Tag Archives: Front Desk Staff

Hospitality Industry Management Update: “Sometimes It’s OK to Break the Rules”

Training helps, but the real issue is employee selection and retention. It’s important to hire people with a deep desire to serve, even if that means breaking the rules once in awhile. On the other side of the coin,Happy travelers GMs and department heads must have the smarts and the empathy to know when to applaud and reward a rule-breaking employee and when to coach a worker who might have stepped over the boundaries of acceptable empowerment

One of my favorite guilty-pleasure movies is “That Thing You Do,” a Tom Hanks-directed tale of the rise and fall of a one-hit-wonder singing group in the 1960s. In one scene, the band arrives in Hollywood to appear in a movie, and as they emerge from a cab in front of the since-closed-and-demolished Ambassador Hotel, the doorman greets them.

“Hi, my name is Lamarr, and this is my hotel,” he tells the new guests.

It was a throwaway line in a confection of a movie, but it demonstrates the important principal of empowerment that remains highly relevant in the hotel industry.

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Filed under Employee Practices, Guest Issues, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Training

Hospitality Industry Management Update: “How Hotels Can Prepare for a Spike in Business”

While emergencies may force some on-the-fly thinking, citywide festivals, high-profile conventions, and major sporting events offer the luxury of time to fully prepare. Hotels make good use of those months—years, in some cases—addressing the situation from multiple angles,surge in business says Javier Rosenberg, COO, Americas, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. If the event involves public figures, security is enhanced to keep celebrities separate from fans. If traffic will be heavy, alternate travel routes are identified and schedules adapted to reach destinations on time.

Talk to anyone who has worked in the hotel industry for any length of time, and chances are you can uncover a story or two involving a surprise guest surge. For Robert Holmes, one of his most poignant experiences occurred less than two hours into his first morning manning the front desk at the Park Hyatt Washington D.C. in Georgetown on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I was standing at my desk, and I saw all of these people coming in,” Holmes remembers. “I turned to my staff and said, ‘We’re going to get through this.’” Prompted by a bomb threat, the hotel across the street evacuated its guests to the lobby of the Park Hyatt. With flights suspended and the local community on high alert because of the attack on the Pentagon two miles away, visitors were seeking both rooms and solace. Guests who had anticipated checking out suddenly had nowhere to go, while newcomers needed a place to stay.

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Filed under Conferences, Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management