10 Top Hotel Management Career Tips
Career Advice / November 15, 2022Table of Contents
- Include Your Employees
- Exemplify Your Best Qualities
- Hire the Right Staff
- Address Issues Head On
- Exude Good Customer Service Skills
- Create an Exciting Environment for Workers
- Make Sure Your Employees Are Good Communicators
- Don’t Alienate Your Employees
- Address Concerns
- Know When to Bring Up Issues
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, hotel managers make a median salary of $59,430 per year. A career in hotel management is both lucrative and rewarding. Not only do hotel managers have the opportunity to travel, but they also have the opportunity to climb the chain of command into upper management or executive positions. In order to make the best of your career as a hotel manager, you’ll need a variety of skills that work for the best of the business, your employees, guests, and higher management. Below are 10 tips for a successful career as a hotel manager.
1. Include Your Employees
Employees work better under management when the manager works with them instead of over them. Although a manager must maintain a certain degree of superiority, there is a significant difference between working with staff and making the staff work for you. Remember the goal of management is to run the hotel and keep the guests happy. You and your staff must work together to complete this task.
2. Exemplify Your Best Qualities
Are you a good multi-tasker? Are you good at making plans? Or perhaps marketing is your forte; whatever your strengths are in management, use them to your ability to run the hotel. Your employees will follow your example, so the benefit doesn’t just stop at you.
3. Hire the Right Staff
Write down your goals and objectives in management. What does the hotel need? What type of guests normally visit your hotel? Make sure your employees have skills and experience working in the field of hospitality as well as skills working with the type of guests you provide services for.
4. Address Issues Head On
If you have an employee who consistently shows up late or one who doesn’t do their job as requested, tackle it right away to keep issues from spiraling out of control. If there’s a new objective in mind for the hotel, make sure you let your employees know about it immediately.
5. Exude Good Customer Service Skills
Giving the customer what they want isn’t all that the “customer is always right” motto is about. In fact, following this motto means providing the services that the customer needs while upholding the hotel’s name and standards. You’ll need to be able to work quickly to address the guest’s needs and have the skills it takes to deal with a variety of situations.
6. Create an Exciting Environment for Your Workers
Although it is important to maintain a professional working environment, it is also good to give your workers incentive to continue doing the work efficiently. This could be in the form of contests, bonuses, or a simple warm-up meeting before work.
7. Make Sure Your Employees are Good Communicators
Continuously remind your employees that the customer is the central key to the hotel’s success. Make sure they have proper communication and listening skills so that the customers feel their requests are not only heard but cared about. The Small Business Association recommends following the cardinal rule “treat customers how you want to be treated.” However, when dealing with international guests, it is best to learn about their culture and “treat them the way they want to be treated.”
8. Don’t Alienate Your Employees
The last thing you want to do as a manager is to alienate your employees. Your employees work very hard to help you complete your daily goals, so it’s only fair to celebrate the accomplishment of these goals with your employees. This boosts their self-esteem and helps them to accomplish further goals. HMG Hotels recommends making yourself clear so that everyone understands what needs to be done; this cuts down any confusion that can manifest itself as further problems.
9. Address Concerns
If an employee comes to you and complains about an irate customer, issues related to other employees, or their job description, simply write the issues down and talk with them about the problem, but also listen to their concerns. This is the only way to successfully address the issue and problem-solve it effectively.
10. Know When to Bring up Issues
The key here is to praise your employee for any good they’ve done, but reprimand them in private. This way they feel their privacy is being respected and they’ll be more likely to follow your directions and work harder.