450 Things Every Hotel General Manager Should Know (Hotel General Manager - Leadership Books) Paperback – August 1, 2021

buenos consejos aunque algunos basicos. Buena lectura para un back to basics

Dr. Mary Louise Fitzgibbons’ brilliance shines throughout her book, 450 Things Every Hotel General Manager Should Know.Having spent the last 25 years of her life as a General Manager of many luxury hotels in the United States, she speaks with such authority and insight.Dr. Fitzgibbon has a Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality Management, a Master’s Degree in Business and a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.With both education and experience, Dr. Fitzgibbons writes a comprehensive book that speaks to six different areas in hotel management.:Operating DepartmentsSupport DepartmentsSales/Marketing/Catering/RevenueService ExcellenceInspect What You ExpectLeadership and Hotel CultureChapter 1 Operating Departments include Housekeeping, where twenty-five important facts are listed by Dr Fitzgibbon, to ensure that the hotel has the highest cleanliness standards in guest rooms as well as in the public areas.Front Office is the place where first impressions are made. The twenty-five points, if followed, will set a positive tone for the guests.Food and Beverage excellence focuses on culinary and beverage creativity. Dr. Fitzgibbonoutlines, in easy-to-follow steps, the accountability measures that ensure success.Convention Services section lists thirteen important steps to take for setting high standards for meeting planners satisfaction.EngineeringThere are thirty-six details listed, since engineering covers the overall maintenance of the hotel.Security Departments have the job of protecting the employees, the guests as well as the property. Fifteen important facts to know are explained in detail. In case of a crisis, there are responses to say and not say, always having key messages in place.Recreation Departments create a balance between safety and fun at the hotel pools, spas, and fitness centers. Nine ingredients are listed that will meet these goals.Chapter 2 Support Departments include:FinanceThirty-nine points were discussed to make sure the hotel is effective financially.Human ResourcesThirty-six ways are listed on how to support the hotel employees.Chapter 3 Sales/Marketing/Catering/RevenueSales brings business/revenue to the hotel.Twenty-six ways the Manager is involved is explained in great detail.Marketing involves advertising and programs that increase the hotel revenue. Thirty-six ways for the manager to ensure exceptional results are given by Dr Fitzgibbon.Catering includes selling and overseeing food and beverages in the meeting space. Twenty-two “how to do this” are answered fully.Revenue Management Departments strategizes with the General Manager on prices, yields and selling goals as outlined in seventeen points.Chapter 4 Service Excellence is the target for all employees and is led by the manager. Dr. Fitzgibbon outlines forty-two ways to succeed in this area.Chapter 5 Inspect What You Expect has a clever ring, but fifteen reasons show the importance in management of a successful hotel.Chapter 6 Leadership and Hotel CultureServant Leadership was an interesting concept explained by Dr. Fitzgibbon. Having the greatest component of sixty-two points emphasized here, I believe Dr Fitzgibbon places a great emphasis on the relationship between Leadership and Hotel Culture.Dr Fitzgibbon has left nothing out of her book, 450 Things Every General Manager Should Know. What a job well done! Indeed!

I like this book. Direct to the point. Provides 450 useful tips in managing a hotel. Will definitely incorporate those.

As someone who recruits for the hotel industry and aspires to learn more every day about this industry, I found Dr. Fitzgibbon's "450 Things Every Hotel General Manager Should Know" to be extremely insightful. The ins and outs Dr. Fitgibbon shared gave me a clearer perspective on which type of candidates to look for and what is needed behind-the-scenes. "450 Things" should have been called 450 insightful gems or nuggets because this is what I found when reading this book. I will definitely keep this in my top desk drawer as a very handy reference guide.

Don't let the meh three star review discourage you. I'm a hotel GM with forty two years in the field and I plucked some useful ideas from the book. I'm suggesting anyone in -- or aspiring to -- any management position in hospitality read the book. The investment in money and time is small and chances are you'll be able to use something you learn.Now, about the title, things EVERRY hotel GM should know. There are many items touched on that a GM at a midsize or small property has no need to know. The book is intended for GMs at larger full service properties. It addresses segments of the business, departments, and staff positions that don't exist at many midscale properties and few if any economy properties. This is an ongoing oversight in the academic and business publishing field. The attention is on larger properties even thought there are more mid and smaller hotels in the US, and as such a larger number of GMs in these properties for authors to sell books to. A bigger and far harder to justify oversight is that this book, published in the summer of 2021, fails to address what is arguably the primary concern of GMs across all segments; how to address the disruptive impact that COVID-19 has had on travel, staffing, cleanliness, safety, and operations in general.As should be expected from a short book, the 'things we should know' are essentially a check list of information about our properties that we should be consciously aware of or have at arms reach. The knowledge part is suplimented with things a GM should do, and while I agree with some of the former, I have a philosophical difference with Dr. Fitzgibbon IRT the latter based on the implied shaping of a GM's role. A general manager is by definition a generalist. Our department managers are specialists within their area of expertise. Dr. Fitzgibbon seems to want to challenged this and alter the relationships between GM's and department heads. It's been my observation that when a department head knows less about the workings of their department than the GM, it's a likely sign that the department head is deficient, not that the GM is superb. My experience, dating back to 1979 is that employees perform best when the GM focuses on creating an environment that prepares, encourages, and allows them to thrive. If I were to take Dr. Fitzgibbon's advice and micromanage staff, bypassing their department heads, and telling them how to do something without first understanding the processes and reasons that they and their supervisors have developed based on their experiences, strengths, and from dynamics I know nothing about, I might get the satisfaction of 'having things done my way', but at the expense of guest satisfaction and at the cost of demotivating my best employees.My recommendation is that a GM focus on putting the right people in the right places and involving them in our efforts at ongoing improvement. Listening to our employees often yields more dividends than wanting them to listen to our detached observations. Detached, I'll say that word again. No matter how 'involved' a GM wants to be, we will never have as much contact with our guests as our Guest Service agents and we will never know as much about how our guests use our product as our Housekeepers and Maintenance/Engineers do. My job is to sell them on our vision, give them what they need to do it, step in when something is making it difficult for them to do it, and trust them to use of the collective wisdom gleaned from the hundreds of guest encounters they and their co-workers have each week to refine and prefect ways of delivering service that exceed what a manager will come up with based on a fraction of the guest interactions. My reading recomendation for any GM who believes his/her 'judgement' should superceed the in the trenches awareness of staff is Kahneman's 'Thinking Fast and Slow' for an exploration of the cognitive biases we all carry with us.The mark of a GM is that the earth could swallow him or her up and the hotel could continue under its own momentum for several months without a guest sensing the lease bit of difference.

WOW! Amazed at how much the author knows the ins and outs of a niche industry. Very beneficial to me and priceless information not readily available.

Very helpful material. This book gives step by step guidance into every aspect of running a full service hotel. Exactly what I was looking for.

Great book for anyone like me who is working their way up in the hotel business. Lots of tips for how to manage various areas of the hotel that I don’t have familiarity with yet.