Radisson Hotels has a This Way Up program to identify people in the company with the talent, skills and potential to rise in management. Selected individuals have two counseling sessions a year with their general manager and personnel director, who might recommend in-house training programs, courses at a local college, the AH&MA Educational Institute program, or an assertiveness training seminar. A skills inventory card is maintained by Radisson's Human Resources Office, which matches individual profiles with available jobs. Other major hotel companies maintain similar inventories. Most hotel chains hire for properties that they either own or manage, but not for franchised properties.
The ability and willingness to relocate are important factors in how far and how fast you rise in a hotel organization. While in the past a management person might have been "blacklisted" for refusing an appointment, most major chains have become more sensitive to this issue.
"When I started in the hotel industry some 20 odd years ago," related Gordon, "when the company said you were going to Oshkosh, you only answered, 'What time do you want me there?' Now people are considering offers and turning them down because of their families. We as a company have been supportive, liberal. We haven't been dictatorial. We try to work with them. We don't blacklist."
"This industry is one of the last to come to grips with the fact that people prize their personal life," said Chance. 'It is only recently that management people feel comfortable in refusing a move."
Career Path
The traditional path to the general manager's seat was through the rooms division from front desk, to housekeeping, to resident manager or executive assistant manager of rooms, and, finally, to general manager. The route is now wide open.
"Career paths are changing," said Sue Gordon of Radisson. "Doors are more open. At Radisson, we are encouraging people to 'cross lines'. Technical knowledge can be picked up if you have the basic skills and aptitudes. We are identifying skills and talent needed for the general manager's spot, so someone can come from accounting, rooms, food and beverage, sales. It is good to have experience in other areas. We are no longer pigeonholing people." The necessary skills involve being able to lead others, allocate tasks, control finances, and coordinate all work functions.
She also pointed to a trend among hotel companies to "streamline" positions and "flatten out" layers of management. The positions of executive assistant manager of the rooms division and executive assistant manager of food and beverage, for example, might be combined so that a director of operations would handle both areas. 'This is out of necessity," said Gordon. "Hotel owners are suffering because of the economy and change in tax laws. There is a lot of pain out there that can only be remedied through better ways of operating."
It also means that people will have wider authority and more opportunity to learn different skills within the same hotel: The more cross-trained you can be, the better for the company," said the director of personnel for Hyatt. "You progress by moving from hotel to hotel, company to company."
More opportunities are open for women. Although women were always highly represented in sales, personnel, and house-keeping departments, few achieved the general manager's spot, much less chef or department head. But this has changed. Women now occupy positions as general managers, food and beverage directors, and chefs some have become executive chefs and even corporate vice presidents of operations.
The industry prefers to tap people with hotel experience for management positions. Nonetheless, it is possible for people to transfer their experience from other industries, particularly in sales, personnel, public relations, and marketing capacities.
Rising to the Top
Jim France's rise to general manager of the Charles Hotel typifies the traditional career path, lifestyle, and dedication that a hotel career exacts. Born in Scotland, "where if you came from a middle class family on the wrong side of the tracks, you had no way to change' France was the son of a hotelier "and knew that I wanted to be one my whole life."
While attending the renowned Lausanne Hotel School in Switzerland, he took jobs in hotels as dishwasher, waiter, cook, accountant, front-desk person, and steward. After graduating, he gained experience in convention services, sales, and food and beverage. He was a food and beverage director for eight years before moving into management.
France, who has since become a specialist in opening new hotels for companies, moved 13 times in 20 years (6 times in 10 years of marriage) and, in the course of his career, worked with some of the major chains. He moved to Boston to open the Charles Hotel for a private hotel company (Interstate) that planned to expand aggressively.
His wife, Dale, said philosophically, "It is the fate of a hotel careerist-constant moves with every promotion. If you are adventurous, it's okay. You take away a little of every place. But it is difficult when you have children."
France agreed. 'The spouse has to be adventurous, willing to give up family ties and friends and be adaptable."
Foreign assignments are particularly difficult because you have to get to know the culture, learn how to communicate in a different language, and know how to function on a day-to-day basis. Mrs. France learned Norwegian during her husband is posting there.
He recommended that new entrants to the field apply for any job at a new hotel and go through community employment agencies, but he counseled those serious about a career to go to a hotel school. "You get a better grounding. It doesn't mean you will get a job and advance quicker. A streetwise person who comes up through the ranks who is good with people can rise faster. The whole industry is people."
