a great experience and tell all their friends how great they had a great time at our hotel. So thick skin and a positive Zen attitude.
What are you doing differently from your colleagues or colleagues in the same profession?
Some operations managers like to sit in their office all day, chatting with employees on the radio, hiding from real events “in front of the house,” or trying to do things on their own – or waiting for problems to arise and then panic. solve them. I worked in front of the house, so I like to be there. I either stand at the front desk, greet guests when they arrive, help the front desk with check-in, guide and motivate staff, walk around the hotel and check every conceivable detail to prevent problems, and delegate tasks to the appropriate department, whether it’s maintenance. , housekeeping or something else.
I trust the heads of my departments, I expect a lot from them, and they know it. I’m not a bully, but they know that if they don’t, I’ll find someone to do it. It is so simple. So I’m not trying to do everything myself. I talk to guests and listen to their opinions, good and bad, and I talk to my staff in the same way. It is much easier to be nice to people, work with them and build relationships, trust and loyalty than sitting in isolation in the back office, ruling with an iron fist from an ivory tower. Sometimes I need to sit in the office for a few hours, but most of the time I don’t stop moving.
What’s the worst part of a job and how do you deal with it?
The worst part of my job is that I work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This is really tiring. Sometimes I just wish we could lock the front door and turn off the phones for two days. You sacrifice time with friends and family and / or you burn out and develop bad habits to cope with if you’re not careful. In my experience, the best way to deal with this is to actively seek a balanced life. Sometimes it’s easier than others. I have to remind myself to keep the boundaries between home and work. On weekends, I try to relax, and because I trust my department leaders, I know that sometimes I can turn off my phone and be sure that the hotel will work fine without me.
What is the most enjoyable part of the job?
The best part of the job is all the characters that work there. Sometimes a celebrity or a group stays with us, and sometimes you can witness their weird quirks and find that they like exactly six pillows on their bed and need access to grape popsicles 24 hours a day. Or you can just tell the story of how you met them and shook their hand. In any case, this is satisfactory. I also get free tickets to events and concerts and free dinners at great restaurants all the time because they want you to advertise them to your guests. The employee discount at any hotel in my chain is good too. There is always something happening and there are new people to meet. It is really impossible to get bored, and I am not forced to sit in the office all day.
What advice can you give to people who visit your hotel?
Remember that you are not the only guest at the hotel and be patient. Politeness and understanding will get you what you want much faster than being ugly towards employees. We try our best, but many people ask us all at the same time. Also, don’t argue with the front desk staff about your grade when there are people waiting to check in. This front desk agent is not allowed to change your rating, and you make everyone in the lobby angry. Just keep moving, and when it gets slow, ask to speak to a manager.
How much money can you expect at your job?
Money is ok when you are a manager. It’s not great, but as I mentioned, there are perks. Most operations managers expect to receive about $ 35,000 in medical benefits and two weeks of paid vacation in their first year. After that, if you play your cards right and are a good negotiator, you can get more. Some go up to 100 thousand dollars – it depends on the city and the owners of the hotel.
How are you progressing in your field?
Politically, this can be very ruthless in most of the hotels I’ve worked in. In some places, you can go upstairs by contacting the hosts or throwing colleagues under the bus. I moved up without a BS policy and being hardworking, reliable, persistent, respectful, professional, and willing to volunteer for tasks outside the scope of my job description. I was always ready to help the housekeepers make beds, do the laundry, wipe up spills, clean the pool, change the light bulb or whatever if it serves the interests of the hotel. It is a longer journey than some of the other lifts, but it is more satisfying.
What do your customers underestimate / overestimate?
Hotel customers (or “guests” as they are called in the industry) underestimate how hard we work to make you as comfortable and happy as possible. With a few exceptions, any problems that arise are not intentional. If you have any questions or problems, please inform the manager. We have many responsibilities and cannot read minds, no matter how hard we try. We will do our best to solve your problem and make you happy. This is our job. Please don’t get caught up in a problem or concern and then speak up about it on a review website. These reviews on Travelocity, Priceline, Yelp, etc. are having a huge impact on business these days. They affect the work and life of real people. I promise if you have a problem and let us know before you leave, we will do our best to make you happy. Also, don’t lie or make up non-existent problems to try to get a room discount. You will make us angry and we will remember you.
What advice would you give to those who want to become your profession?
This is not for everyone. Some people are unwilling or unable to deal with the people, problems and stress that I face every day. This is fine. The clock really sucks and some people are assholes, but on days when everything works like a well-oiled machine and everyone is smiling and having a great time working here, this can seem like a big party. As long as you have a great attitude that extends to everyone around you, that’s really the key.
This interview has been edited for clarity.