Working for a hotel does come with some perks that are nice. Working for a large company like Marriott, Hilton, or Hyatt, gives you a chance to travel to places you have never been. Most times, you have discounted employee room rates that can save you over 50% of what normal room would cost for most people. The places you go, you develop networking relationships that can get you even more, upgraded rooms, or rounds of golf if you know someone at that property. Also, you get discounts on spa treatments and food & beverage as an employee. If you own, it’s even better. You can offer services and exchange for others. I like the fact that you can see what other hotels have to offer. Also, you can get ideas from what you see around these other hotels.
Another perk of the hotel industry is, when you have events with banquet meals, sometimes the meals are left over and you get to enjoy the great food. Steak, Chicken, Fish, Pasta, Desserts, etc. Also, there are associate celebrations for anniversaries, and associate appreciations that have good food and prizes. Also, this takes some of the stress off a busy week. As you work for company, you are rewarded with anniversary gifts (5-year, 10-year, 25-year). This is a great perk, the gifts are great!
Also, many companies have great benefit packages for medical, dental, and vision. This saves you a lot of money in the long run, most have a small co-pay and that’s all. And, offer free annual check-ups which is good to have. I like the fact you can also invest in 401K and profit-sharing, which allows you to save money for retirement down the road. If you plan to commit to stay with company for a illustrious career, then this is very beneficial for anyone.
Bad weather is could at times be a good thing for hotel. If you are sold out and might be relocating guests to hotel you count on the bad weather for some guests not to show up. If you have a convention at the hotel and many guests are coming from Midwest or East coast where the weather is bad, this means they will not make it because of weather conditions and flight delays. On sold out days this helps you because it’s less reservations to worry about having rooms for. But, when you are not sold out, it’s not good because you lose business. Many people decide to come the next day so they don’t have to worry about the hassle, or it’s whenever they can get to hotel, which is their destination.
Groups can make or break your hotel. When you are slow and need revenue, groups can save you from financial downturns, because they can book sleeping rooms, convention space, and food/beverage. This can help a lot. It is a lot of work because generally you need to staff higher when a big group is in-house. Big companies love to come to hotels for conventions, meeting, and conferences because they feel like they have the house to themselves. The like views, space, comfort, facilities, most important, the service. They will pay extra to have these things because they have the money.
This great to establish a good relationship with the client because if all goes good they will want to come back. So, give it a great effort and try to impress them, pull out all the stops. If they know the hotel does a great job with service and product, they will come back, which means more business for hotel. If they have hosted bar service, they will spend a lot on non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages. More than likely they will have breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the hotel so they do not have to go anywhere. Also, meetings throughout the day they like to have refreshments, teas, coffee, water, soda, cookies, cakes, etc. This is more money for hotel.
When they book sleeping rooms, they will use internet maybe order room service, or order a movie. More revenue. They will valet cars or self park, which you could use to get money also, if they park, you can charge them. They will tip employees well, bellman, valet, food/beverage attendants, which will make the staff very happy.
The only tough part is you will be extremely hectic. Some guests may give some challenges with tough requests or not happy for different reasons. This can be worked out. As long as you are well staffed, you can get through it just fine. Don’t worry about extra overhead for more staff, the extra group business revenue will help.
As you notice with hotels, especially mine the more things you offer to guests, more problems can occur. At my hotel we have many amenities available to guests: vending machines, ATM machine, business center equipped with printers & computers, and computers, fax machines, key machines, etc we use for employees. These are man-made and will break from time to time. We have them serviced whenever they are out-of-order, which is a common thing.
The problem is, if you are busy and guests are relying on a ATM machine because they need money, they are dissapointed. Or, if they need to print a document and business center computer is not working properly. We provided options like cashing a check, or printing it for them, but it creates more work. Vending machines often times take money or disperse wrong item, and we end up giving them money or simply apologizing. Or, sometimes the item guest is looking for is not in the vending machine, so we refer them to nearest store. People like convenience, they want to be able to go to hotel and have everything there, if it is a full service hotel. It looks bad if things are not working or services are not provided. If you have a system that tracks guest issues, that is not working, this is hard to follow-up if there guest issues, that you want to fix.
We do rely so much on technology nowadays, and that is part of the problem. When you promise so much, lot can potentially go wrong. Keep things simple and you will not have these problems.
