‘Napoleon Bonaparte’ was not a hotel owner, nor a GM., (or is he today?)

I would imagine that the vast majority of you will believe what I wrote in the title, and agree that Napoleon, no matter what he may have been, was certainly not a hotel owner nor a Hotel GM. 

Indeed, it is crazy to even think that he did.

So why, I hear you ask, did you choose a title that is so far from the hotel industry, and seemingly so disconnected? 

And why did you write ‘or is he today?’

The answer is simple.There are owners and GM’s out there who strut around their properties as if they are modern day Napoleons, as if the employees are theirs to be done with as they will. All they miss is the ‘bicorne’ hat worn by the famous man himself!

Of course, there is a big difference between the two persona described above. One is a wealthy individual while the other has presumably worked his way up the ladder to reach the position of general manager. The other difference is that while one can be removed, the other can only remove themselves by either opting out of operations, by selling the property or bankrupting the business.

They are in both instances supposed to be the leaders that lead by example, that are there to support and advise their management team and staff. They are there to be the ‘fathers and mothers’ of the hotel, ready to help in any aspect of the operations, in caring for the staff culture and service. Unfortunately they are the opposite.

Over the years of my career I have seen the best and worst of both GM’s and owners. Thankfully I have learned so many positive lessons from the majority of good managers that I have worked under until the day came that I became a GM. I also have had tremendously positive experiences with most of the owners I have worked for, the majority of whom understood what it takes to run a hotel. They understood that there are no great results without constant investment, constant upkeep, and not only in the property but most importantly in the staff.

Yet it is not about those good, very professional hoteliers that I write about. On the contrary, it is those who have total disregard for our profession. It is those who believe that they are above ‘ordinary’ hotel employees. It is about those who believe that their titles, whether as owner or GM allow them to ‘command’ total respect from their ‘underlings’ simply by being owners or GM’s.

You cannot command respect from employees, whether as owner or GM. Respect is a hard earned commodity that takes true leadership and management by example. It takes years to achieve.

These owners and GM’s that I call the  ‘ignorant’ are invariably arrogant, disrespectful and ‘never wrong’. Any decision they make will not be their fault if it fails, the blame will be passed on to some poor employee or manager.

They are people who do not honor their word and agreements, and believe that they are the only people who understand the business. They change their opinions based on the latest hearsay that they have heard. They have ‘listeners’ on the ground who collect ‘dirt’ on any and all people and pass this on to the owner or GM.

In many cases they suffer from a visible lack of self confidence and believe that by ordering people around because ‘they are the owner, or they are the GM’ they can build themselves up and think that they are more important than they believe.

They are not. They are sadly mistaken.

They do not place any trust in their management teams and feel obliged to check every single hotel transaction. When considering renovations they do not trust one designer but rather bring in a multitude of people to offer advice. The end result is chaos, massive delays and rooms that look like a salad of designer inputs. I have seen too many of these owners.

Given that they do not trust anyone they then proceed to try and source the furniture and fittings for the new rooms and end up importing cheap furniture and fittings whether from China or elsewhere and then feel good that there was a saving of a few dollars on the furniture. 

There is, as everyone knows, nothing more expensive than cheap.

They do not realize that the delays may have cost millions in lost revenues and lost reputation in the market. They convince themselves that their way is the best and only way. Sadly it is not.

Of course, owners are more than entitled to act and decide whatever they want, after all, the hotel property is theirs. They are also completely entitled to destroy both the reputation and profitability of the property.  Again, after all, it is theirs.

What they do not own is the staff who will lose respect, become confused by inaction, angered at the lack of respect and appreciation for their hard work, and finally look for greener pastures. This is the worst loss for a hotel, as the staff are the most valuable possession that a hotel has, and the one thing that either builds or destroys the business and the reputation.

Many GM’s and owners will go ahead and hire advisers and consultants who become the ‘best thing since sliced bread’, but only for a while. They hire these people based on the fact that they expect to hear from them that their way is absolutely the best way, and expect that these advisers will move quickly to improve the situation and increase profitability. Sadly this is not possible without support. 

Car owners take care of their cars. They pump gas into them so that they can carry on driving them. They change the oil, the filters, the spark plugs, the windscreen wipers and many other parts to keep the car in good driving condition. If a car is neglected it will run down and eventually stop working. The same is true of hotels which need constant upkeep on a daily basis and renewal of rooms, public areas and certain systems every few years.

So what is left to say about these ‘Modern day Napoleons’?

Well, dictatorships rarely last long before they fall, and these Napoleons are no different except that they fall in different ways. The GM will inevitably cross a boss that will find out from the staff about his total unworthiness to be a GM.

The ‘Napoleon’ owner will learn the hard way that dictatorships do not work in today’s hotel world. It is very difficult and takes years to build a reputation, to create a great staff culture that excels in service and making guests experiences good. It is incredibly difficult to cultivate a loyal clientele whether for leisure, corporate, MICE or other segments. It takes years to build a trusting supplier line, a great marketing and sales team, and make leaders hat take the hotel to ever higher accomplishments.

It does not take long to destroy a hotel, and unfortunately most ‘Napoleons’, whether owners or GM’s, prefer to ‘fiddle while Rome burns’, think that all is fine under their ‘iron fist’ command. 

Then they are taken by surprise when the end comes.

They should not be surprised. 

As in the famous song by Frank Sinatra, ‘They did it their way!’

If only they had listened…….