Boutique hotel. Just the words come to life. Even before I took care of the pages of the first book of Hip Hotels by Herbert Ypma, I was fascinated by the world of boutique hotels. “How cool would it be to be the general manager of a cool boutique hotel?” I often asked myself how I flipped through the pages of his gorgeous photos. Working with all my strength to make a career in the hotel business, I was sure that some day I needed to engage in a boutique hotel.
It ever came true when in 2004 I was invited to become the general manager of what was and remains one of the most popular hotels in Palm Springs. I left another great opportunity to simply become part of this wonderful world. Art, design, atmosphere. I have never worked with "vibration." A year later, and I knew, I knew that many in the hotel business are not doing ... what actually looks like being a gmina, a cool boutique hotel. It is not for everyone and surprising for many.
In the world of a boutique hotel there is a mini-storm, one of which, I think, is not very attractive for this industry. When more and more boutique operators come to the site, more and more poor hiring decisions are made. The right mining generals work in the wrong hotels. Like a square peg and a round hole, some things just don't work. Who is to blame and what can be done?
Boutique hotel
First, let me first tell you that I have a very narrow idea of what a boutique hotel really is. I think the term “boutique”, when used to describe a hotel, is often misused. A boutique hotel is not defined by just a hot design, as many might like.
In my opinion, a boutique hotel is a property that is uniquely important in four ways:
1. Architecture and design.
2. High level of service. Property should not exceed 150 rooms, which increases the ratio of guests to employees.
3. Sell up to a certain demographics.
4. Are independent owners and exploited (here some will disagree with me).
Boutique hotel must be independent. The hotel should not be part of a collection, which is more than, say, 10 objects. In addition, you get a corporate hierarchical management style that is required to manage a large company and maintain brand consistency. Take w w for example. In my opinion, this is not a boutique hotels. They look like a boutique hotel, even looking like one. Many boutique hotels will strive to be as big as W. But the W Hotel is managed and managed by a large corporation. Property level management makes very few decisions about what services are offered and how the property is executed. The boutique hotel should work as close as possible to actual physical exploitation. W, etc. are amazing, but, in my opinion, do not meet the definition of a boutique hotel. Boutique hotels are also constantly reinventing themselves, ensuring that their non-permanent guests never get bored or look to stay in the newest hip and cool property.
Boutique Hotel Guest
Travelers choose to stay in a boutique hotel because of history or experience. Experience is very important and must be unique and somewhat advanced. General demographics are people from 20 to 50 years old who work in more creative areas, such as advertising or entertainment, and appreciate a higher level of service. When Ian Schrager entered the market with what many considered the first boutique hotel, this demography discovered that they could use their travel budget to get them a room in a cool, hip hotel, and not in a general medium-level branded vehicle. And the boom began.
Guests of the boutique hotel enjoy the experience, unique architecture, cutting-edge interior design and, in some cases, the urban location. The market is expanding, and the demographic model explained earlier is starting to bleed into others. You can very well find the CEO of Fortune 500 staying in a boutique hotel. Hard to ignore the hype.
Brands and boutiques
Luxury hotel operators are struggling not to lose market share in the world of boutiques. Some hotels actually take a “brand” from their marketing and optimize their operations so that their properties are authentic boutique. Take, for example, Kahala Mandarin Oriental. This famous luxury property has recently removed Mandarin Oriental so that they can work and compete in a new market for more independent hotels. They are now simply “The Kahala” and are making every effort to be truly local and independent from the basic identification of the brand. I think others will follow him.
CEO Boutique Hotel
For the sake of this publication, I will use a luxury hotel as a comparison with a boutique, since the boutique hotel is most closely associated with a luxury journey. So what has changed in being a general manager in a luxury hotel compared to a boutique hotel? Is this really true? The basics are the same. The general manager is responsible for all day-to-day work, decision making, marketing, budgets, forecasting, rate strategy, facility maintenance, etc. The key to both types of properties is guest service and interaction with guests. A guest in a high-class luxury hotel is looking forward to interacting with the general manager of the hotel, as well as guests at a boutique hotel. All this is very touching.
The difference is that the general manager of a boutique hotel wears only a few heads than a luxurious general manager. The general manager of the boutique can prepare complex budget forecasting tables at 10 am, and at 10:30 it will be clear that pool towels from all sides around the hotel will be immersed in salt water. When was the last time you saw the general manager of the Beverly Hills peninsula with a handle full of towels? Don't get me wrong, I know that the general manager of the peninsula will do it in a second, if necessary. The general manager of the boutique hotel HAS, because there is no one else. One server operating in a restaurant is also likely to be responsible for taking care of the pool, placing service orders, delivering orders, and more. The general manager of a boutique hotel is sometimes also the head of the human resources department and breaks the front desk agents. If gm is in California, then gm can be broken for almost every position, so as not to get a lawsuit and fine!
