By Christine Flanagan, Marketing Manager, and Facilities Coordinator
Are you looking at careers in hotel management? In that case, a good idea is first to research the duties and responsibilities of a hotel manager. There are many options when it comes to full-time hospitality jobs. We will cover the primary duties and some key responsibilities. Hotel managers are responsible for managing and leading associates, planning and organizing, and creating an environment where hotels run smoothly and offer consistent quality for guests.
Careers In Hotel Management
Within a hotel, there are multiple departments with hotel management jobs. From the top, there is a General Manager and an Assistant General Manager or Operations Manager. They will be the top leaders of the hotel with the most responsibilities. There are also department managers, an Executive Housekeeper, a Chief Engineer, depending on the type of hotel, a Director of Sales, and a Director of Food & Beverage. Within each department are supervisors and entry-level management positions. There are a lot of full-time hospitality jobs! While each department will focus on its specialty, everyone comes together to create the best possible experience for the guest.
Planning And Organizing
There is a lot of planning and organizing behind the scenes regarding coordinating associates, understanding current and future market demand, and understanding exactly what guests will need during their stay. A career in hotel management means looking at the big picture but not forgetting the more minor day-to-day details.
Creating Associate Schedules
Creating the perfect associate work schedule means coordinating around busy times of the day to ensure enough staff is available, requests for time off, and keeping with the goals for payroll each week.
Human Resource Activities
While there may be an HR manager on the property or at the corporate level, some HR responsibilities will fall under the hotel management job. Activities may include:
- Knowing when to post job ads for new associates and where to post the job ads
- Reviewing candidates for full-time hotel jobs.
- Interviewing potential candidates.
- Processing the new hire paperwork.
Sales, Profit Goals, And Budgets
Revenue Management is a full-time hospitality job behind the scenes but vital for hotels. Helping to set goals, understand market demand, and flex rates as needed allows a hotel to perform at its highest level. A complete understanding of a hotel’s supply and demand is critical to hotel management jobs in understanding what it takes to hit the top line (the gross figure of all revenue earned in a specific period) and bottom line (the net amount after considering the expense of earning the revenue). Budgeting and making sales goals go hand in hand with maintaining proper inventory and keeping expenses down.
Inventory
Inventory control includes:
- Managing the supplies.
- Knowing when the property will need to stock up.
- Ordering more during peak times.
This can be tricky because the lead or wait times on orders may be unpredictable. Inventory control can include making sure there is enough paper at the front desk to print receipts, enough pens and note pads to go in each room, enough cleaning supplies, extra pillows, and sheets down to snacks in the gift shop. There is also a balance between having enough and having too much. In most cases, the storage for supplies is often limited, and we don’t want to have waste.
An Expert in Hospitality Industry jargon
It may seem like a foreign world if you are new to the hospitality industry or want to learn more about getting a hotel management job. Like every industry, there’s trade jargon and acronyms that people with careers in hotel management know. One of a hotel manager’s responsibilities is learning and using the hospitality jargon appropriately, for example:
- ADR = Average Daily Rate, calculated by dividing the revenue generated from income from hotel sold by the total number of rooms sold.
- BAR = Best Available Rate; this is usually the rate that is the “best available” at that time
- LNR = Locally Negotiated Rate
- FOH & BOH = Front of House describes the areas that guests face, for example, the lobby. Back of House describes the places the guests don’t typically see, like the employee breakroom and kitchen.
A Heart For Service
At Landmark Hotel Group, we believe People Are Paramount. You can see this belief in action daily at our properties. Team members genuinely have a heart of service for the guests and their co-workers. We believe in honor and respect for all. In our job postings and daily interactions, we reiterate that people are our business at Landmark. Serving our guests, clients, and team members is our passion! If you have a passion for hospitality, join our family!