Hotel Management Positions and Skills
Career Advice / May 30, 2023Table of Contents
There are many career paths you can take within the hospitality industry, including many specifically in hotels. If you are just starting your career in hospitality and interested in mapping out your career goals, or already have experience and are trying to work towards a promotion, it’s helpful to understand what management positions entail and what positions you could work towards.
What Is Hotel Management?
In hotel management positions, you will oversee the operations of different departments in a hotel. Working in hotel management requires experience in a hotel, whether as a front desk agent, housekeeper, or other positions. Many hotel management professionals began in entry-level positions and worked their way up through the industry. Some positions may also require a degree, either a bachelor’s or graduate level.
Hotel Management Positions
If you are planning on pursuing a hotel management career, here are some opportunities you can choose from:
Hotel general managers are responsible for managing day-to-day operations and overseeing other managers from various departments. You will make sure all policies and processes are followed, handle guest complaints, maintain the hotel budgets, and manage all property issues.
As a housekeeping manager, you will be responsible for ensuring compliance with cleanliness and hygiene standards within the hotel. The most common duties include hiring and training housekeeping staff, working with hotel guests to meet their individual needs, overseeing the schedule, and managing inventory.
Catering managers work directly with the catering staff to handle a variety of tasks for food preparation and service. Duties can include coordinating and managing operations, managing. A team of catering professionals, managing food orders, and ensuring quality standards are met.
Human resources managers are responsible for overseeing, directing, and managing all human resources functions. You will work with other department managers in guest services, employee relations, maintaining schedules, and financial operations. HR managers also coordinate, direct, and manage the daily hotel operations and employees.
The sales manager is responsible for achieving the hotel’s financial goals. The sales manager’s duties will be including developing key growth strategies and action plans as well as building relationships, establishing new accounts, maintaining existing accounts, and hiring, training, and supporting the sales leaders.
Front desk managers are responsible for ensuring the operation of the front office and providing all guests with quality services. You will hire, motivate and train guest services personnel, and analyze room rate efficiency.
Finance managers are responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the accounting department, such as preparing and managing the hotel budgets and overseeing all activities relating to the financial aspects. You are also responsible for financial analysis, reporting budgeting, audits, and more. Finance managers also ensure the safekeeping and updating of all legal documents of the financial status of the hotel.
As a food and beverage manager, you would be responsible for hiring, training, and managing all food and beverage staff and keeping the team motivated. F&B managers monitor the effectiveness of the services and products offered and ensure maximum profitability. F&B managers create schedules and conduct pre-shift meetings and reviews with staff. You ensure the cleanliness standards of the hotel are met.
Top Management Skills
Although each management position will require specific skills for the department you are working in, there are some general skills that you will need for all hotel management positions.
Here are some of the top skills to build up if you would like to be in a hotel management position:
- Improve your leadership skills: Leadership is an essential skill for a manager because you will be leading and managing a team. In a management position, you should be willing to listen to feedback from employees and guests and make decisions to resolve any issues. You will be in charge of keeping morale positive and delegating tasks to team members.
- Strengthen your communication skills: Both written and communication skills will be necessary for having a management role. You may. Have to update employees and other department managers on changes, plans of action, and more. You will also be communicating with guests who may have concerns or issues with their service, and managers need to address and resolve any guest concerns.
- Flexibility: As a manager, you will have to handle unforeseen situations that need to quickly be resolved. A manager who can be flexible has the ability to turn around a potentially negative experience.
- Financial management: This is a key skill because most managers will be responsible to manage their department budget. General managers will also typically be in charge of managing the overall hotel budget while working with other department managers to track their expenses.
- Empathy: It’s important for you to be able to understand and relate to the emotions both guests and team members will share with you. Sometimes it includes a bit of reading between the lines to figure out what the real cause of the problem is, and being empathetic can make those interactions a lot smoother.