Take this example; You are a GM from a hot boutique property in the desert. Temperature presses 118 degrees. Since classes are very low during the summer, you encourage most of your team to leave so you can get money from this holiday. One of those who touch you is your chief engineer, one of two engineers for your own five acre property. He goes home to Germany for a week. Now just because it is hot does not mean that you have no customers. Some tourists seem to love the heat, and so it was with this special double day in August. When the sun begins to set, your guests make their way from the pool to their bungalows. Twilight and 100 degrees each will turn on their combined air conditioners with a full blast so they can cool down. Your only other engineer went home for the day. Around this time, calls begin to arrive. AC units freeze. Old blocks freeze when they turn on with a full blast. Many blow up switches. So, here you are, in your office, making a forecast for your weekly corporate status report, when the front desk causes you to panic, “guests turn out”, shouts out your new agent at the front desk. You look at the calls and see that you need your engineer back to the property, but his prepaid cell phone (you cannot afford to pay for a mobile phone for him) did not have time - you cannot get it! So what are you doing? You head to the rooms to see if you can fix them. In the room after the room, you solve the problem of explaining to your sweaty and angry guests why they cannot completely turn over their AC, and it will take about two hours to form ice around the coils. Then you start looking for switches that are scattered throughout the 60-year-old property. By the time you get to the last room, the guest who answers the door almost screams at the sight of a sweaty, dirty general manager holding a tool box with a dazed look on his face. “Isn’t that the guy who poured Mimosa into the pool today?” Asks the guest at the start of the repair. As soon as the madness is over, you will receive a call on your mobile phone. Yes, your engineer returns your call. "Are you trying to reach me?" The next day, when you call the conference, you listen to a speech about how general managers should spend more time with their guests, rather than in their offices. Spirit, do you think when you try to wash the grain from under the nails.
The financial realities of the boutique hotel are unique. The appearance of a three-five-star service with a two-star budget is the norm, and gm fall into the middle. A boutique hotel simply does not have a budget for staff, like real luxury real estate, and everyone should pull their weight. Ahem, that won't be there for long and hates every second of its life.
Along with additional fun and disappointment of being a gm boutique hotel are rewards. For the right person, they will find that the style of business management they require is very empowered. Gm can make many decisions on its own, decisions that at a larger corporate hotel will require approval or worse ... discussion in the committee! The fact that some towels need to be picked up and possibly a drink or a drink is actually fun. The rewards are that you were always in front of your guests - this is what most gm people want, but many of them are not really ready for this when they are assigned to do it every day.
So what kind of person could be the general manager of a boutique hotel? Answer these questions, if you can say yes to each answer, then you will probably really like the challenge. Please note that I assume that you are already an experienced manager and qualify as a general manager.
51 questions
1. You do not need procedures to feel successful at work.
2. You can delegate without worry.
3. You can make decisions without a committee recommendation.
4. You can spend a lot of time at work. For a long time, I mean sometimes up to 14 hours at a time.
5. You have no problem spending the night at the hotel to make sure everything is in order.
6. You do not have problems with the delivery of luggage to the guest rooms (you probably will not have a bell to do this for you).
7. You can Valeriy car park.
8. You can reprogram guest keys using the key card system.
9. Do you really like talking to your guests .... REALLY.
10. You can mix the drink, and you know who Mr. Boston is.
11. You can run a commercial washing machine.
12. You can re-install the circuit breaker.
13. You can change the flat tire, start the car.
14. You can reinstall the router. If you do not know what a router is, then stop and think about the thought that you are a gm boutique hotel. You will not have an IT manager in place to help you!
15. You can check / disable guest using the front office system.
16. You can process credit cards and divide payments into different folios.
17. You can run the switch at the front desk.
18. You can call in order using POS restaurants.
19. You can reinstall the restaurant's POS.
20. You can program a digital surveillance system.
21. You can enter your own notes, send your own emails and answer your own phones (this should be true for ANY gm nowdays).
22. You can move from one project to another without hesitation.
23. You know what to do if you have a heart attack in your lobby.
24. You know what to do when someone chokes in your restaurant.
25. You can also explain your restaurant menu items or better than your servers.
26. You can make coffee using a commercial coffee machine.
27. You can draw a good cup of espresso.
28. You know the difference between latte and cappuccino.
29. You know the temperature requirements for your walks and refrigerators. If you do not know what a walk is, stop here and think about your career choice.
