Hotel management concepts

There are several hotel management concepts that hotel managers use not only to ensure a smooth running of hotels, but also to help them to achieve economic success, social influence, technological advancement, environmental protection and conservation hence sustainability. Good management concepts ensure that organizations acquire competitive edge over their competitors. Each hospitality organization has specific management concepts that they use to ensure that there is smooth running of the institutions. This paper highlights some of the effective concepts in hotel management that are being used by some successful hotels with a case study of Hilton hotel.
Leadership is one of the hotel management concepts that are being used which minimizes more of ‘maintenership’ but more of leading the institution. In this concept, the manager becomes more pro-active than reactive. The manager always sees ahead the challenges that may appear instead of chasing after them. In the hotel, the manager is supposed to walk around interact with the employees and guests and know the possible challenges that they are facing. In this management concept, the manager is able to identify any possible challenge that may arise in the future in a hotel, correct them and ensure that all challenges are addressed earlier before they are harmful to the hotel. Areas where a manager can act earlier and correct possible problems where the customer lacks   variety of food in their meals or poor communication with the service provider.
Direction is another management concept that should also be employed in the management of hotels. The manager gives direction by creating atmosphere and conditions that should be followed in an institution. This can be done through communication to the subordinates especially during staff general meeting. In this concept, the staff should know that they will be held accountable for their activities. It is important to involve the staff in coming up with mission statement or letting them understand the mission statement, so that they are familiar with the ultimate goal and objective of the organization. (Rutherford D. G et al 217).

Community involvement in the management is also an effective management concept in the hotel. It is important to relate well with the outside environment so that they can have a positive attitude about your institution. As a manager, one should keep economic indicator of the nearby region. The local community should therefore be involved in decision making and benefit sharing so that they can have a positive attitude with your institution and support it. Some of the way that they can support the institution is through being customers in the same institution, being hospitable to the hotels clients and supplying of the items to the hotel. This ensures that there is sustainability of the business.
Training and education off the management and the subordinate staff is also a management concept that is employed by the hotel managers. This ensures that the staff keeps on being trained on the services and management of the hotel. It also involves reading of journals and newspapers to ensure that one understands the latest trend of the customer’s interest in the services provision. In training, new management techniques are also learnt, in various departments. Mostly the hotels keep on developing programs on refreshment courses.
Empowerment to the employees is also a concept used which ensures that employees are granted authority to make everyday decisions within guidelines. For instance many guests may feel that they are in the middle of bureaucracy when they want to have a charge adjusted in their account folio, when the waiter has to go and ask the supervisor. In most cases the guest feels that the services that are given to them are not user friendly. To a certain extent, the employee could be made at liberty to negotiate with the client and ready at a satisfactory level of both parties. With this, the client gets the services that they feel satisfied with. (Clarke Alan 64),
Cost management is also another concept for managing hotels. Hotel managers tend to examine labor cost reduction opportunities when the hotels are experiencing high operating expenses. An examination of movements in labor and all other expenses shows that payroll reductions contributes significantly to the cost controls implemented in both 1991 and 2001/2002. (Robert Mandelbaum 2)
Hilton group of hotels management have employed some of the above managerial concepts and have succeeded. The hotel is managed over in the world and is a international chain of full-service hotels and resorts. Hotels are owned, managed, or franchised to independent operators by the Hilton Hotels Corporation. The managerial concepts used include consistent training and education. The hotel recruits graduates staff in management positions like in front office, house keeping, food and beverages, Conference and meetings halls and kitchen. There are also refresher courses program where their staff keeps on being trained to hospitality recognized institutions of learning. Read PESTEL Analysis Hotel Industry
The hotel managers who lead and directs the hotels in way that the whole chain of hotels are run the same and the staff know what is expected of them. Leadership and direction has ensured that the hotel provides high quality services to all its clients. The hotel also has policy that ensures that the staff is empowered to make their own decisions especially when dealing with clients. The hotel target mostly business clients who are mostly learned and work under busy schedule. The high qualified and empowered staff provides quality services which makes it easy for the hotels to have business even at low season, and are able succeed economically allover the world.
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Work cited
Clarke Alan, Wei Chen international Hospitality Management: Concepts and Cases
Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007 p 212-225
Robert Mandelbaum, Managing Hotel Labor Costs, PKF Consulting 2004 pg2-3.
Rutherford D. G., Michael J. O’Fallon, Hotel management and operations
John Wiley and Sons, 2006 p 64.
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