Leading by example in the workplace: a hotel GM's daily practice

Leading by example in the workplace sounds like a phrase from a management book, yet in a hotel it decides whether a team actually delivers the experience a brand promises. Standards and SOPs describe what should happen, but a team also watches what its manager does. So how does a general manager turn standards into daily behaviour?

Angelo Vassallo, General Manager of Tivoli Doelen Amsterdam, has close to twenty years in the industry, from hospitality school in Sicily to hotels in Italy, Germany, Austria, Barcelona and the Netherlands. His answer: show it first, and give people the tools to follow.

Leading by example in the workplace starts with the team

The principle is simple. If you want your team to address guests by their first and last name, you have to do the same with your team. Angelo Vassallo tells the story of a new team member who had worked with him before, at a hotel with more than 160 employees. On her first day she was surprised that he already knew her name and who she was.

For him, inspiring people means being present on the floor, especially when things go wrong.

“Show that in difficulty moment, you are not behind your desk. You are indeed in the first line together with them to try to solve what's happening and then to make the best out of it.”

Angelo Vassallo, 4:58

His view is that guests notice the same attitude. A hotel can be one of the most beautiful in the world, but without service from people who genuinely want to help, he calls it an empty box. Hospitality, he says, is an industry made of people, for people.

Give the team tools to connect with guests

Guest connection rarely starts at the front desk. In Angelo Vassallo's approach, it begins before arrival. For VIP guests the hotel sends a pre-arrival email that goes beyond the usual question about arrival time. It asks what guests plan to do in Amsterdam, what they like to eat, whether they have special requirements and whether they are celebrating something. That builds what he calls a bridge, and once the bridge is there the conversation at check-in comes naturally.

Tivoli Doelen is a boutique hotel with 81 rooms, and according to him more than half of its guests come from the United States, a market that values personal connection. Asked whether younger employees find small talk harder, a common question when managing gen Z hotel staff, he disagrees that it is a question of generation. It depends on personality, and on preparation. His team gets:

• training about the city itself, including a city tour when people start, so they can share useful information with guests;
• room to use their own languages, in a team with more than 20 nationalities, so guests can be welcomed in their own language;
• practice, because in his experience the connection becomes easy guest after guest once people have the tools.

Communicate in the language of the people in front of you

Many service mistakes start with an instruction that sounded clear to the person giving it. Before becoming a general manager, Angelo Vassallo worked in food and beverage, including as F&B director in Barcelona, where his team did large scale catering for Formula One. During a briefing he told staff to put two fingers of water in the chafing dishes. At lunch the water was overflowing: the team had measured two fingers held vertically. For him, it became the lesson he always returns to.

“Try always to communicate in a way that the people in front of you can understand.”

Angelo Vassallo, 13:52

He adjusts pace and language to the room. With his management team he can assume background knowledge. With a mixed team he keeps it very simple. Leading by example in the workplace includes this, because a team copies how its leader talks to people.

Build trust and expect people to think for themselves

A leader's first job is to give the team what it needs. Angelo Vassallo describes his role as supporting. That means giving the team resources: IT, tools for the kitchen, training and colleagues.

Three further habits shape how he leads:

• a sense of urgency, learned from his uncle: do not postpone to tomorrow what can be done today;
• trust, which he compares to a bank account where withdrawals are remembered longer than deposits, so he prefers that things are said openly and early;
• independence, because he asks his trainees to think a problem through themselves before they come to him, since a solution you find yourself is in his view more effective.

When a guest's stay starts badly

One story shows what leading by example in the workplace looks like day to day. Two guests from the United States had a suitcase stolen on the way to the hotel. They were in Amsterdam for three days and did not want to spend that time at a police station. The police first said the hotel could not file a report for them. The hotel's legal department found that in the Netherlands the hotel could file the claim as a witness, and the front office manager went to the station with the relevant article of the law and filed it on the guests' behalf. It reads like one of the classic employee empowerment examples from a hotel front desk.

The suitcase never came back, but the guests enjoyed the city and are still in contact with the hotel. Angelo Vassallo frames it this way: in that moment the hotel represented Amsterdam, and everyone who steps into the hotel is an opportunity to show the level of hospitality the team wants to give.

Applying the same leadership to a hotel restaurant

The same approach works beyond the front office, for example in repositioning a hotel restaurant. With more than 4,000 restaurants in Amsterdam, the team looked for something other restaurants could not copy. The hotel has a strong connection with Rembrandt, so the kitchen built a menu that draws a parallel between his painting techniques and cooking techniques. Angelo Vassallo starts from what the marketing team can sell, then keeps adjusting through review meetings, numbers and guest feedback, while staying consistent. According to him the concept launched in October 2024, revenue rose compared to before, and recent review scores sit at nine or ten.

Looking ahead, he expects technology to speed up processes, from messaging guests on WhatsApp to revenue management and ordering. The core stays the same, which is a useful anchor when embracing change in the workplace.

“No matter if your check-in is made by a robot or via the receptionist, if there's one person behind that process who care about the guests, then there would be a kind of hospitality experience.”

Angelo Vassallo, 28:43

You can watch the full conversation, and find more general managers and leaders in the Lead the Experience series.

Frequently asked questions

What does leading by example in the workplace look like in a hotel?

In this conversation, Angelo Vassallo describes it as doing yourself what you ask of your team. If staff should greet guests by name, the general manager learns the names of employees. In difficult moments he stands on the floor next to the team instead of staying behind a desk, and he works on problems together with them.

How can a hotel prepare its team for small talk with guests?

At Tivoli Doelen Amsterdam new team members get training about the city itself, including a city tour, so they have real information to share with guests. Angelo Vassallo sees this as giving people tools. In his view it is not a question of age or generation, but of how well the team is equipped to build a connection.

Why does trust matter so much for a hotel general manager?

Angelo Vassallo compares trust to a bank account where you can deposit and withdraw. People remember the withdrawals more than the deposits, and when trust drops the whole relationship slows down. He prefers open, direct conversations so problems are spoken about early and the team can move faster together.

Will technology replace the human side of hotels?

Angelo Vassallo expects technology to make many processes faster, from messaging guests to revenue management and ordering in food and beverage. He does not expect the core to change. In his view, whether check-in is done by a robot or a receptionist, a hotel offers hospitality as long as a person behind the process cares about the guest.