30. You know what to do when a medical inspector appears. Hint, it does not grab the useful cash!
31. You know who is calling, if your telephone system suddenly stops working.
32. You know how to read a story from an electronic lock of a guest room.
33. You know how to make a bed, as well as your best housekeeper.
34. You know what ph level should be in your flushing.
35. You know how to check the chemicals in the pool and jacuzzi.
36. You know which interfaces are designed for each of your hotel software systems.
37. You know how to get guests online using your wireless internet service.
38. You know the difference between p & l and balance.
39. You can run a commercial dishwasher.
40. You know your receivables and payables.
41. You know where your housekeeper buys his belongings.
42. You know local city ordinances when they apply to your property.
43. You can order a room service order.
44. You can clean the bathroom to 5-star standards.
45. You can fold a towel like your housewives.
46. You know where the water and gas networks are, and how to turn them off.
47. You know each of its numbers.
48. You have no problems with assisting neighboring businesses and residents.
49. You can write a well-studied and accurate report about the end of the month.
50. You know how to calculate the flow.
51. Who has number two, who can answer these questions.
I instruct many boutique companies to ask these questions to candidates during the interview. I know that you will save a lot of time, frustration and lower your current rates (higher for the offices of the general manager in boutique hotels).
If you are a boutique hotel, I also ask you to make sure that you do the following for your general hotel managers, including their success and reduced turnover of your gm:
1. Do not hire an experienced luxury (non-boutique hotel) shared day nursery if they cannot answer “yes” or actually make a commitment to examine the answer to each of the 51 questions.
2. Go, train and train your new gm on the property they are going to. Make sure they know everything before “untie them.”
3. Pay them a fair salary, perhaps even a little more than fair. Boutique hotels seem to think they can attract new um, which may have been number two in a larger property, convince them that it’s “cool” to be part of your company and pay them less than the industry standard, It's just makes your new gm start listening to these calls from the headhunter (they call the hotel gm a lot!) with offers of much higher lounges back to the comfort zone of the branded hotel.
4. Understand what happens in the life of a gm boutique hotel. Most boutique hotels, corporate employees have never been gm in a real boutique hotel and have no idea what it is. Find out what happens in the property.
5. Insist that your gm not work. It's easy for your gm to get wrapped up in work and start working 7 days a week. It will just burn. Think about how to get their time with their families, so that they need sanity, marriage, etc.
6. Do not call them at the weekend without emergency. If you do not know which days your gm is, then you are discredited.
7. Do not be double. Do not appear on the same day and look at the gm for a pool deck that requires a re-ascent, and then go down two days later to request funds for the repair of the property.
8. Give them realistic budgets, and if you sell the bonus during the interview, make sure it is realistic.
9. Give them the same “benefits” as gm in large hotel hotels. You can skip the car allowance, but at least offer dry cleaning and traveling for other purposes.
10. Talk to them often. Actually talk to them, don't tell them. Listen to what is happening.
11. If you tell them that “we are an entrepreneurial company” and that gm “can make its own decisions” and then repeat all the decisions they make, you need to rethink your message.
12. Make sure you give them the opportunity to hire a strong # 2. One of the reasons your Mr. leaves for other companies is that most boutique hotels do not give their properties budgets number two, therefore им некому занять свое место, если появятся другие возможности в компании. Это старая и очень усталая «двигаться вверх, вы должны двигаться», которая убивает нас в гостиничном бизнесе.
13. Это доводит меня до этого момента - намеревается развить силу скамьи. Имейте лидеров, ожидающих в крыльях, чтобы занимать позиции по мере роста. Если вы этого не сделаете, вы в конечном итоге «заимствуете» лидеров из каждой своей недвижимости, чтобы открыть свою новую. Это оставляет ваши существующие свойства, уже прибегая к управлению с надработавшей и подчеркнутой группой лидеров и персонала. Сделайте это приоритетом.
14. Поблагодарите gm. Это не проблема, а много забытая важная задача как гостиничная компания. СПАСИБО ВАМ ГМ. Это касается любой гостиничной компании. Ваши генеральные менеджеры сильно избивают. Несчастными сотрудниками, гостями и вами. Вы нажимаете на них постоянными «заметками» о том, как лучше работать. Обязательно сравните коучинг с похвалой.
Meaning?
Так в чем смысл всего этого? Главный менеджер бутик-отеля, на мой взгляд, совсем другая работа, чем генеральный менеджер в роскошной собственности полного сервиса. Но, к сожалению, они путаются друг с другом в корзине, полной недостижимых ожиданий.
Я думаю, что у генерального менеджера бутик-отеля должен быть новый титул - я оставляю это до компаний-бутик-отелей и творческого гения, который управляет их брендами.
В конце концов, название действительно не важно, но ожидания есть. Убедитесь, что вы понимаете свою роль генерального менеджера бутик-отеля или роль, которую ваши генеральные менеджеры играют в ваших бутик-отелях. Убедитесь, что, когда вы устроились на работу или когда нанимаете их, они знают, что такое менеджер бутик-отеля.