In the front office, the staff is the most important part of your success. To do well, you have to have enough staff and they right staff. Each that interacts with the guest is important. Pre-arrival, arrival, departure experience is important. Staff service and going above and beyond will propel your area to greatness. Not everyone has these qualities, so you have to hirer those that are qualified to do so.
Pre-arrival is important to have a rooms controller, or someone designated to perform these responsibilities. A rooms controller is in charge of blocking all rooms for VIPs, elite members, groups, and specific room types (king, doubles, connecting room, etc). This makes it easier for check in process and guests will get with they want instead of showing up at check in and not getting what they want.
They can also send e-mail before guest arrives asking them if they need extra towels, early check in, refrigerator, extra pillows, etc. This makes guest feel special and will lead to successful stay.
Arrival/departure experience means having your best staff there to greet guests and ensure a flawless check-in. Using right language, thanking them, smiling, upbeat attitude, and going extra mile to ensure guest has a great stay. The bellman are important in this area. If you have a bell captain, they will be crucial in ensuring bags are organized, guests have luggage assistance on the spot. They make them feel special and ensure other bellman are on the same page. Having enough bellman on is important especially with a busy check-in or checkout day. This makes for every guest getting help and feeling welcome. Also, staff is not overwhelmed. You have to have enough concierge as well, guest need to know of places to eat and where to go in the area so they feel comfortable. Many operators to answer the phones so you can get wake-up calls and dispatch housekeeping/engineering calls. If you have enough staff, and staff that’s capable, you can succeed.
I have always said to work at a hotel, you have to be passionate about what you do. If you are not passionate about it, don’t do it because you will be miserable. Most people that work in hotels are not in it for a career, they work to get a paycheck. They go to school part time or full time, or have other interests. They get very satisfied with having a family and working check to check to support family. They would rather not have more responsibility or be promoted, because this might mean they have to work harder for less pay, or so they think. Also, many people like having set schedules and do not want to work more hours or work on weekends if they do not have to.
Going into hotel industry, you are told that you will work weekends, holidays, and long hours. Also, it’s high stress dealing with guests that have many issues and complaints. It takes a certain type of person to do this. You don’t have to be the smartest in the world, but it takes patience and positive energy. Everyday is never a same day. Some days are bad, and some days are good. You have to keep plugging along and stay positive. It’s important not to take things personal, which is very hard to do. There are many fun avenues if you like to explore. Many career opportunities out there, but many people get comfortable and would rather not try to explore. Comfortable with where they live, work schedule, people at property, amount of work, etc. If you are a passionate person willing to explore, you can go many places.
My idea is for a hotel chain specifically for airline guests only. If you work for an airline and want quite, safe place to stay, then this is right for you. Airline guests are known for complaining about having a quite room. They need to sleep, which means they get disturbed easily by any small noise they hear. They don’t want to be by ice machines, elevators, or service elevators.
I would have a hotel that only had rooms not by any elevators or ice machines. I would have a restaurant for them for breakfast only buffet included in rate. They like to have breakfast and don’t like dinner or lunch because they are asleep and plus they like to go out, and see the town and eat out. The airlines are given per diem money when they stay at hotels they use for food, etc. I would have wireless internet available for them in rooms and anywhere in hotel. I would have language translators, Dutch, German, French, etc. so they could easily communicate with the guests during stay.
The rooms would have everything they need, comfortable king bed, flat screen televisions, big bathrooms, plenty of amenities. Personal wake-up call system provided for each person to ensure they awake on time for flights. Also, give them option to exchange foreign currency. Room keys are made in advance prior to arrival with their names on each key packet. Also, the hotel would have a expedite overnight/day laundry service for their airline uniforms each day. The hotel would be great for them, they would love it and feel right at home. They would not have to worry about other hotel guests being noisy or long waits at check in. The hotel is catered to them only.
Hotels are not going anywhere, so therefore, jobs for us are needed. There might be cutbacks and change in economy, but you can find a job anywhere. We are always needed for our jobs. There are thousands of hotels across the world, and we have fabulous destinations.
Everyday a new hotel goes up in the world, you need more people to fill these positions. These jobs are in high demand every time of the year. Seasons change and with that, more help is needed. I know, if I lost my job, I could go somewhere else and find a job. I can relocate if I choose to, or change companies.
Our industry gives us the opportunity to expand and try new things as an employee or owner. As other industries have limited jobs open, we are always looking for people. Yes, it’s not the most glamorous job or high paying, but it takes passion. If you don’t have passion, then why do it. Either you hate the hotel industry or you hate it, there is no in between.
