Hotel Manager - your staff is only as good as you
A company is only as good as its employees. Hiring the best people - sometimes called talent or even human capital - is one aspect. But showing them the ropes once they’re on board is another. There’s a lot at stake: It was Mahatma Gandhi who said “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”. With utmost respect for the great man, let me slightly twist it for those managing employees in the hospitality industry, to read “You must be the change you wish to see in your staff”.
In my time I’ve encountered several managers who demonstrated “active nonaction”, i.e. feigning concern when hotel standards are not being followed by their employees. And these were managers who never bothered that these mis-steps by staff kept recurring - because they themselves were never consistent in what they did.
Rushing from meeting to meeting, checking their email constantly, extinguishing fire after fire, and making countless phone calls they exhibited an astonishing amount of fast-moving, non productive activity. In reality, these are managers who suffer from low levels of both energy and focus; failing to raise the level of performance or engage with strategy – they follow the ordinary routines of chugging along the business without much managerial oversight.
Last month, I made a room reservation at a star class hotel in Colombo via the telephone. This was around the same time that this hotel proudly splashed the news that it had won the Gold award for “Leading City Hotel”, at a regional Travel Awards event held in India. Great, I thought to myself, as I called that Monday, to secure a room for the upcoming weekend.
I had to make two calls to eventually book the room. My first call was transferred to the hotel reservationist, by the person who picked the phone, and went unanswered for 15 rings before I rang off. The second call, which I made immediately thereafter, was answered by the same voice, who when I explained, “no one answered my earlier call which you transferred to reservations’, blithely replied, “The reservationist must have left the desk…let me transfer this call now as I think he is back at his seat”. Mind you, no apology was tendered. He was right though, as the reservationist was back at his seat to pick up the phone on the 4th ring.
To cut a long story short, my room booking was eventually made, and the reservationist promised to send me an email confirming it. By Wednesday, as I still had not received it, I contacted the hotel manager, who when told of this, assured me that he would check and call me back. Not hearing from him after twenty four hours, I phoned the hotel and spoke to a receptionist who assured me that my booking had been made and was showing on-the-system.
On the day we checked in, around 2.30 p.m. there were three desk clerks behind the counter –no one greeted us, when we walked up to the desk, until I said “Good A’noon”. It took well over 15 minutes registration. The tiny room we went into had two bags of tea and one teaspoon in the tea maker tray, stationery sans any pen or paper, and no bathmat, The personalised ‘welcome message’ on TV - was addressed not to us , but to the hotel’s manager!. Incidentally, after returning home and at the time of writing this article, I‘m still awaiting that call from the hotel manager to let me know about the unsent confirmation on my booking!
Dining meant sitting at supposedly ‘set’ tables, where, for my cover my side-plate, dinner knife and fork were missing: my wife though was luckier missing only the fork. I had to request the server to bring the soup ladle as well as ask the for dessert spoons after dishing out our dessert. The food (buffet) was tasty and the kitchen staff including the chef engaged with the staff – more than the rest of the frontline staff. Robots would have done a better job.
The Manager of this hotel could well have earned the Gold badge for “mediocrity.”
As Stephan Covey said “Behave your way to credibility - being a credible leader requires actions that are louder than words”… or gold awards.
Ilzaf Keefahs is a freelance writer who enjoys focusing on hospitality related matters that he is passionate about, and likes to share his views with hoteliers and customers alike. He delves into the heart of hospitality to figure out both customer service and consumer trends that impact the industry
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