Day in the Life of a Manager at Holiday Inn

What’s it like to be a Manager at LGH Hotels? Read about a day in the life of a Manager below.

Working as the Front office manager is a challenge every day – your days are never the same.

The Daily Routine

When I walk through the lobby, my first stop is the front desk. Greetings are exchanged with the Night Team and then I receive the handover from the previous night. Most of the guests at this time are still up in their rooms, so I use this quiet time to go around and greet the rest of the team (Breakfast, Kitchen…etc).

Around 8:00am, the front desk starts to get busy. I stand up and support the receptionist by greeting people and helping with check out time. In case of a new starter, I like to be in the shadows; providing training to make sure that our guests will have the best customer experience ever.

At 10:00, the front desk gets quiet. I use this time to go back to the office and open my email inbox. Part of my day is filled up with reading and writing emails, making phone calls and reviewing documents, like creating a forecast to organise the team for the present day and the following weeks.

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After finding some time to grab lunch, I always try to stand up at the front desk again to help with check in time; supporting the team with training and catching guests to engage in a conversation.

At 15:00 pm, the hotel GM makes time to attend meetings with the Head/Supervisor of each department to do the handover for the upcoming shift, and to share some metrics information for improvement if needed. Communication is a big part of my role.

After this meeting, I spend some time with the receptionists who join the late shift. I share the handover and the information gathered at the 15:00pm meeting. Following that, I go back to the office to close the rota from the previous day, and then my day is done!

Recruiting Staff

As mentioned before, not every day is the same because I have another management task to deal with; the recruitment process.

Recruiting staff is one of the most important tasks in a manager role. Staff can make or break the business, which is why we use online recruitment services.

Once a job goes live and the offer is open, we gain access to the applicants’ CVs. I always like to do a short phone interview to determine if the candidate meets the initial requirements to fill the vacant role. After phone interviews, I always invite the successful candidates to a face to face interview as well.

In the interview, I like to make people feel comfortable by introducing myself and using an Ice Breaker question, as well as offering them tea/coffee, and taking the candidate to a private room.

I start the interview by relaying the job description and the company information. Next, I ask the candidate some formal questions in accordance with a form that we have. This form will allow me to check all candidate profiles to choose the successful one. In the last part of the interview, I will ask the candidates about their CVs; what they are looking for; their current occupation; and then I’ll provide them a tour of the hotel.

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The next step with new staff would be the training process. Training gives everyone a great understanding of their responsibilities, and the knowledge and skills they need to do that job. Spending time with the staff is very worthwhile, as they gain more confidence and  provide a great service that achieves our customer expectations.

One of the biggest satisfactions as a Manager is to build a proper team who meet all the targets that company requires. I like to work to increase confidence in my employees, to promote the well-being of everyone, always trying to be effective and to give a positive influence. 

I want to offer fun incentives to my team when we meet, as we really value motivated staff. We promote staff meetings at least once a month since it is always an advantage to engage the team. I always like to meet my staff at the place of work and outside, since it is a chance to get to know people away from the work environment. 

‘Being a manager is never easy. However if you have a properly team and organize your days, everything will run easily and you will be motivated every day putting all your efforts and passion in what are you doing, sometimes is exhausting but it’s also very gratifying.’

‘Happy employees make happy customers’