[AMA] I'm a Hotel/Resort Manager

Ace Ventura on 10/08/2019 - 14:57
Last edited 11/08/2019 - 19:00 by 1 other user

I have 20 years give or take experience, entirely based in Aus, I have worked for the two largest providers in the world. As both manager and assistant manager.

The largest property I had involvement with was just under 200 rooms, so not massive, but certainly large enough to keep me busy. I've primarily ran regional properties for lifestyle reasons, but have done stints in the cities too.

I currently run a heritage boutique property of only 50 rooms. This was a lifestyle choice, and the first property in my career where I've been able to stick to a 40 hour week.

On top of my professional experience I own a farmstay property, mainly catering to families, we offer a rural lifestyle experience, feed the animals, horse riding, all that jazz, my wife handles most of the day to day, but it's enough that I have very full days.

That said, my opinions here are mine alone, not that of my current or past employers.

So AMA.

Introduce Yourself

closed Comments

      • dasher86 on 11/08/2019 - 22:23
        +2

        does the '$20 rule' work?

    • TheMindsetTraveller on 12/08/2019 - 14:06
      +2

      The $20 note trick might have worked back in the day in Las Vegas but any sophisticated hotel now would disallow their front desk staff to do accept this. A staff member upgrading a room for no reason other than a monetary tip, that's frowned upon if not almost theft.

      Now, after a decent amount of personal travel, here's how I have been upgraded;

      If you prefer a certain hotel chain, stick to it and try to get status - generally the higher your status, the better your upgrade (and on site perks). Even if you have base status, use that and book through the hotel rather than an OTA - at least the hotel thinks you might be loyal to the hotel chain rather than an once off booking through an OTA.

      Try not to book a base/standard room, when you check in, be polite and enquire if there are any further complimentary upgrades? You were willing to spend more than a base room, so you might be perceived as a better revenue guest. Expect nothing and anything above and beyond what you booked, is a bonus. If the hotel treats you well, try to replicate the kindness by spending $$$ inside the hotel such as their restaurant, bar, spa etc.

      If you need an early check-in, try booking a hotel transportation, that way they know you are arriving at XYZ time and that you are also willing to spend $$$ (eg to pay 5x what a taxi would cost using the hotel car), hence you might get treated better.

      Try to be a repeat guest at a hotel. If you come back year after year, some hotels recognise this. I have been at a French Polynesia resort where I was told by the GM there that only 4% of guests are repeaters and because we were one of those 4% we were treated very very nicely and the room upgrade, wow.

      Good hotels will know your birthday (at least they will know when you hand over your id documents) and do something special for you. Last month in Myanmar the entire restaurant team come out during breakfast service to wish me a happy birthday and provided a family sized cake.

      Sometimes getting in touch of the hotel (eg via social media) prior to arrival can assist. Like their photos on Instagram, let them know "you can't wait to arrive" at their hotel, or "wow, the spa looks great can't wait to pamper myself when we are there" we did this for our recent visit to the Maldives and wow, were we blown away with everything. When you're there, add a couple of photos on your IG page and tag the hotel and who how much you are loving it. Some hotels are pro- active with social media, and given you are active, they might treat you nicer to encourage a better stay = more social media postings. Win, win for everyone!

      There's more, but more will come later.

  • SoapyWooder on 11/08/2019 - 19:39

    Do staffs use customer's towels to wipe / clean bathroom (floor, shower screen, etc) ?

    • Ace Ventura on 11/08/2019 - 19:53

      I'd certainly hope not, we provide cleaning amenities for them to use.

    • JimB on 11/08/2019 - 21:37
      +1

      If it's going to be washed commercially does it matter?

      I can never get my towels so white like hotel.

    • bluesky on 14/08/2019 - 05:38

      One time quite long ago, I walked into my room while the room cleaner staff was using the used bath towels to wipe the toilet seats. This was a 3-star property, so not sure if this is widespread practice. If the towels are laundered properly, it should not matter anyway. But from then on, unless in a good hotel, and upon examination I think the laundered towels look clean enough, I will use my own travel towel, which I always bring along.

  • JimB on 11/08/2019 - 21:38

    Hotels usually have great linen.

    Where can I buy them?

    Also, what does it cost the hotel to clean (or rent) linen and towels per room?

    • funnysht on 12/08/2019 - 09:28

      i think you need to pay a laundry mat

    • Ace Ventura on 12/08/2019 - 14:19

      I can't even think what brand linen we use, generally it belongs to the laundry, they charge us by bag weight as they collect dirty linen.

  • happirt on 11/08/2019 - 22:00
    -3

    why do hotels use stained bed sheets ?

    • Ace Ventura on 12/08/2019 - 14:19
      +9

      You need to go to better hotels.

  • funnysht on 12/08/2019 - 09:28

    I often get a lot of "free upgrades" when overseas travelling, but is it true that they aren't free upgrades and stayers just forget how their room looks like when they've booked?

    • Ace Ventura on 12/08/2019 - 14:21

      Really depends on the season and market. We rarely give free upgrades because we don't have space.

      Other properties we used to upgrade to already clean rooms to lower housekeeping costs on weekends.

