The hospitality industry is becoming more and more competitive with each passing day. Therefore, it has become even more important to become a good hotelier. This article presents a few tips to become a great hotelier in 2023.
Being a hotelier is not an easy job. It is quite difficult for one man to be in control of so many things at once. It is quite difficult for one man to be in control of so many things at once.
A hotelier does have a great support team but at the end of the day, it is his/her responsibility to run a smooth business and satisfy clients. It is thus crucial for good hoteliers to keep coming up with their ‘A’ game whenever they walk into their workplace.
A great hotelier must ooze out confidence and charisma. Let’s explore this further to see what makes a great hotelier and how you can follow in the footsteps of the legendary hoteliers in the world.
A good hotelier must possess multiple qualities. Yes, it’s a competitive world out there.
Many people believe that being a hotelier is not only a job but a mentality. Many say that it’s not a profession but a philosophy.
Following are a few tips that can help you become a successful and good hotelier:
1. Become a People Person
Just smiling and holding small talk with people is not what a people person means. You have to adapt to loving being among people. The hospitality industry’s main aim is to provide comfort to clients and make them feel pleasant.
Don’t only wish your clients to have a nice day, instead, make their day nicer. This will make you a great hotelier.
There are a lot of skills that can be utilised to become a people person. A few key ones related to the hospitality industry are:
- Interpersonal Skills
- Empathy
- Social intelligence
- Networking
- Good communication
- Relationship Management
This can be said to be one of the essential hospitality skills to become a great hotelier.
The hospitality industry is for the people, by the people and of the people. It is thus crucial to be a people-friendly person to become an ace hotelier.
While we discuss these tips for becoming a successful hotelier, it is also important to discuss what exactly is expected from a hotelier.
Following is a 2-minute video to explain what it takes to become a good hotelier.
This is the video interview of Francesco Giles back in 2007 who was the then General Manager of Renaissance Dubai and had won the hotel GM of the year award. The essence of the video is still valid in 2023 for takeaways to improve as a hotelier.
He speaks about Marriott’s guidelines for becoming a great manager and hotelier. Whatever he mentions in the video even holds true today.
Now heading back to the tips to become a great hotelier. This is not an exhaustive list but sure is a good starting point.
2. A Jack of All Trades – Strange but True
Yes, this is interesting but true for good hoteliers. They seem to be everywhere and seem to be knowing a bit of everything.
As mentioned earlier, no matter what support staff you have, a great hotelier is still responsible for effective overall operations. Therefore, it is in a hotelier’s job description to manage all kinds of tasks.
Clients are not going to be satisfied each time and it is inevitable to receive criticism and complaints. In such a case, it is the hotelier’s job to resolve the issue. No matter what it is related to.
For this very purpose as a good hotelier, you need to be aware of a lot of things and always be on top of the game.
3. Be a Follower of Open Door Policy
A good hotelier should be able to hold open and clear conversations with their staff.
If your attitude proves that you are approachable, then your staff will be able to confide in you.
This same approachable attitude needs to be applied to clients.
It is also important to have an open-door policy for new ideas in order to become a great hotelier.
The world is on the internet. Try learning a new thing about the internet every day.
Be open to new ideas and innovation in the industry.
4. Be Decisive
A hotelier that is unable to take important decisions when needed will not be successful in the long run.
A good hotelier must be able to make quick decisions. Most of these quick decisions also need to be the right decisions. This quality will help you resolve guest issues as soon as possible.
As a successful hotelier you are responsible for a lot of things that include:
- Contributing to a reasonable return on investment for the owners
- Keeping guests satisfied
- Keeping employees happy
- Enhancing teamwork
- Managing and maintaining inventory
- Attending to complaints and sorting them out
- Roaster managing and job delegation
- Setting and executing strategies
- Ensuring quality and Maintenance of rooms, outlets, common areas, kitchen and staff areas
- Keeping the team motivated
and so on.
If you have the most important hospitality traits and a desire to become a great hotelier then it is easy to find reasons why hospitality jobs are great. Also, you would need to stay ahead of the race by keeping up with the top trends in the hospitality industry.
Thus, it is particularly important to be decisive as there are a plethora of decisions to take every day for hospitality professionals.
5. Be Observant at all times
A good hotelier needs to be observant to evaluate the surroundings. They should be able to notice as minute things as a crooked picture on the wall.
Another thing to observe is the body language of your staff and guests alike. This helps you identify the type of guest you are about to cater to and their needs accordingly.
Better observance can lead to early identification of weak spots and you can improve them in good time.
Nowadays, people have many options when they have to choose a hotel. A good hotelier will be quick to improve their service and satisfy the guest before they can move to another hotel.
The competition is intense but a single person’s effort can go a long way toward making a successful hospitality business.
A hotelier has multiple responsibilities and a great hotelier will make every effort to perform each one with enthusiasm.
Now time for some more tips for managers in the hotel industry. And, also for the aspiring ones. These tips would help you become successful hoteliers.
Conclusion
Here you go some of the important tips to become a great hotelier.
Hotel Industry is both art and science. You need to be good at your art of dealing with people and must be passionate about whatever you do to become a great hotelier.
The hospitality industry is one of the most diverse industries and the hotel industry is an integral as well as an indispensable part of it. As one of the most important hospitality industry sectors, the hotel industry has ensured the travellers keep getting memorable experiences.
The Hotel industry is a mammoth industry and thanks to some of the great people in the industry, it is thriving and growing at a rapid pace.
Hotel managers and hospitality managers must be continuously on the lookout to improve while keeping a close watch on how their customers, team members and competitors are reacting.
Compassionate leadership today holds the key towards having your team stick to your side and regular innovation would help you win the decisive battle.
Use these tips to ensure that you maintain your success with peace.
Kudos to all the great hoteliers around!
