。 Hotel is a small society, which is open 24 hours a day. The colorful decorations in the city are performed here every day, and the hotel becomes the window and excitement of the city or region. What happens in the hotel every day is all kinds and wonders. As a hotel manager, I repeat similar work every day, and I am always ready to meet the exciting excitement unique to hotel management.
With questions, we interviewed the general managers of many hotels all over the country. We found that the day of the general managers of hotels in different regions and management groups has its own characteristics, but there are also many places that are connected. Why do we pay attention to the general manager's day? Not only because we want to satisfy people who work in the hotel industry's curiosity about this position, but more importantly, we can get to know the management thoughts, styles and concerns of the hotel general manager from his daily work schedule. The management thought, style, work habits and concerns of the general manager of the hotel directly affect the success of the whole hotel management. Therefore, the real purpose of our interview is this.
I have read the contents of several general managers' meetings, and selected the schedules of three more representative managers as examples (see attached table) for analysis and reasoning, in an attempt to provide reference for more hotel general managers.
"People who only work 41 hours a week can't do anything great in their lifetime."
-John Willard Marriott
The working hours of the general manager of the hotel we visited are basically 11 to 14 hours a day, which is longer than that of other industries, which is determined by the characteristics of the hotel industry. Most of the hotel general managers I know leave early and return late, go to work at 7: 31 as early as possible, and usually get off work at 9 o'clock in the evening, and often have entertainment until late at night. Many people envy the work of the general manager of the hotel, and think that their daily work is to eat, drink and be merry in a noble environment, which is simply "combining work with entertainment". But how many people know that most of the general managers of hotels are "people in rivers and lakes, and they can't help themselves". Hotel business belongs to the unemployed, and its characteristic is that it is open 24 hours a day. Except for special circumstances, it is generally open 365 days a year. Holidays are the time when business is booming, so you can't rest. Therefore, hotel managers are not as handsome as senior white-collar workers (going to work at 9: 11 and leaving work at 5: 11). If you are a general manager of a hotel who is sent to work in a different place, you will take the store as your home. Usually, you are in the hotel for 24 hours, and there is virtually no commuting time. It should be a luxury for the general manager of the hotel to reunite with his family and enjoy family happiness.
the general manager of the hotel usually arrives at the hotel early, not to set an example and show his active work, but to meet the needs of hotel management. The general manager arrived early in order to read all kinds of reports of the hotel management the day before yesterday and understand the management of the hotel the night before, so as to have a more comprehensive understanding of the overall situation of the hotel one day. The hotel's business report can provide the hotel's revenue, room opening rate and the forecast for the following week. Reading VIP reports can help you understand the situation of VIPs who are staying and arriving on the same day, and even the forecast for the following week. According to this information, the general manager can arrange his own work time allocation, which VIPs should be seen off by himself and which should be assigned to other deputies. Through the daily report of the assistant manager in the lobby, we can learn about the guest relationship of the hotel the day before. Through the opinions and complaints of customers, we can find out the problems in hotel management and service. Some problems can be tracked emphatically, and from the phenomenon to the essence, we can find out the hidden dangers in the existing management culture or operation process. Engineering and safety conditions are the premise of the normal operation of the hotel, which will affect the normal operation of the hotel. Therefore, we must know these two aspects like the palm of our hand, so as to be aware of them. Looking at the business report of catering and the forecast table of banquet or conference venue, we can not only know the revenue of hotel catering, but also know the situation of large-scale activities being held or about to be held in the hotel. Although many large-scale activities appear on the catering site, they actually involve the cooperation and communication of various departments in the hotel, which is the most prone to problems. Therefore, we must pay attention to and coordinate key issues and remind relevant departments to pay attention to follow-up. The traditional way for general managers to read reports is to read printed reports. Now, general managers of some hotels are also used to using computers to view real-time hotel management reports at any time. Every hotel's general manager has his own management method and style. We see that Anderson, the general manager of Napoleon Royal Hotel with 2111 rooms in the United States, is more natural and unrestrained in management. You can get off work at 11. There are also many foreign hotel general managers who have been working until around 11 pm. The general manager of the hotel stays late mainly because he has to communicate with customers. The general manager of the hotel in China usually has dinner parties. Of course, the patrol after dinner can ensure that the general manager of the hotel can sleep more comfortably after work.
