15 most important hotel manager skills

Hotels are a core part of the hospitality industry, providing accommodation services for visitors. To establish a successful hotel, professional hotel managers are essential.

Hotel managers interact with people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and traditions. Thus, your hotel manager’s required skills might depend on your hotel’s location and target customers.

The hospitality industry (and hotels in particular) is a major sector of the global economy. After a drastic decrease in market share as the pandemic hit, the industry gradually regained traction.

With this in mind, you should have the right hotel service team on board to place you strategically in the market while the industry slowly builds momentum. 

Our aim in this article is to discuss the top 15 hotel manager skills your hotel needs to transform your establishment and make it more competitive in the market. You’ll also learn how to test for hospitality skills more objectively.

What is a hotel manager?

A hotel manager is a hospitality professional who ensures hotels, motels, and resorts function properly. Usually, a hotel manager oversees the day-to-day activities in a hotel establishment.

Hotel managers take on several duties, including accounting, business development, sales, and hospitality. Additionally, they work behind the scenes to ensure customers are satisfied with the hotel’s services.

What makes an effective hotel manager?

Top hotel managers have experience in various areas and use that knowledge to their advantage to ensure excellent services. They spot issues before their guests do and solve them quickly.

Here are some ways to identify an effective hotel manager:

1. Presence at the hotel 

There is no substitute for time spent in the hotel.

When your hotel manager is in the hotel, they can easily attend to the situations and issues that may arise. Regular visits to the lobby, kitchen, and laundry facilities will improve your hotel manager’s overall effectiveness.

2. Keeping up with trends

A hotel manager who is up-to-date with the latest trends will make valuable proposals that’ll improve your customers’ experience. Also, understanding experts’ opinions will positively impact your hotel’s growth.

3. Leading and motivating hotel staff 

For successful hotel management, your manager should motivate staff members to accomplish their tasks. It’s no secret that a well-motivated team will outperform an apathetic team. 

An effective way to motivate staff members is to lead by example. If your hotel manager is willing to put in the work even when it lies outside their hospitality manager job description, they demonstrate their passion for the job and can inspire the rest of the team. 

4. Research

In today’s world, learning opportunities are everywhere. To be more effective, your hotel manager has to recognize and capitalize on these opportunities, research how they can be applied to your hotel, and see how they’ll benefit your establishment. 

5. Open to feedback

Feedback is priceless in any organization, but especially so in hospitality. If your hotel manager can get feedback from visitors at your hotel, they’ll be able to give valuable insider advice for you to implement. 

What is hotel management all about?

Managing a hotel comes with a ton of responsibilities. Hotel management covers the operational aspects of a hotel and requires a variety of skills, such as people management, marketing, organizational skills, and customer service skills. 

The primary goal of hotel management is to run a hotel successfully while simultaneously managing other aspects of the establishment. 

What are the top 15 hotel manager skills?

The hospitality industry certainly has its rewards. As you seek to hire the best professional you can find as your hotel manager, you must ensure that your prospective manager has the following managerial skills.

1. Great communication skills

Excellent communication skills are crucial for the hospitality industry. Selecting a hotel manager with great communication skills ensures good relations with customers and staff.

Effective communication helps to generate a sense of belonging among staff and creates an atmosphere in which customers can give honest feedback and feel comfortable returning for future visits.

2. Conflict-management skills

Hotels bring people of various backgrounds to work together. Disagreements are inevitable, but handling them poorly can cost your hotel profits and reduce productivity while causing customer dissatisfaction. 

A hotel manager with the right conflict-management skills can avoid this.

3. Interpersonal skills

It is the hotel manager’s job to keep guests and employees happy. Hotel managers usually relate with diverse people, and it’s only natural that they’ll have to deal with unpleasant or difficult people frequently.  

Being able to adapt, listen, and maintain composure in uncomfortable situations shows a high level of professionalism, understanding, and patience. These are attributes you should look for in potential employees.

4. Attention to detail

One of your hotel manager’s duties is to ensure guests have an unforgettable experience. To achieve this, they must be vigilant and able to spot the tiniest details that could ruin customers’ experiences.

5. Operational skills

The smooth day-to-day running of your hotel rests on the shoulders of your hotel manager. Good operational skills will enable them to handle every key aspect of the hotel for it to run adequately.

6. Ability to multitask

Multitasking is critical for hotel managers because unexpected situations may arise at any time. As a result, they must be able to adapt and make well-informed decisions on the go.

7. Ability to accept criticism

Dealing with feedback the right way is critical for your business. Your hotel manager is a representative of your hotel, and the reaction they give upon receiving feedback affects your customers’ perceptions of your hotel in general.

Hence, they should be open to feedback, whether it’s positive or not. 

8. Financial management

Most of the duties of a hotel manager center on customer service, hospitality, and hotel skills. However, some duties require your hotel manager to possess financial-management skills to ensure your hotel stays afloat.

9. Leadership

Hotel managers must be excellent leaders. Your hotel should have a collaborative environment, which can only exist in the hands of a good leader. Thus, your hotel manager needs impeccable leadership skills to oversee your staff. 

10. Emotional intelligence 

Some refer to emotional intelligence as the missing piece between IQ and real success. A hotel manager with high emotional intelligence will handle conflicts adeptly and will complement their positive approach to leadership and teamwork.

11. Dedication

Working in hospitality is not for everyone. The dedication required to develop the necessary hotel skills is hard to come by. A good hotel manager knows the intensity, effort, and energy needed for your hotel to succeed and provides these accordingly. 

12. Positive attitude

A positive attitude will help your hotel manager inculcate other top hotel management skills. Hotel managers with a positive attitude and mindset will make your guests feel at ease, which ultimately bolsters their experience and keeps you in business.

13. Cultural awareness

Hotel managers are bound to meet customers from many backgrounds. Your hotel manager needs to be culturally aware and adapt to different norms and cultures.

14. Team spirit

Hotel managers are part of a team. They may head the team, but working well and creating a team with high spirits will produce a relaxed work environment. They facilitate collaboration for general team success. 

15.  Tech savvy

The world is constantly evolving, and technology has a huge impact on the hospitality industry. 

Your hotel manager has to embrace technology like service automation with AI and integrated guest applications, as they are instrumental to the growth and competitiveness of your establishment.

How to hire the best hotel manager?

Hospitality requires certain key skills for a business to be successful. As such, it’s essential to assess your potential employees on a variety of the skills we have discussed above. With pre-employment tests, you can evaluate candidates on the most important skills you require for your hotel.

TestGorilla’s Hospitality test assesses potential hospitality professionals on various metrics, including restaurant server test questions, communication, time management, and personable skills.   

With this Hospitality test, you can revamp your recruitment, avoid unconscious bias associated with CV screening, and ensure you hire the right fit for the role.

Create a free account with TestGorilla today to secure top hospitality professionals for your hotel.