You’ve finally achieved your goal. You’ve worked your way up to hotel manager after years of working long, low-paying hours as a bellhop or concierge. You’re the one in charge now. It’s also frightening.
Matter of fact, there are a lot of people who rely on you. The visitors are counting on you to make their stay enjoyable. Your team members rely on you for instructions in order to complete their tasks. Most importantly, the owner expects you to achieve revenue targets. There are no justifications.
However don’t fret, you’ll be fine. Having worked in travel and hospitality service management for so many years is what initially made you an attractive hire as a hotel manager.
So take a deep breath, trust in your abilities, and remember these hospitality management suggestions for newbies. Story Hospitality, a hospitality and facility management company gathered some of the best hotel management information from a variety of outstanding online resources and has presented it below.
Look for a mentor
Mentors, particularly those with experience in hotel hospitality companies, are an incredible resource. It is indeed one thing to learn about the business in a textbook; it’s quite another to have a conversation about it with somebody who understands what they’re speaking about and genuinely wants you to thrive.
How do you find a great mentor if you don’t know anyone? It’s all right. All you have to do now is find somebody, which isn’t as difficult as you might believe.
Ask a hotel manager you respect to meet you for coffee through your business network. Ask some of your most profound questions and really listen to the answers you receive.
If they were only asked, many managers in the hospitality management companies in Dubai would gladly serve as a mentor to someone. Most people will be flattered to be approached, even if they are complete strangers at first. And, besides, saying “no” is the worst thing they can do.
Instead of focusing on management, concentrate on leadership.
Certainly, it is stated in your job description. However, you’re not really doing a good job as a hotel manager if all you do is manage. You must be a leader, and this necessitates being proactive in your commitment to your work rather than just responding to each issue that arises.
Delegation is one of the most important aspects of being a successful leader. You may free up time for the more important things by utilizing the excellent personnel you hired. Although delegation is not easy at first, you have to work hard at it. Until your employees can handle the job, you will have to develop training materials and walk them through them step by step.
So that your employees know exactly what you want from them, your training materials should include clearly stated objectives and performance measurements. Set up weekly or biweekly meetings with each individual employee to ensure that they are achieving the objectives. Remember to provide lovely small bonuses after they are met so it becomes a positive and motivational experience for everyone.
Being prepared for emergencies is another aspect of being a good leader. You must stay calm and efficient when a crisis occurs.
Suppose you’ve overbooked this evening and a guest isn’t happy because they can’t get a room. Give the guest a complimentary drink and call about to find a neighboring hotel accommodation that is even nicer than what they booked, pay for it out of your own money, sincerely apologize, and personally take them to the other hotel. Then, if they decide to visit the area again, consider giving them some coupons redeemable at your hotel.
Make careful hiring decisions.
The success of a hotel manager depends on the team they lead. At a fast food, you’re not going to hire a line cook to operate an idiot-proof system. People need to be both extremely skilled and incredibly charming when you hire them.
You will be extremely frustrated if you hire the wrong individual. It’s already a difficult task for you. You may forget about managing a hotel if you have to clean up after another employee’s mistakes.
Competent employees, on the other hand, multiply their impact. If you have enough faith in your personnel to delegate decision-making responsibility. That allows you to focus on the tasks that will help your hotel prosper, such as interacting with guests and promoting the property.
How do you go about doing it, though? One thing to remember is don’t just hire just because you have a vacancy. When you do, you’ll be pressured to fill the vacancy and won’t take some time to comb over applications to discover someone who not only has the essential experience but also has the necessary skills and abilities.
Rather, hire year-round to allow you to identify top performers who will make your work more efficient and drive your hotel visitors to brag about you afterward.
Communicate
Although this may be considered a subcategory of leadership, I believe it is such a crucial component of your profession that it deserves its own category.
Whether it’s a policy change, new hotel management companies’ software, or a plumbing issue, you must keep your employees informed. They are more likely to make mistakes, which leads to angry guests, which leads to negative reviews, which leads to fewer reservations if your employees are in the dark. It really is crucial.
Regular meetings with specific members of your workforce, as previously noted, might be beneficial. However, you must go further. Discuss all changes, no matter how small, with the entire team on a regular basis.
Email your staff regularly. Post announcements on a bulletin board that is visible to all employees. Alternatively, you might look for a hotel management app that allows you to send direct messages to any hotel employee.
Pay attention to your guests.
Who is the best person to speak with about how well your hotel is operated? That’s not you, you’re a bad critic of yourself. The same can be said for your team, they may only offer a limited perspective from their standpoint.
It’s your hotel guests. The only thing that really matters is their opinion at the end of the day. Therefore talk to them whenever you have the chance. Is there a guest complaint about your hotel on the internet? Excellent! You’ve just identified a flaw that you can address, and you have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reach out to the guest and rectify the situation. If they don’t like their experience, many guests simply leave discreetly and never return.
However, instead of reacting, take the initiative. Carry out guest surveys to learn more about their stay. Utilize hospitality management companies software that includes a guest experience management tool to keep track of visitor preferences and impress them with a customized experience when they return to the hotel.
Use social media to market your hotel and communicate with clients on a daily basis.
Continue to learn
The world’s most successful individuals all have one common characteristic: they read quite a lot. There’s a great deal of information out there to digest, and those who consume as much as they can have an advantage over the other 99 percent.
Take a half-hour each day to stay up to date on industry news. What you pick up over the week will surprise you. Every day, set aside some time to read a book about resort management companies and the hotel industry. After a year, you will have read 3,650 pages, or about ten large books, if you read 10 pages per day.
If you absorb this much industry knowledge each year, consider how much of an advantage you’ll have over your competitors.
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