New general manager: what to do in your first months

Stepping into the role of new general manager is one of the most exposed moments in a hotel career. The team watches how you arrive, the owner watches whether the trust was justified, and guests notice every change in tone. The temptation is to prove yourself fast, with plans and instructions on day one. The more durable route, according to people who have done it recently, is slower and far more hands-on.

Xander Verheij became a general manager at 24, after starting in his father's hotel at 14, studying hospitality, an internship at Hotel 27 in Amsterdam and a six-month internship at the Ritz-Carlton in Barcelona. In a conversation for the Lead the Experience series, he explained how he approached his first months running a 13-room boutique hotel in Amsterdam, and what he would tell anyone who wants to lead a hotel team.

What a new general manager should do in the first months

The general point is simple: before you change anything, understand how the hotel works from the inside. In Verheij's view, a manager who walks in, sits on the chair and starts directing everyone has skipped the step that earns credibility. He borrowed a line he heard on the news, seek first to understand before being understood, and applied it literally.

When he joined, he spent his first two to three months in operations, including dishwashing, doing the same work as everyone else. He told the team openly what he was doing and why.

“I'm here to learn a lot in this new position I'm going into. I'm going to join you for three months in the operations full time.”

Xander Verheij, 33:22

For any new general manager, that period does several jobs at once. You learn the real procedures rather than the written ones, you see where the friction sits, and the team sees that you are willing to do their work before you judge it. A related article looks at embracing change in the workplace as a hotel leader.

Based on his approach, the first months can be built around a few clear commitments:

• Work full shifts in operations, including the least glamorous tasks, before proposing changes.
• Tell the team upfront how long you will be on the floor and that you are there to learn.
• Listen to how colleagues describe problems before offering your own solution.
• Hold back on fixes until you can explain why the current way of working exists.
• Start every working relationship from the same point: honesty about what you do and do not know yet.

Why respect comes from every layer of the hotel

A diploma opens doors, but it does not make anyone a hotel manager. Verheij is direct about this when he talks to students: finishing your hotel management studies does not mean you can lead a property from the first second because you have the paper in your pocket.

“You have to continuously involve yourself into all the layers of the hotel in order to be respected.”

Xander Verheij, 35:50

His own path shows what that looks like. He started at 14, carrying trays and preparing breakfast in his father's hotel of around 70 rooms. In Barcelona he worked in the executive club lounge as concierge, as front desk agent and on the food and beverage side. Each of those roles is a layer he can now point to when he asks a team member to do something.

He also adds a realistic note: hospitality is known for hard work, and you should not be afraid of it or feel sorry for yourself. His test is whether you come home with energy after long weeks. If you do, in his experience, that is a good sign you are in the right place.

Learning the general manager role before you hold the title

Many future managers wait for the title before they learn what the job involves. Verheij did the opposite. At Hotel 27, a suite-only boutique hotel with 16 suites and around 90 staff, he started as a management assistant and spent the first period shadowing the general manager. He admits he had no idea at first what the role meant, what the responsibilities were or how the hierarchy worked.

The general manager put real trust in him. There were days when he was the only manager in the property as an intern, handling administration, scheduling, writing procedures and training new staff. His conclusion is that you do not have to climb every level one by one. You can dive into the deep end, with common sense, a clear mindset and the motivation to learn everything that is possible. A related article looks at hospitality networking and certification for career growth.

Trust from the top also shaped how he was hired. The owner of his current hotel told him he was not looking for someone with thirty years of experience who would tell him how to do things, but for someone young with his own vision to build the hotel together. For a new general manager, that kind of mandate is an invitation to contribute ideas, not to arrive with a finished plan.

Leading a young team with honesty

Leadership by example is common advice, but Verheij makes it concrete. He wants to be the type of leader who inspires people through practice and shows his best version so that others follow. Being young himself, he finds it easier to level with a young team: he knows what is going on in their lives and can relate to it.

Honesty is the other half. He tells his staff that he is there to learn a lot in a new position, and the relationship between manager and team, whom his hotel calls ambassadors, starts from that point and no other. A related article looks at hiring with a realistic job preview.

How to handle guest feedback as a manager

Guest feedback is where many first-time leaders stumble, because service feels personal. Verheij explains the trap with a simple comparison. If you sell a pen and someone dislikes it, you do not take it personally, because it is just a pen. But if a guest says your service or your tone of voice is poor, it is easy to take it personally, because it is personal.

The risk, he says, is that you immediately come up with excuses. The better response is to reflect as you would on the pen: perhaps the design is not good enough, so improve it. In his view that willingness to reshape yourself is where people hesitate, and also where most growth happens.

“Being able to do so and being able to open yourself up for that, I think that's where the growth comes from, the exponential growth.”

Xander Verheij, 37:48

This matters more because there is no average guest. In his experience in central Amsterdam, some guests save for a whole year to spend one night with their loved ones, while others spend freely. Managing those very different expectations, he believes, is the greatest daily challenge in hospitality, and he first learned it as an intern. A new general manager who takes feedback as information rather than an attack is better placed to meet them.

To hear how these lessons developed over his early career, watch the full conversation.

Frequently asked questions

What should a new general manager do first?

In Xander Verheij's experience, the first step is to understand the hotel from the inside before changing anything. He spent two to three months working in operations, including dishwashing, and told the team openly that he was there to learn. Only after that, in his view, has a manager earned the credibility to propose improvements.

Is it possible to lead a hotel in your twenties?

Verheij became a general manager at 24. He started working in hospitality at 14, took on real management tasks as an intern and was sometimes the only manager in the property. His view is that you do not have to climb every level, as long as you dive in with motivation and keep learning from every layer of the hotel.

How should a manager handle negative guest feedback?

Verheij advises against reacting with excuses. He compares it to selling a pen: if someone dislikes the design, you improve the design. Service feedback feels personal because it is, but reflecting on it instead of defending yourself is, in his view, where the largest growth comes from for anyone working in hospitality.