Leaders have talked about the importance of management by walking around, putting yourself in the guest’s shoes, for a long time. It’s not a new concept. It is a concept however, that many hotel ownership groups talk about, but then their actions don’t match that message.
In a previous role I had with an internationally known brand, I was a Regional Manager supporting more than 100 focused service hotels. It was during this time that I had a meeting with a hotel owner and their management team. The purpose of this meeting was to “assess our future partnership.” This hotel had a long history of poor guest satisfaction scores and several “unacceptable” quality assurance evaluations. Due to this, the nature of the visit was quite serious.
Considering the purpose of the visit, I was rather surprised at the state of the hotel when I arrived. The curb appeal was dismal, with trash and debris throughout the parking lot. The property was in a state of distress, not so much from a lack of capital, but operationally.
What really got my attention, however, and made the most impact on me, was when I walked into the fitness room. There was a big clock on the wall that had a piece of plastic broken off the side. But what bothered me just as much was that the clock was off by an hour.
Now before you say, “Gee Mike, it doesn’t take a lot to ruin your day,” this was significant as it had been more than a week since the change to daylight savings time. This told me that the hotel’s leadership had not been in that room in at least over a week! Hotel leadership dictates that this is just not acceptable.
Now I can’t speak to this particular ownership’s internal requirements as far as deadlines, what reports are due, etc., but I have known more than one hotel ownership group that require their general managers to submit their various reports earlier in the morning.
The problem with this is that it means hotel leadership is busy in the back office during a time of heavy guest traffic, when they should be out and about, walking the property, having team huddles, engaging with guests during breakfast, supporting the front desk, etc. These are tasks that a focused service leader should be doing daily and research has shown that the most successful hotel operations have leaders that do these things. Top performing hotels have leaders that spend just as much time in the front of the house as they do in their office. In other words, they’re actually managing by walking around.
I’m not suggesting that reporting requirements are not necessary. But the reality is that there is little to nothing that is in the GM’s office that will keep guests coming back, and all of those reports won’t mean much if you don’t have a viable occupancy.
So my message is two-fold. First, evaluate whether your reporting requirements are truly essential and outweigh the importance of the leader getting out of their office. Next, assess if the deadline for that reporting really makes sense from a guest service standpoint.
Take a hard look. Talk with your leaders. Determine how and where they are really spending their time. Then make the changes that will allow your hotel leaders to do what is most important – engaging team members and guests, motivating the staff, and being involved in the sales and marketing processes.
About the author
Mike Adkins is the Co-Founder/Chief Operating Officer of Foundations Hospitality, a leading hotel management and consulting company based in Orlando, Florida. With over 100-years of combined experience, the Foundations Hospitality team brings a unique blend of leadership experience to bear to help clients outperform the competition all while delivering world-class guest experiences.