John Willard Marriott, the founder of Marriott Group, who works an average of 16 hours a day, has a famous saying: "People who work 41 hours a week can't do anything great in their lifetime." (no one can get very far in a life on a 41-hour week.) There must be bitterness and cost behind success. Among the hotel general managers I know, they basically "enjoy" three meals a day in the hotel, and the price of "saving" personal food expenses is to voluntarily dedicate 2-6 hours of private life time every day (usually without overtime pay). If 311 working days are calculated every year, it will cost 1,811 more hours. If overtime pay is calculated according to the provisions of the Labor Law, the hotel owner will definitely not be able to stand it. If you want to accept this job, you must first accept the fact that you work long hours every day. This is one of the costs behind the hotel manager's prestige in the hotel.
"Always put guest complaints and suggestions first."
-Zhang Jingbang (general manager of Harbin Wanda Holiday Hotel)
In our interview, the general manager of the hotel emphasized that dealing with customers' suggestions and complaints was the core of his daily work. In the answer sheet of the general manager of foreign-funded hotels, this information is expressed more strongly. I once interviewed the general manager of a large hotel in China. His view is that the general manager of a large hotel doesn't need to meet guests, because he thinks he has a lot of things to manage and should spend more time on management. Meeting guests should be done by subordinates or front desk staff. I am surprised that such a view comes from the general manager of a high-star hotel. Because from this concept, we can see the starting point of the general manager's management thought and behavior. The general manager who focuses on internal management will inevitably put personal authority in the first place, which will affect the whole hotel culture to tilt inward (management) and upward (general manager), rather than outward (customers) and downward (employees). Hotel culture directly affects employees' willingness to work, and employees' willingness to work affects the quality of customer service, which in turn affects hotel business. The general manager who takes guests as the core will adhere to and set an example to implement the following creed.
(1) The greatest wealth
Human resources are regarded as the greatest wealth of hotels. Employees are the most important assets of the hotel, because their work directly creates value. Therefore, the general manager will often communicate with subordinates or employees in their jobs, instead of sitting in his office all day to meet them.
(2) Innovation and the right to speak
Organizational learning and innovation are important contents advocated by this culture. Employees are encouraged to innovate and express these ideas. Because they know the needs of guests best, they have the greatest say in improving service. After the general manager puts forward his own opinions, he usually gives his subordinates a space to play their abilities and solve problems.
(3) Managers-supporters
Managers become the biggest supporters, guides and servers of employees. Managers are constantly training, educating and leading employees to serve guests; The general manager's job is to create a better and easier service environment for the employees in the hotel. The manager serves the supervisor and the supervisor serves the employees, because the employees directly serve the guests at the front line. Managers empower employees, give material and spiritual encouragement and support, and come forward to solve problems when employees need support. Managers become the most powerful supporters of customer service,
(4) power, responsibility and risk
The wisdom and judgment of employees are fully affirmed, so employees are fully authorized. They have great responsibilities and take risks in making decisions. As long as they serve the guests, they have enough power. Therefore, most complaints and customers' needs can be solved in time at the staff. The general manager will encourage employees
(5) encourage "mistakes"
The general manager will constantly instill the idea that only employees who are not in charge will not make mistakes. Employees are encouraged to try and make mistakes, because only employees who don't work are not wrong, but don't make the same mistakes.
(6) Managers' fault
When employees have work problems, managers will take the initiative to reflect on themselves. In the final analysis, it is managers' fault. Therefore, the general manager will pay more attention to the rationality of management culture and process.
(7) Beyond the hierarchy
The information transmission channel is open and networked. As long as it serves guests, employees can skip intermediate links and directly seek assistance and support from the general manager if they think it is necessary.
(8) The role of the boss
The general manager can make time to do great things-communicate with guests and employees, verify the needs of guests, and understand the most real state of the enterprise. From the survey, we can see that the general managers of hotels attach great importance to communication with customers. Foreign general managers usually like to have lunch with customers at noon and keep dinner time for themselves. They like to keep in touch with customers by telephone during working hours. China's general manager is used to talking about business at the dinner table, so he may often sacrifice his private time for dinner, or even eat twice (he has just finished his work meal and has a customer visiting to accompany him). But in any case, there is nothing wrong with putting the guests first.
