Do Superhero Hotel General Managers Exist?
Above photo by Gabriel Tovar on Unsplash. Right, Craig Smith, Marriott International’s group president and managing director international division, on the three qualities of the best GM
By Raini Hamdi, 18 July 2022
In sports, a ‘trifecta’ is a run of three wins, as in ‘he will attempt a trifecta of the long jump, triple jump, and 110 m high hurdles.’
It’s the word Marriott International’s Craig Smith used to succinctly sum up the qualities of the best hotel general managers in the world.
He or she is a hotelier, business leader and parent all morphed into one.
“I call this the GM Trifecta of Success,” Smith penned in his latest LinkedIn newsletter post, as he reflected on his career. The chain’s group president and managing director international division has been in the industry for 34 years, nine of those as a five-time GM.
Here are excerpts from his article:
A true hotelier is the GM who runs the property from the lobby. This GM is ever-present in the public areas, knows guests by name, operates an elevated food and beverage program, and cares about quality.
A great GM always channels his/her inner business leader. They keep the eyes on the prize, understanding that hotels can only continue to exist if they make a profit. They focus on the business as a whole — they balance the need for sales with the need to satisfy guests, and the need for happy associates.
The parental GM knows every one of their associates — by name — and cares for them. They help their teams grow and develop. They build our future leaders. And just like engaged parents, the GM shows up for weddings, funerals, baptisms, and is always there for their associates. In essence, it is the GM’s primary responsibility to take care of the people who work for him/her and treat them like family.
Do They Exist?
It seems a lot to ask of anyone. A hotel CEO role even looks less demanding, as he or she has the GM to tackle the hotelier role, which arguably is 24/7 by itself.
Personally, I’ve met the invisible GM – he’s active online answering each feedback on social media. I know GMs who aren’t able to perform the hotelier role — because they are buried in paperwork demanded by corporate office. I’ve seen GMs who rose too quickly to the job that it’s they who need parenting.
I’ve met many GMs who are true hoteliers and, for me as a guest, that’s enough. I’ve met parental GMs, one was even a little too chummy with staff. Then there’s the one who wanted to put up a sign saying: ‘Dear guests, please treat our staff kindly. They are more difficult to find than you.’
As a guest, I can’t tell if a GM has all three qualities. So I asked Smith if there are really GMs who attempt the long jump, triple jump, and 110 m high hurdles to be the best GM – without ending up broken.
“Yes, there have been quite a few,” he said. “They are usually the ones who win many of our awards. They set the perfect example for the wider group. How well they perform within each of these traits differs but the key is they intuitively know they need all three.”
For a second opinion, I asked Giovanni Angelini, former CEO of Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts. Yes, not only has he met them “many times,” he’s met those with “additional qualities” as well.
“They are lifelong learners who accept that success is never final. A GM that’s successful in one hotel and destination may fail in another. These GMs stay the course even when they stumble. They recognize that the difference between great achievement and failure is not intelligence but perseverance,” said Angelini.
Cloning Superheroes
So how does the industry produce more of these perfect GMs?
Marriott begins by identifying the best talent early in their careers. “Emotional intelligence is the most important factor. We then spend hundreds of hours training and refining them with classes and different experiences. We cross-train some of these top leaders by moving them geographically, from city hotels to resorts, or even across brands,” said Smith.
Great GMs also learn the three traits by watching great leaders around them, Smith said. “I’ve worked for quite a few and it influenced huge changes to my style. I doubt I would be where I am today without them.”
His concern is that with so many people working remotely these days, that kind of mentoring is lost. “Now that travelers are returning and hotels are full again, young leaders will have the ability to learn by example once again,” Smith hopes.
Angelini, now founder of Angelini Hospitality, said external factors such as a supportive corporate office and an appreciative/committed owner also play a big role.
Problem is, some owners may not be as “sector aware” as the GM, said Kevin Murphy, director – asset management and investor relations at Horwath HTL Australia.
“Investing in hospitality real estate is attractive because of the glamor, but often it’s far more complicated than the business of owning fixed income commercial, office or industrial buildings,” he said.
And try as they may to groom hero GMs, even the biggest operators often falter, according to Murphy. Consolidation of brands into larger listed entities over the last 25 years, for one, has played a part in diminishing that responsibility. “Craig’s lucky — his company can [count as] being one of the better ones in creating pathways to success for experienced hoteliers,” said Murphy.
The rise of third party and white label management companies working for owners in branded hotels may also be a disincentive for operators to groom the best GMs, he believes. Plus, it’s unlikely that operators will provide such heroes to these owners. Instead, they will go with “the more common approach today of poaching GMs from competitors, often at inflationary costs to owners,” Murphy said.
Huge Sacrifice
Smith’s article drew more than 220 comments. Carlo Javakhia, GM of Ritz-Carlton Doha, light-heartedly wrote that blending the three traits is like having an expert walking the tightrope — if one of traits is missing, “it is like removing minced meat from Bolognese.”
Rocco Bova, founder of Mexico-based My Humble House, raised the most pertinent point about the sacrifice the GM and family must accept.
“Perfectly put,” he said of the article. “I would add that our own family who wait for us every day and support us during our hard working career is an essential pillar of our success. We need to show up for them too.”
It is a huge sacrifice to be a hero GM, which raises another question about the ability of the industry to retain them, especially when such accomplished individuals are likely to competed for by other sectors, which may pay better and enable them to have a life.
“Retention? Now I can get on my soapbox,” said Smith. “The pay is better elsewhere at lower levels, but gets very competitive by the time young men/women become GMs. We pay our top leaders [and high potentials] very competitively.
“But the real motivator for retention is showing them the long-term potential in their career if they stay with us, continue to perform, and continue to develop. My normal speech to all of them is, your career is like a chess game. If you are only playing one move at a time, you’ll eventually stall. Winning leaders always have their eye on the long game.”
Fear not
I told Smith I fear that if the next-gen read his article, they would think twice about being a hotel GM, what with work-life balance and remote working becoming more aspirational than ever before.
Said Smith, “Ahh…but our industry is so fun and alluring! Where can you work running a business where you are deep into human resources one hour, marketing the next, food & beverage taste panels later, design décor after, and so on. The diversity of our roles as GMs makes it fun.”
Hard to argue with that.
Footnote: Smith will write three more articles outlining each of the three traits of the best GM individually over the next few weeks. Do not miss reading them on his LinkedIn page