5 Signs You Have What It Takes to Manage a Hotel or Restaurant

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It’s always been your dream to run a hotel or restaurant, hasn’t it? There’s something awesome about making guests happy, and beaming with confidence knowing it’s all you’re doing. However, are you ready for the logistics of such a career? It takes many skills to be a good manager and nowhere do these skills shine more than in the area of hospitality. Below is what separates the good managers from the not so good manager. Let’s see if you have what it takes?

1. You’re creative

Managing a hotel or restaurant is all about creating a good customer experience and there are a lot of creative choices that a manger must make. You will work with chefs to plan menus and with the hotel owner to decide what color to paint the rooms. You will have to help plan events for your restaurant or hotel to get customers. As a manager, you will have to be able to read the customers minds and surpass their expectations. While being a hospitality manager, your creative side will always have an outlet, as you keep improving the customer’s experience at your venue.

2. The idea of accounting doesn’t scare you

The chef says she needs more onions ordered and the owner called to say there are bills to be paid! Hospitality managers can’t be shy around spreadsheets and ledgers. A lot of big restaurants and hotels have accountants, but even so, the manger has to approve orders and regularly meet with the accountant to make sure the finances are in order. In small restaurants, you’re not just the manager you’re also the accountant and are in charge of keeping the books and making sure everyone gets paid.

3. You can multitask

The job of a hospitality manager demands being able to jump from one task to another seamlessly in order to keep the chaos as small as possible. You might be talking to the maids about a change to what rooms get cleaned when, or have to deal with an incident near the pool. You will be wearing a lot of different hats so it’s important that you can execute each one and always be ready to switch at a moment’s notice.

4. You’re good with people

If there is a career where being an extrovert is a bigger advantage we’re not sure what it is! Every day you will be talking to people, not just the staff, but to new customers. Even in the best hotels and restaurants you will have customers that “didn’t get a chocolate on his pillow” or whose meal is not what they thought it would be. It may come off annoying, but it’s your job to make sure that at the end of the day, they’re happy and can’t wait to come back for more. You need to speak well in public and get rid of any stage fright you may have.

5. You’re a good leader

Above all else, a manager is a leader. You must be fair, good at giving commands, and focused even when the dinner rush hits, or else the employees under you will be lost. There will be disputes to settle and plans to implement and it’s up to you to get it done as quickly and successfully as you can. You’re the bridge between what the owner wants and what the staff can do and both have to be happy in order to have the best place in town. You can’t shrink under stress instead you have to embrace it and take charge. That’s the most important part of being of a great manager. Remember, in addition, there are always schools that can be of help, such as UMD at Shady Grove.

So you’re creative, you don’t blink at the idea of an invoice, you are a natural multi-tasker, you’re a people person and love being the leader? It seems you do have what it takes to be a great hospitality manager. Now there’s only one question left: “When can I get a reservation?”