One of the nice things about being in the twilight of a thirty-year career in the hotel industry is that it gives one the ability to reflect back on the many great people who have shaped and influenced that career. After many years in hotel operations as well as sales and marketing, both on-property and as a corporate V.P., I was exposed to many different managers and their management styles. 

Management styles, experience, and talent are as varied as their numbers, but they all had something to offer if one paid attention. Observing people and their habits has always been sort of a hobby for me. I believe that everyone has something to offer if you are looking to learn from them. 

I would like to think that I learned something from each and every one of them; even if it was only to decide which traits I did or did not want to emulate. I could probably write an entire book detailing the actions and styles of the worst of these managers, but most people don’t recognize their own bad traits, even if outlined in an article, so that would be fruitless.

Recently, a client asked me what I thought the most successful general managers have in common; what makes the best managers stand head and shoulders above the others. Circumstances certainly have great influence on ultimate success; outstanding hotels can produce successful managers. But what traits make a good manager rise above given circumstances; creating success where there was none and creating even greater success where it already existed.

The Best Hotel General Manager I ever met accepts responsibility for top-line revenue.

All too often, I have heard managers lament how they would have made more profit if only they had more top-line revenue; as if hinting that increased revenue was out of their direct control. The fact is that many general managers feel a detachment from their hotel’s revenue lines. Ironically, this most often occurs when revenues are failing. Accepting ownership of poor revenues as well as healthy revenues is a telltale sign of a good general manager. 

The best general manager I ever met takes responsibility for revenue production, whether or not he/she has a separate sales team. The best general manager is the true sales leader at the hotel; involved in every aspect of generating business. The best general manager leads morning sales meetings; displaying his/her personal involvement. The best managers know their top producing clients and contribute to servicing them. 

For hotels lucky enough to have a sales team, the best general manager takes on specific hotel sales accounts; both, to be involved in larger accounts, and to be an example to the sales team. Sales leadership is the most important general management role. 

Many articles have been written extolling the necessary skills and work habits of hotel sales people, but little is said about the role of general managers in the sales process. We have all seen how easily a poor general manager can negatively influence even the best people on their staff. By contrast, there are many mediocre people that have been guided to lofty success by great general managers. 

As a corporate vice president, I always found it interesting to see whether or not a general manager got involved in sales training programs. Anyone who has done property sales training can tell you how seldom general managers participate in these programs. I don’t know who decided to separate sales from operations, but the best general managers have the ability to merge these functions into powerful programs. 

Sadly, many companies set themselves up for failure by directing sales activities with the sales team without the participation of the one who is truly responsible…the general manager. The best general manager I ever met would never let this happen. 

During my coaching programs with various owners and general managers, I have heard many managers pound their chests with pride because they sometimes make sales calls with their sales people. This is great, but do they remain involved in the progress of those accounts? Do they demonstrate to the sales team that follow-up is the key to booking business, by their own follow-up practices? For some, it’s merely a good way to get out of the building for a little while. 

The best general manager I ever met reviews and signs off on all sales activity for his/her team; and directs new activity through the hotel director of sales or directly if no sales director exists. The best general manager I ever met functions as the true director of sales. Now some directors of sales might take exception to this statement, but experienced sales directors know how much easier their job can be when the G.M. is involved in the process.

The best general manager takes on the sales role, where there is no sales team, through intense community involvement, reading to find new ideas, and constantly seeking ways to improve business.

The best general manager leads the hotel’s eMarketing effort for web site, GDS, and third-party aggregators. These areas demand G.M. involvement; even if the hotel is lucky enough to have a dedicated revenue manager.

The Best Hotel General Manager I ever met is focused on success.

This trait may sound quite basic to many of you, but focus can be elusive. Focus, in this sense, is what prompts a manager to analyze each hotel profit center to target improvements in successful programs as well as failing ones. Managers who concentrate only on failing areas have a tendency to play the catch-up game, constantly putting out fires to save failing programs, while successful programs go bad from neglect. Some failing programs need to be allowed to disappear. 

Focus is what directs a manager towards those activities which matter most. The best general manager realizes that just being busy is not as important as being busy doing the right things. The 80/20 rule is amazing in its myriad of applications; 20 percent of everything you do will result in 80 percent of your successes. Finding the right 20 percent takes focus. 

The Best Hotel General Manager I ever met looks for small successes.

