I spoke with a business owner for 30 minutes a few months ago that owns a hotel, a law office, and a few other businesses.
His eyes were tired and red trying to figure out what to do about his hotel accountant.
They had another offer and were thinking about leaving within their first year. Their work was average, the owner didn't know what he was doing, but he seemed to be getting reports out when asked.
The headache though was that the owner didn't care much for the guy but didn't want to go through the process of getting someone else.
He didn't want to go through finding, interviewing, hiring, training someone all over again, especially since he didn't really "know the industry."
I asked him why he chose this person in the first place and he said he needed someone asap, the guy applied, met with him a few times, and hired him.
I asked about his GM, and how his hotel was performing, he said very well all things considering and the GM became a close friend.
When he visited the hotel the front desk was always nice, he liked the cookies, and the housekeeping supervisor was "very funny."
We spoke more about the hotel, the people, his other companies and he mentioned back about the hotel accountant, "he's ok and he can do the job." But with everyone else, there was a warmness in his voice.
At the end of the conversation, he said, "I think I need to let him go."
I mentioned bringing in the GM on the interview process this time so that it wasn't all up to him. He had so many other commitments and he really needed someone that knew the industry to help with the decision.
Yesterday, he called and said, "Got a new person, they are working out great, and the team like them. They seem to know what to tell me and I feel good about this one."
And that my friend is what we all want. The confidence that we are bringing in the right person to the team, someone that excels in the role, and supports the culture.
It may take a few extra interviews on the front end but pays off massively once hired.
Do you agree?
#hotels #interviewing #hoteliers #hotelmanagement #hospitality #hotel