A good hotel general manager runs the hotel as if it were their own business and is given the autonomy to do so, says Clare Anna Gamon. Jordy Smit lets staff find the solution to a complaint themselves, and saw guest satisfaction rise when he led in his own style. Yaron Jansen warns a great host is not automatically a great leader; Xander Verheij began by working in operations himself.
What 4 hotel leaders say
Clare Anna Gamon
Chief Commercial Officer, London Rock Partners
“nine times out of 10 when we take on a, let's call it, a troubled hotel, it it's it's leadership and lack of autonomy. When when you are when you are in the role of a general manager of a hotel, you have to treat that business, and you have to feel like that business is your own.”
“the only way that you can give someone that feeling of ownership is by actually giving it to them and giving them autonomy to make decisions. And and don't get me wrong. It's not a free for all, and there are caveats around that. But we believe in recruiting really good leaders who are really good people leaders.”
Jordy Smit
General Manager, Courtyard by Marriott Amsterdam Arena
“For me, empowerment is super important. It's one of my core values that even though I have the title of general manager, it's not about me. ... I asked them the question what would you do what do you think is a proper solution that you can give to the client and actually by countering the question to them they often come with the answer themselves”
“my former manager was like, Jordy, you need to act a little bit different, you need to be little bit harder on the team, because that's what this hotel needs. I tried that, two or three months, and the guest satisfaction was quite low. ... So I went back to my original style. ... And if we look at the last couple of months, our guest satisfaction increased significantly.”
Yaron Jansen
Director of Operations, Hotel De L'Europe Amsterdam
“being a great host with your guests and being the person that they come back for and being, you know, being that full scope of experience for them doesn't make you a great leader. And that's, I think, one of the most common mistakes in hospitality is that those two are being mixed up.”
Xander Verheij
General Manager, The Nobleman (Amsterdam)
“I joined the operations for two or three months dishwashing, doing everything that that everyone did here because I'm not the guy that that just indeed, what I just said, sits on the chair and directs everyone everywhere. I want to be the type of leader that inspires people, yeah, by practice”
