Your manager must be successful for your resort, hotel, or motel to succeed. A hotel manager’s job can be varied. They may work on the ground with front desk staff or analyze numbers and reports. They need to have a broad skill set, knowledge of how things work, and how to make a profit.
Not everyone is a natural at numbers and sales, so a manager in a hotel is often needed support. We’re sharing our top tips for keeping your hotel manager on task and setting goals for your motel, resort or hotel.
These are tips that we have compiled over 20 years of working behind the scenes to keep operations running smoothly.
Find a person who can motivate staff and keep customers happy.
Although most skills can be learned, some skills are easier to learn. To ensure that they don’t demotivate or ruin the culture of your resort, hotel, or motel, your hotel manager must be a good fit for your culture. The best hotel managers are people-people-people-people who have a great understanding of the needs and values of their staff, from the cleaners to the chef to gardeners to the chefs to the cleaners. They also know how to keep them happy. Your manager must also understand your guests’ needs and help them resolve any issues. This will prevent you from getting poor reviews.
Set KPIs and communicate with your hotel business plan
A business plan is essential for every hotel. It should cover everything, from sales to marketing and operations. A plan will make it impossible for your manager and the hotel to succeed. The plan must be implemented to make the hotel a success. Make sure you communicate your hotel business plan to the manager and establish key performance indicators (KPIs).
Tell your manager about the larger picture.
It is easy to get lost in the shuffle of your day-to-day tasks. As such, a hotel business plan can be a great asset. This plan will give your manager a direction and a goal to follow. Your manager should keep this plan in mind whenever they do calculations to determine opportunities for profit increases with dynamic revenue management and cost controls. Your manager might not be a numbers person. That’s okay. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. We can help your hotel manager stay on the right track to profitability.
Encourage and build confidence in their decision-making.
The hotel manager is the one in charge. They must feel confident and able to make quick decisions. A hotel manager and owner must have a high level of trust. Your top employee should feel comfortable making decisions for you and the hotel’s best interests in mind. Regular communication with your manager is a great way to achieve this. Training is another option.
Upskill your boss
Your hotel manager should be a Swiss Army knife in terms of training. They must handle any situation with the right tools, knowledge, and support. A self-motivated hotel manager is eager to learn and keep up with the latest trends. If a staff member meets their KPIs or any other goals, training can be a great way to reward them.
Help them manage time.
Everyone has a time management problem. Your hotel manager will likely be caught between competing tasks. They can’t sit in an office all day, but they also know that spending too much time wandering around the hotel isn’t productive. Your manager should set clear expectations about how they will split their time. To fully understand day-to-day operations, make sure your manager has the time to read and discuss the revenue reports and daily statistics. They must also make time to learn and stay current with hotel trends.
Help them succeed
Managers in hotels have many responsibilities, goals and tasks that they need to keep track of. Managers need to have a wide range of skills. We’ve seen that most managers can’t manage everything, from operations to revenue to sales to marketing to staff. This is not all bad news. It’s not possible to expect someone who excels at managing on-the-ground operations also to be a master of room revenue management. Instead, a good general manager has a network of support that they can rely on to build a profitable and successful hotel. We work with managers to provide them with access to marketing, finance, and sales experts. We can help them with their weaknesses if they are not people.
Could you give them the tools they need to succeed?.
Your hotel can be in trouble if something goes wrong. Your manager may be brilliant or average at monitoring and balancing numbers, but we are all human and make mistakes. The right software and systems to manage revenue, bookings, and finances can streamline your work and reduce errors. Daily reports are the best way to keep track of your data and ensure success. Although it takes time to set up automated reports, it will pay off long-term. We can help with this – we have the tool to collect daily data on accommodation, food and beverage.
Make sure that they have a safe place to work.
We often see a gap in the skills of hotel managers when it comes to workplace safety and health (WHS). The safety and well-being of staff are vital. Although the consequences can be serious, managers often lack the knowledge and skills to implement a WHS plan. Every plan must assess, evaluate, and implement workplace safety through the hotel’s leadership. It should cover everything from contractor management to incident reporting to data management, risk management, data control, safety standards, emergency and environmental management. If you need assistance in creating and implementing a plan that meets industry standards and conforms, reach out.
Your brand ambassador is your manager.
Your hotel manager must live the culture of your hotel. Every move they make is a reflection of your hotel brand. Both guests and staff will be affected by their actions. The hotel manager must communicate brand values, information and messages down the line while maintaining a sense of pride at work.
Reward your staff
It is crucial to create a work environment where employees feel valued and contribute their ideas. Hospitality is known for its rapid staff turnover. So find ways to reward loyalty and recognize a job well done. These will motivate your employees and give them a sense of worth beyond their fortnightly paycheck. You can reward your employees with encouragement and cash bonuses or as little as a thank you gift or written feedback via email. Although we all need constructive criticism to improve our work, it is less common for bosses and managers to give positive feedback or comments.