  • Homr on 12/08/2019 - 12:15
    -8

    With 20 years of experience, why aren't you a GM in a 5 star property raking in $200 - $250K a year?

    • Ace Ventura on 12/08/2019 - 14:22
      +4

      Are we going to start comparing salaries now? I do well enough.

      • Homr on 12/08/2019 - 15:22
        -7

        Why don't you work for a 5 star property?

        • Ace Ventura on 12/08/2019 - 15:43
          +12

          I've done my time in prestige venues, ultra fine dining, high end accom, its not my world. It's certainly not how I'd gauge career success either.

  • sharonlives on 12/08/2019 - 13:08

    I have a french au pair who loves Australia so much he wants to stay here forever. He's very optimistic and I think possibly a bit naive, because he hopes that being a French and Spanish speaker will make him attractive to regional resorts/hotels/restaurants and might yield opportunities to be sponsored. What do you think? Could you use a hard-working and lovely young French person (with hospitality and lots of customer service experience?)?

    • Ace Ventura on 12/08/2019 - 14:23

      I'm sure being bilingual is a big asset to many properties. They won't know until they start applying though.

    • SupeNintendoChalmers on 13/08/2019 - 16:05

      He should contact this guy

  • Eeples on 12/08/2019 - 16:07

    When I travel alone I usually don’t book with breakfast because booking with breakfast typically gets you 2 breakfasts one of which I can’t use. That hotel in my mind gets a negative mark. And sometimes that detail is the deciding factor for me.

    How hard can it be for hotels to supply booking options with 1 person and 1 breafast to suppliers (online booking entities) at a cheaper rate? On the rare occasion when I can book 1 breakfast I’m stoked.

    No comment really required… I’m just having a rant really.

    • Powershopz on 12/08/2019 - 23:16

      Any decent hotel should have their pricing setup in their distribution system to cater for single traveler BB rates.

      It's not hard to do and is an easy way to potentially capture more revenue/bookings.

      Some hoteliers will be lazy and just leave it as 2 pax default and will push for front office up sells on check in or pre arrival up selling to lock in the breakfast.

      If you book via booking.com and are a genius member (5+ nights stayed per year) some hotels often do free breakfast as a genius benefit.

  • moo on 12/08/2019 - 17:51

    Have you come across scenarios where certain rooms are made 'unavailable' due to supernatural activities?

    • Ace Ventura on 12/08/2019 - 18:41

      No stories in the supernatural realm sorry. Get a lot of guests tell me they can feel presences in the old building, but I'm rather sure they are all their head. I basically love her and never see ghosts.

  • SickMyDuck on 12/08/2019 - 21:05

    Hi OP, thanks for the AMA post.

    How do you usually handle with entitled folk or aggressive guest?

    When situation escalated, how do you deal with it?

    • Ace Ventura on 12/08/2019 - 21:30
      +4

      This is something young staff often ask about.
      I preach de-escalation tactics, being aware of a situation that could see a patron become hostile, and being able to control the situation before the situation becomes volatile. Easier said than done though.

      In the entitled demanding patron situation, it's about empathy, use of language, counter offers. I'm not able to do that, but I would like to do this for you. Even if it's of little value, it shows the patron your not declining them just to irritate them, but rather as it's simply not possible.
      Don't dead end statements, "I can't do that." Rather lead the patron to a positive "I can't do that I'm sorry, but here's what I'd like to do for you….."
      Body language plays just as big a part as the words we use. Eye contact. Open gestures etc

      • JimB on 13/08/2019 - 17:23
        +2

        Don't dead end statements, "I can't do that." Rather lead the patron to a positive "I can't do that I'm sorry, but here's what I'd like to do for you….."

        I like that idea. I'm going to ask my wife to copy you.

        Me: 'Sexy time tonight?'
        Wife: 'I can't do that I'm sorry, but here's what I'd like to do for you….'

  • bulletproof on 13/08/2019 - 00:39

    What sorta salary do you get in a position like yours? Used to be at a 5 star property many moons ago and miss it dearly. The only job I’ll do if I won lotto or money was all of a sudden not a problem.

  • [Deactivated] on 13/08/2019 - 09:51

    How do you deal with relatively harmless drunks that stay up partying or just talking very loud, and making noise while others are guests trying to sleep ?
    I mean the ones that cannot be easily reasoned with and settled down. Some drunks are beyond where they can be reasoned with and behaviour managed.

    • Ace Ventura on 13/08/2019 - 17:24
      +1

      I feel you on this one. Especially in new buildings, paper thin walls.

      At this property, we are lucky enough that we can usually talk them into going to the guest lounge, it stays open all night, and is basically a double brick box so noise doesn't really travel.
      Of course if they get a bit rowdy on the way back to their room it's a different story.

      Aside from that, it's generally just building repore with people so they have enough respect to listen and act when your asking for the volume to be dropped. Sometimes you have to be a bit assertive.

  • Cyberninja on 13/08/2019 - 15:17

    Did you ever caught anyone in the 'act'?

  • dufflover on 13/08/2019 - 17:36

    How big is your pile of voyeur sex tapes?
    :P

    (j/k ofcourse)

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