Developing and Managing Hotel Staff For Increased Productivity and Superior Guest Experiences

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Like in most other businesses, managing people is the most complex and difficult aspect of running a hotel. Managers demand optimal and sustained employee performance because of the importance and frequency of interaction with guests. Consequently, managers and their organizations are required to provide the environment, compensation, and motivation to make it worthwhile for employees to deliver that level of performance.

This research document focuses on the following dimensions of personnel management:

1. Staff Capabilities: effective hiring practices
2. Structure and Design of Training Programs: building systems to support ongoing training (training manuals, flexible training schedules, accountability for training)
3. Performance Management: addressing and preventing absenteeism; the “leveling off” effect; and instilling quality and sales mindsets
4. Morale Systems: incentives and rewards; career path planning

The information and insights presented in this research document will help Human Resources managers at any hotel design and manage HR systems and programs that attract, engage and develop high-potential employees. In fact, the research shows that the most common challenges for hotel managers revolve around motivating staff to minimize absenteeism and resistance to customer service requirements. The hotel managers that have the most success in guiding their employees to desired performance levels conduct intensive, personal coaching and set specific behavioral requirements that are easily understood and monitored. For example, one general manager actively coaches all staff on an ongoing basis; in these sessions, he probes for elements of their life situations and personalities that drive them - or their “motivational triggers.” With this information, the manager can discuss job requirements that speak to each employee’s most personal needs and ambitions, and helps them set out to realize those goals through their current jobs.

The findings in this document were gathered in two ways: The field research team designed and conducted a performance benchmark survey that gathered statistical insights from ten diverse hotels in the Caribbean, representing a cross-section of the industry. The Best Practices, LLC research team then conducted in-depth interviews with key functional leaders at participating hotels to harvest qualitative insights, process excellence observations and managerial lessons learned.

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