It may seem that the job of the hotel manager is the easiest among all other occupations in the hospitality industry. After all, managers only oversee all the people who are below them in the chain of command, right? Wrong. Apart from the great responsibility they carry, managers need to exhibit specific skills that will increase their chances of successfully running a hotel. Here’s what they are.
Financial management prowess
You may have many reasons for running a hotel, but let’s face it - the main one is making money. A hotel PMS may help you a lot in this, but nevertheless, a hotel manager should be a financially savvy person. It takes knowledge to follow all financial flows, predict trends, counter problems and encourage positives. More importantly, it takes skill to always make money, so if you feel this is not your strongest point maybe now is the time to change this situation.
Interpersonal skills
The hospitality business is all about people and in this field there are two kinds of them - employees and guests. In both cases it takes a set of interpersonal skills to keep everyone happy. You should be able to solve personal issues among employees and stimulate them to give their best. At the same time you need excellent communication skills when dealing with guests and their needs and problems. It is a good idea to be positive and effectively communicate with customers at all times both in writing and in person. This is the key to making a great impression that will keep guests coming back to you.
Problem solving
Life is dynamic and so is the hotel industry. Therefore a manager will face many new and unknown situations every day. They will all require a solution, so having strong problem-solving skills is essential. For instance, a manager should be able to process new information quickly in order to find a solution without delay. Moreover, they should be able to identify future problems and tackle them well in advance before they become serious issues. If a manager is not a problem-solver, the business will surely suffer in the long run.
Excellent organization
Running a hotel means that a manager will be exposed to a lot of different activities every day. Yes, a hotel PMS can help a lot but manual input is required sometimes. For instance, a manager may need to follow financial flows, deal with unhappy guests, fill in paperwork and much more. Each activity has its peculiarities so effective multitasking is required. Therefore excellent organizational skills are required to make a hotel run as smoothly as possible. If they are missing, at least one aspect of hotel operations will suffer.
Attention to detail
In the hospitality business, the most important goal is to create and keep customer satisfaction. This means that you should offer top notch services all the time but being perfect often requires excellent micromanagement. In other words the successful hotel manager should have attention to detail and thoroughness in their work. Any negligence will lead to unhappy guests and this is the least wanted scenario, isn’t it?
Successfully running a hotel takes much more than simply overseeing the activities of your subordinates. It takes specific personal skills that will not only ease your work but also enhance your business. You should be always on the lookout for improvements and once found they should be implemented at once. Until then your business will suffer and we bet you do not want this, do you?