(9) Satisfied guests
Hotel staff are full of self-confidence and heartfelt smiles, and can solve guests' problems in time and accurately. Give respect and courtesy to guests, all because the management of the hotel has created a space and environment for employees to realize themselves, so happy employees create happy customers.
solving current problems with meetings
The general manager of a hotel will be famous. If you call the general manager of the hotel in the morning, you will usually be stopped by his secretary because there is always a meeting. Indeed, the general manager of the hotel needs to preside over or attend various meetings in the hotel every day. The integrity of hotel management and service determines that the general manager of a hotel can't solve all problems efficiently only through one-on-one interviews. Meetings are a part of hotel management, and most general managers of hotels are good at using various business meetings for management. According to statistics, the general manager of American hotels must attend about 311 management meetings every year on average. In other words, the hotel general manager must attend at least 1 meetings every working day on average. The general manager of hotels in China will attend more meetings, and the general manager of Harbin Wanda Holiday will hold 1-3 business meetings every day. General Manager Xi Yanping of Qingdao Haitian Hotel has a business meeting at least once a day. Too many meetings will affect the work, but if you don't attend the meeting, you can't carry out the work. The general manager of the hotel must find the balance between the two by himself. Therefore, improving the efficiency of the meeting and managing the meeting can achieve the goal.
Every day, the general manager is interrupted by numerous phone calls and visits inside and outside the hotel. His activities are random and diverse, and he often needs to solve various important or seemingly unimportant problems. Most of the meetings held by the general manager every day are to solve the urgent problems at present. There are many meetings in the hotel, but usually the meetings are not long, especially temporary meetings, because things that usually need to be called temporary meetings must be solved quickly. The characteristic of hotel management and service is that problems must be solved quickly, as short as a few minutes, such as complaints from guests, emergency repairs of elevators, sudden requests from large-scale conference customers and so on. If the time is prolonged, it means that it has not been handled, or the best opportunity to solve the problem has been missed. Therefore, we see that the temporary business meeting of the general manager of Napoleon Royal Hotel in the United States usually doesn't last more than 15 minutes.
Walking management
The general manager who implements walking management (MBWA) will not stomp in the office all day and meet the managers of various departments in turn to report their work, but will take the initiative to go to the posts of subordinates and employees, and go to the lobby and restaurant to have face-to-face conversations and communication with managers, employees, guests, suppliers and other people who have business dealings with the hotel. Listening, providing convenience and teaching are the main leadership styles of walking management. From the general manager's answer sheet, we can see that most general managers patrol the hotel three times a day. Once in the morning is to understand the mental outlook of hotel employees at the beginning of the day; Check the preparation of large-scale hotel activities or VIP reception on that day; Check the morning shift, etc. Noon is usually the peak time for front desk guests to check out, and the service and order on the first floor of the lobby; Contact with guests for comments and suggestions. In the evening, the inspections are usually based on the reception of catering, meetings and large banquets; Make extensive contact with customers and so on.
The general manager's patrol at least three times a day is not to pay attention to details or go to the scene to solve problems for subordinates and employees, but to understand the situation and listen to opinions through patrol. The general manager's role is to teach and support subordinates and employees to solve problems by themselves. The general manager makes leapfrog decisions everywhere and solves problems on the spot, which is not only of little significance to improving hotel management and service, but even counterproductive. Walking management has been widely accepted by the hotel industry. J.W. Marriott, Jr, president of Marriott Hotel Group, said in his book THE SPIRIT TO SERVE Marriott's Way: "In marriott, the employees' reaction to the general manager is the most fundamental touchstone for the hotel to run well. If the employees are happy to see the boss, I know that this general manager is a good "hands-on" (walking management) manager, Pingyao Ancient City Inn. Because only the general manager who spends a lot of time talking with employees in the lobby or other parts of the hotel and understands their voices will win such friendly greetings from employees. "
marriott's corporate culture has such a creed: As long as you treat your employees well, they will certainly take care of your guests. This culture regards employees as the people who know the needs and opinions of guests best. Therefore, the general manager must set an example, fulfill the promise of "attention to detail" that he often emphasizes, and often contact with employees to understand.