Question

A- Some General Managers believe they can best further their careers by choosing to manage only hotels affiliated with a specific brand. Other GMs believe they are most marketable if they have experience managing several different brands. Assume you are a hotel owner. Which type of GM do you think would be most valuable to your hotel and why?

B- General Managers sometimes face difficult decisions when they are employed by a management company and operate a branded hotel. In such a situation, the GM's loyalty can be tested because of the conflicting interests of staff, guests, the brand, the management company, and the hotel owners. Consider a situation in which the financial interests of two of these groups directly conflict such as, management companies seek to maximize management fees, while hotel owners seek to minimize them. To whom do you believe the GMs owe their greatest loyalty and why?

Answer 1

A- For my hotel, I feel that a GM who would have worked with several brands would be more valuable. The benefits my hotel will gain from such a manager is that he will have experience of working in a different environment and faced more challenges than the person working with a single brand. The policies of hotel management differ from hotel to hotel. The customer service, staff management, management control are all aspects that may vary from one hotel to another. Such a manager will have a better understanding of brand awareness and how to work for marketing their brand in the competition. They will have a good experience and knowledge about what are the weakness and strengths each brand is having and thus make strategies according to it in their current job. They know to work in more stress as managing different brands require more determination and perseverance.

B- In a situation where there is a conflict of interest, I understand that the GM should analyse what will be a fair decision and who actually should be shown loyalty to as per ethics and moral. In this situation where the financial interests of the two groups are conflicting, Gm should evaluate who actually deserves to get the support from the just view and take sides. If the decision is not being possible to be made this way then the GM should be loyal to the group he is getting paid his earning from.