TOUGH TALK: The perfect hotel manager

Sol Kerzner is one of the entrepreneurs highlighted by Mike Scully as someone who has created the benchmark for new graduates, pictured here smiling a

What the operators said

Darroch Crawford
Managing Director
Premier Inn Hotels LLC

For me, hotel general managers need first to be great leaders, with the ability to pick great talent. The best and most successful hotels are operated by a team of good and motivated people who work together to first secure business, maximise its potential, service it brilliantly, measure its impact, lock it in for the future and understand its value.

Hotel GMs don’t need to be great marketers, accountants or chefs, but they must know how to manage them. It is important to build good relationships with key customers, although many of the same skills of communication serve both the colleague and the guest equally well.

Integrity is important too. Do what you say you will do and be honest. I was fortunate enough as a young manager to learn from some great GMs, but I always felt I learned as much from the bad ones as the good, because I could see the damage that they did, from which I learned what not to do. So in summary, when the chips are down, look for great leaders with honesty, integrity and commitment and you won’t go far wrong.

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Naim Maadad
Managing director
Minor Spas Global & Hotels Middle East

Without any iota of doubt hotels should be run by entrepreneurs. It is a lifestyle business which should be driven by entrepreneurs who have a passion for excellence. Success will come from aggressive and creative marketing strategies and a balance of real “hospitality”.

The best managers are those who can manage business and lead people. Where failure lies is when there is a crossed wire and the focus is on just “managing” people.

True leaders are those who focus on creative marketing and driving business — not cost cutting and staff layoffs. We need to give guests a reason to return despite the challenges we face.

Those who think out of the box and drive their intuition with a passion to succeed are the only ones who have ensured long-lasting success in this global industry of hospitality — those who believe in creating their own path where none lies, and not copying what already is.

Ambition and determination to succeed are the key words for young graduates to be successful in the hospitality industry. They need to learn management skills in each discipline by climbing the ladder and thereby gaining vital exposure and critical experience — there are no short cuts.

Those who believe in taking the lead and following their intuition would continue to be successful at all times; there is no restriction at all for entrepreneurs in this industry, only opportunities.

Christophe Landais
Managing Director
Accor Hospitality ME

Hotels should be run by entrepreneurs because they are business people with a marketing flair. They are able to anticipate and adapt to trends and business needs, as well as have the courage and vision to spearhead growth and move the company forward.

The financial crisis has highlighted the fact that we need innovative managers with a very good grasp of economics. We need entrepreneurs who are prepared to take risks and think about the mid-term and long-term growth instead of looking at immediate returns.

The growth and variety of new brands and hotel/ restaurants concepts being introduced into the hospitality market shows that entrepreneurs are not restricted. In fact, their creative and innovative ideas are making the industry more interesting, robust and vibrant.

The main traits we look for in a manager are: the capacity to unite people on their projects to make them happen; capacity to think on their feet and fast and yet to be able to step back and take a broader view for a strategic outlook. Hotel managers today more than ever, need to have a high business acumen and be well versed in commercial interactions and strategies.

In terms of role models, Paul Dubrule and Gerard Pelisson who founded the Accor Group more than 40 years ago were definitely visionary. Both of them have driven the development of the economy to mid-scale hotel segments as standardised hospitality outside of the United States.  

Mike Scully has worked for some of the leading hotel management companies worldwide — Sun International, Holiday Inn, Accor and Starwood — as well as developing and managing properties for the Dubai Government. He is currently managing director of Seven Tides — Hospitality, which will be opening four luxury properties in Dubai within the next 12 months and which also owns Dukes Hotel in London.