I could not count the number of times I have heard hotel team members lament about being criticized for doing wrong, yet being ignored when things go right. I can’t imagine how frustrating this can be. The best general managers look for his/her team’s small successes and reward them, even if it is only a public “well done”.  This may sound simple and basic to some of you, but it’s less common than you might think.

For those of you who think you do these well, think again. Often an insincere facial expression or casual insincere comment belies the true intent a manager seeks. Praise in public, criticize in private; the best general manager I ever met looks for opportunities to provide sincere rewards. A sincere comment can be the biggest job motivator. 

The Best Hotel General Manager I ever met is a great communicator.

Communicating is a two-way process; talking and listening. As I teach new sales people, having two ears and only one mouth should indicate that one should listen twice as much as talking. The best general manager I ever met demonstrates this daily. 

Managers who listen to their teammates find new opportunities to help them perform their jobs better. Good leadership comes from understanding the needs of the team. Understanding comes from listening, not from smooth talk. 

For those of you who expected me to actually name the best general manager I ever met, I assure you that I have met a few managers who deserve this title. But, more importantly…how do you measure up?

Last weekend, I had a visit from a thirty-year friend, mentor, my wedding’s “best man”, former boss, and former peer. All this wrapped up in one man, Howard Feiertag. It’s always great to see someone who has been so significant in your life, but it also made me reflect on how many times Howard has steered me through the bumpy maze of highs and lows of the hotel business.

I am truly blessed that there have been, and still are, several experienced hotel people, like Howard, who have shared their ideas and encouragement with me through the last thirty years. They all made me look smarter than I really am; and for that, I am truly grateful. 

Thinking Outside-the-Box

Is there a better way to think outside the corporate or hotel box than to consult with someone who resides outside it? If you don’t have a group of hotel friends and/or associates who can and will give you an educated and objective viewpoint, set out right now to develop them. There are no new ideas; only old ideas which were implemented successfully. To repeat them is not bad; to ignore them is. 

We have all sat in what felt like fruitless meetings to uncover and discuss ideas to promote and/or better operate our hotels. The various paradigms developed from being deeply involved in a hotel are sometimes serious handicaps to clear and independent thinking. Handicaps are developed by self-imposed boundaries based on habit and policies. If you are seeking new ideas, be prepared to open your mind; you might not get the answers you expected.

Successful people are those who can find an answer or that different perspective they need in order to gain an edge in the marketplace. Often an exchange of ideas from someone outside the line of fire is free from the nemesis of insider influence; not affected, or worse, infected by politics or “company policy”.  

Developing Your Personal Advisory Board

Former work associates are usually a great source of candidates for your advisory board. People you worked with or former associates who worked for you in the past, will often feel free to offer that perspective they never would have shared before; someone you trusted and respected. They can provide the added bonus of being familiar with you and your operation. 

Become a voracious reader. Oh, I know you don’t have time to read articles, but busy people find the time to do the things which will make them successful. Reading various perspectives on the industry stimulates your thinking and can reveal different paradigms or viewpoints. 

Many of the authors of those articles would be happy to hear your questions. In a sense, simply reading a different viewpoint is the first step in developing a mentor relationship. It doesn’t matter whether or not you agree with some else’s viewpoint; learn from every idea. My favorite saying is “Be who you are and say what you feel; for those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind”. 

Develop Some Synergy

It’s always a good idea to identify the hotel super stars in your area. Once identified, set out to create some new friendships. It doesn’t matter if they are part of your competition, you can learn from them and they will also learn from you. You cannot discuss rate issues; that’s against anti-trust, but operational and sales issues are still on the table.

Synergy is defined as “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. In plain talk, it’s the fact that your ideas, combined with another’s ideas, create a third and greater sum of ideas. 

No one has all the answers to this crazy business of ours; our industry is changing and evolving rapidly. You don’t have to operate in a vacuum or within the overall structure of your company or franchise. Get advice and counseling from outside-the-box which was created by your organization; it can benefit you and your company. 

Automated sales and catering systems have grown in popularity and are weaving their way into ever smaller independent and franchised hotels. Once exclusive to the larger properties with considerable public space, these marvels of technology have proven themselves to be a good investment, over and over again.

Hotel sales & catering systems are great record and data storage instruments which enable hotels to track their business sources, solicit repeat business and even help maintain good rate management. In spite of this new technology, nothing can replace good old fashioned face-to-face contaact.

