Hotel managers make sure their staff is providing friendly service and the hotel building and room facilities are in good condition. They may also hire staff, work with marketing and the hotel's finances and make sure the food and banquet operations are running properly. Because the manager's job is pivotal to the hotel, many work over 40 hours a week. Hotel managers must be able to handle stressful situations with care, pay attention to detail and have excellent communication and listening skills.

Managing Stress

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Working as a hotel manager means long hours and managing a variety of employees in different departments: you will need to keep track of the cleaning staff, the cooks, the front desk and other employees, depending on the size of the hotel you are managing. Because of the great amount of responsibility you have undertaken, you may become stressed out if something goes wrong. For example, if your cleaning staff skips cleaning some rooms or the cooks fail to follow restaurant health codes, you may become bombarded by customer complaints on top of keeping track of your staff. Managing stress is important in a hotel manager's career because, if your staff sees that you are anxious and upset, they will often become anxious and upset. If your staff is stressed out or worried about job security, they most likely will not provide the best customer service, and hotel business could suffer accordingly. Managing stress and handling stressful situations calmly will keep your staff reassured and allow you to resolve any problems with hotel operations more quickly.

Attention to Detail

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Attention to detail is an essential skill for a hotel manager. The hotel must be run according to specific standards. You will need to make sure the maids are cleaning the rooms properly and maintaining sanitation conditions. You will also need to make sure the hotel restaurant is following state health guidelines, when preparing food for guests, such as properly washing and preparing food, monitoring cooking temperatures, and following hand washing procedures. County health inspectors may visit your hotel at random to make sure you are following guidelines. Your restaurant health inspection will be available online for the public, so you will want to make sure your staff is observing the standards in place. You will also want to make sure rooms are properly cleaned before guests receive their room keys. Walk through your hotel and check rooms at random to make sure your staff is keeping up with the cleaning.

Communication

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Communication is one of the most important skills you will need as a hotel manager. At work, you will be managing employees from all departments as well as working with customers. You will need to let employees know whether or not they are doing their jobs correctly in a way that will encourage them rather than frustrate them. You will also need to turn on your smile for customers and let them know why staying at your hotel is a good decision. As a hotel manager, you may also be creating staff schedules, booking reservations for VIPs and making sure the hotel restaurant is running efficiently. You will need to communicate with your staff to make sure their schedules work for them and let them know when the hotel will be busy, for example, if a large amount of wedding guests have booked rooms one night. Communicating with the staff will curb any booking and scheduling issues.

Listening

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As a hotel manager, you will likely be dealing with multiple employees and customers at the same time. However, if you fail to listen to what each person is saying, you might miss an important issue with the hotel or give customers the idea that your hotel doesn't care their needs or business. This could damage the reputation of your hotel and cause you to lose business. This is why taking the time to listen to what people around you are saying is important; employees' concerns about the work environment can cause them to be less friendly and not work as efficiently. If you listen to them and work with them to improve the situation, you will improve the satisfaction of customers as well. Listening to customers' concerns and needs will reflect well on your hotel and encourage repeat business.

Lodging Managers salary

• Top 10% Annual Salary: More than $108,060 ($51.95/hour)
• Median Annual Salary: $56,670 ($27.25/hour)
• Bottom 10% Annual Salary: Less than $32,980 ($15.86/hour)