5 Rules of Hotel Manager Meetings

The Hotel Manager's Guide to Meeting Management

Hotel Meetings are unpopular because they can waste our time. However, there are effective meetings and there are less-effective meetings....

Meetings can be an excellent use of time when they are well-run. Unfortunately, poorly run meetings are far too common and they can be seen as time-wasting.

This posting discusses the 5 rules of Hotel Management meetings that can help make Hotel Manager Meetings more productive and less frustrating.

Hotel Meeting Rule #1: Don't hold unnecessary meetings. Carefully assess how often routine meetings really need to be held. For example, if you have daily Hotel meetings, how productive are they? Can they be held less frequently? Or, perhaps, can they be held standing up someplace and kept to only a few minutes?

Whilst Hotel meetings are crucial for maintaining good communication in the Hotel; it is important to find the right balance between good communication and productive uses of my time.

Hotel Meeting Rule #2: Be prepared and ensure that all the participants are prepared as well. This is perhaps the most fundamental Rule of Hotel Meeting Management. Running an effective meeting - or being a good meeting participant - it is all about being prepared. People should know what is going to be discussed and people should have access to any relevant background materials beforehand.

No one should arrive at a Hotel meeting not knowing why they are there and what is supposed to be accomplished? If there is nothing to put on the agenda, the meeting organiser should ask themselves whether there really needs to be a meeting?

Hotel Meeting Rule #3: Stick to the schedule. Start the meeting on time and end it on time (or even early). Starting on time requires discipline. Arriving late shows a lack of consideration. Finishing in a timely manner is also crucial.

The time at which the Hotel Meeting is scheduled is also important. Scheduling regular meetings for inconvenient times (e.g. after the end of a busy shift) can have a very negative impact on morale. Emergencies might necessitate Hotel Meetings at odd times, however.

Hotel Meeting Rule #4: Stay on topic. Many Hotels have at least one person who tends to go off agenda or tell irrelevant stories during meetings.

Whether this is the organiser or one of the participants, all meeting participants have the responsibility of gently guiding the meeting back to the substantive agenda items.

Hotel Meeting Rule #5: Finish Focused. Finish Hotel meetings with a clear statement of what needs to be done and who needs to do it. If any decisions were made at the Hotel Meeting (even if the decision was to "study the issue more") the Hotel Meeting organiser should clearly summarise what needs to be done and who is going to do it.

This is crucial.

If the participants leave the Hotel Meeting and no one is accountable for taking action on the decisions that were made, then the Hotel Meeting will have been a waste of everyone's time.

These simple rules can go a long way in making Hotel Meetings more productive. Each of the 5 Rules requires commitment from all participants.

Implementing them is not always easy, as they require preparation and discipline, but doing so can make a huge difference to the productivity of your Hotel Meetings.

Through his work, Stephen attempts to help those without the time or often the money to attend College by providing them with Learning.

My posts are intended for hotel workers, supervisors and managers around the world, who are (or want to become) actively engaged in learning and development.

#hotelmanagementstudy #hotelindustry #hospitalityindustry #hotelmanager #hotelmanagement #housekeeper #frontofficemanagement #chef #foodandbeverage #hospitalitystudent #howtobecomeahotelmanager