Frankly, I see nothing on the horizon which could replace the need to meet and greet potential clients. Many sales and catering systems allow users to formulate proposals and contracts and even email or fax them directly from a computer. This is great, but beware that we are not creating distance between us and our clients. Fax and email are wonderful tools but I see more and more sales people using these tools to avoid client contact.

The goal is and should be to get face-to-face with clients. As we use technology to assist in the solicitation of business, we should remember that this is still a relationship business. Frankly, I have seen many hotels getting wrapped up in all this new technology. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I have always been a staunch proponent of implementing new technology into our industry. I remember well the old days of IBM Selectric typewriters, carbon paper, and poorly written confirmation letters. We’ve come a long way from those  days. Are we now so jaded about technology that we are short-cutting the sales process?

The strongest sales programs still emphasize the need for developing a rapport with clients and I know of no better way to do that than face-to-face contact. How often do the general manager and/or the sales team entertain potential clients for breakfast, lunch, or dinner? Has email actually replaced phone contact? Email should be used to “confirm” conversations; not to replace them. 

There is so much talk about the Internet; many people view it as the panacea for all our occupancy woes. Fat chance. Oh, it’s a wonderful new gift to our industry, no doubt. But folks, it’s not a replacement for all the wonderful standard methods of soliciting new business. True, it’s a great tool for prospecting and finding business, but face-to-face meetings with potential clients are still the most effective means to book business.

The majority of room business for your hotel will still be booked through old fashioned person-to-person selling. Is your front desk up-to-speed with the rates and packages being sold online? Do you have an active front desk log to keep pace with rates being quoted,, turn-aways, and denials? Whether the log is kept in your front office system or in a log book, don’t allow technology to make us lazy about old systems that have worked well in the past? 

Brief mentions about using technology properly; have you checked to see that all fields in your front office system are being recorded for every check-in? I visited a hotel the other day whose front office decided it was too much work to ask guests for their email addresses. Not serious, I guess, unless the hotel decides to do an email mailing one day.

My caution is simple; technology needs to be managed like all other aspects of this business. It’s not meant to replace other means of doing the sales job, it’s meant to enhance them. The old basics still work. Create face-to-face opportunities to gain that relationship, which has worked so well for the hospitality industry for many years. Use technology to make the job easier; not to create short-cuts. 

The old concept of “pressing flesh” on a daily basis can’t be replaced by the Internet, email, voicemail, or fax machines. 

When I first read the article “Most Hotel Reservations are Decided and Made by (Fill in the Blank)" by Emmanuel Gardinier, I thought it was interesting. When I read it again on another news wire, it brought me back more than twenty years to a time when the industry was abuzz with the same issue. Allow me a different opinion.

At that time, several large franchisors devoted considerable funds to explore this possibility. At that time, female travelers had begun to explode onto the travel scene and hotels, always eager to find a new niche, huddled in their board rooms to discuss ways to tap into this new emerging market.

Companies like Marriott, Holiday Inn, and Hyatt, always quick to invent, came up with many of the suggestions in Mr. Gardinier’s article. We were excited by this new prospect. After all, this could be the magic panacea to solve the huge occupancy problems of the early 80’s. To this writer, the 80’s inflicted far worse occupancy damage than today’s position.

I remember cute little bud vases, cheesy paper slippers, and other such items bursting into our new “female” traveler rooms. My gosh, we used shower caps for years until finally deleting them.  Hotels hustled to get pastel colored robes and special make-up mirrors to lure this new market to choose our hotels. The result was that the more we tried to differentiate between male and female travelers, the more it turned off one or the other.

The conclusion…

We discovered that security was the driving issue for female travelers and many women did not want to be treated any differently than male travelers. Female travelers and female hotel shoppers have the same concerns as male travelers. The more we “catered” to females, the more we turned them off with this special treatment. 

All the items mentioned by Mr. Gardinier are more or less standard to all hotel guests, today. This resulted from much research and consumer focus groups representing all travelers.

Mr. Gardinier mentioned some very important issues in his article and I don’t want to diminish that. I guess my concern lies with the advice to concentrate on female travelers and female shoppers as if they are that much different from their male counterparts. In fact they are not. 

The primary concern by all travelers today is security, comfort, and cleanliness not trinkets or anything having to do with specific female-oriented items. Concentrating on those things and making them female issues could cause a hotel to lose focus on those things which all travelers seek. Frankly, many of the standard amenities used by most hotels are those which both sexes enjoy. We’ve come a long way, baby.