I'm sorry you feel that way. It's my experience that too many leaders in the hotel and hospitality industry have forgotten their purpose. The keynote speaker said as much in his talk when he called them out for being at the summit to confirm their bias about things being hopeless.
It's actually similar to the reason I stopped joining expat groups after my first year of university. Instead of being inspiring groups on how to integrate in new surroundings, they often turn into complaint forums where people glorify their former homelands and fret about things that are wrong in their new country.
Similar things happen at industry summits. At security industry conferences, there are always sessions about getting the C-suite to listen and over drinks in the bar afterwards discussions often centre around why the C-suite will never listen.
At hotel and hospitality events, there is a lot of "if only we could get more support from the government, we would be able to do great things."
I always call out that kind of attitude. It doesn't make me super popular but my own experience is that change starts on the frontlines, not in the board rooms or government ministries.
I'm only saying that GM agreed to sit down for an interview and explained what are probably the realities of the business, the pressures being put on him by his bosses, and that reporter used a headline that I suspect isn't really accurate of how that man felt.
It just didn't seem entirely ethical to me and unless the GM had said, "Look, I don't care about the comfort of my guests," I would never run a headline like that.
Calling out a bad attitude is fine and trying to promote change is great but...
Perhaps you know more about what that GM actually said and that headline is fair.
Fair point, but as I recall (this was in the 90s and I can't find the interview online), the interviewer gave the GM a chance or two at redemption that he didn't take. Instead, he said things like "We have people for that.", "The GMs role is more important than greeting guests."
In my opinion, any GM worth their salt would always mention guests, and great ones would mention their employees, in addition to, or even better before, talking about the "important" reports they send to corporate.
It's also symptomatic for the hospitality industry to think reporting to corporate should take precedence over caring for the people who make their business viable. Having spent a decade in a large corporate office, I know that there are many people in those offices who believe hotels are there to serve them, not the guests...
That headline was funny and catchy but I'm not entirely sure it was fair.
I'm sorry you feel that way. It's my experience that too many leaders in the hotel and hospitality industry have forgotten their purpose. The keynote speaker said as much in his talk when he called them out for being at the summit to confirm their bias about things being hopeless.
It's actually similar to the reason I stopped joining expat groups after my first year of university. Instead of being inspiring groups on how to integrate in new surroundings, they often turn into complaint forums where people glorify their former homelands and fret about things that are wrong in their new country.
Similar things happen at industry summits. At security industry conferences, there are always sessions about getting the C-suite to listen and over drinks in the bar afterwards discussions often centre around why the C-suite will never listen.
At hotel and hospitality events, there is a lot of "if only we could get more support from the government, we would be able to do great things."
I always call out that kind of attitude. It doesn't make me super popular but my own experience is that change starts on the frontlines, not in the board rooms or government ministries.
Sorry for the rant.
I'm only saying that GM agreed to sit down for an interview and explained what are probably the realities of the business, the pressures being put on him by his bosses, and that reporter used a headline that I suspect isn't really accurate of how that man felt.
It just didn't seem entirely ethical to me and unless the GM had said, "Look, I don't care about the comfort of my guests," I would never run a headline like that.
Calling out a bad attitude is fine and trying to promote change is great but...
Perhaps you know more about what that GM actually said and that headline is fair.
Fair point, but as I recall (this was in the 90s and I can't find the interview online), the interviewer gave the GM a chance or two at redemption that he didn't take. Instead, he said things like "We have people for that.", "The GMs role is more important than greeting guests."
In my opinion, any GM worth their salt would always mention guests, and great ones would mention their employees, in addition to, or even better before, talking about the "important" reports they send to corporate.
It's also symptomatic for the hospitality industry to think reporting to corporate should take precedence over caring for the people who make their business viable. Having spent a decade in a large corporate office, I know that there are many people in those offices who believe hotels are there to serve them, not the guests...