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Lodging managers are in charge of hotels, motels, resorts, and various overnight stays. In fact, they have numerous responsibilities as they oversea all aspects of the facility. Additionally, they manage the employees and handle logistics such as customer and food service, maintenance, and landscaping. Their goal is to keep guests happy and provide a pleasurable experience for everyone that comes. Next, watch a video to learn what a lodging manager does.
How to Become a Lodging Manager
An employer may consider hiring a person with a high school diploma that has several years of experience working in a hotel. However, most employers want a bachelor’s degree in hospitality or hotel management to work in a larger, full-service hotel. An associate’s degree is generally accepted in hotels with fewer services if the applicant has a background in restaurant, hotel, or hospitality management.
Hotel management programs usually include courses in accounting, hotel administration, marketing, food service management and catering, and housekeeping. Since hotels use hospitality-specific software for reservations, housekeeping management, and billing, proficiency with computers is necessary. Many vocational and trade schools and technical institutions offer courses in the hospitality industry.
Job Description of a Lodging Manager
Lodging managers greet and register guests and answer any questions about services or policies that the hotel or establishment may have. A lodging manager keeps financial records, approves expenses, set room rates, manage budgets, coordinate office activities, and resolves problems. A lodging manager also interviews, hires, and trains employees and must sometimes terminate an employee. The ultimate responsibility though for a lodging manager is the pleasant experience of a guest and profit for the hotel or establishment.
Lodging Manager Career Video Transcript
Whether on vacation or traveling for business, hotel guests depend on the ability of lodging managers to ensure they have a pleasant stay. Lodging managers have a lot to do, such as inspecting guest rooms and public areas, training staff, and taking care of bookkeeping. When a plumbing disaster occurs or bad weather causes cancellations, these managers keep lodging operations running.
There are different types of lodging managers. General managers oversee the work of several department managers. Revenue managers focus on managing finances, including room sales and reservations while front office managers coordinate reservations and direct front desk staff.
Convention service managers represent all hotel services from accommodations and catering, to providing screens and projectors for groups organizing conferences, meetings, and special events. Managers may be on call 24/7 and may have to work evenings, weekends, or holidays. They work at lodgings ranging from hotels with 1,000 guests to exclusive resorts, to intimate bed and breakfasts, remote country inns, urban youth hostels, and casual camps.
Some lodging managers live on site. Many applicants qualify with a high school diploma and several years’ hotel work experience, but most large hotels expect applicants to have a bachelor’s degree in hospitality or hotel management. Hotels with fewer services accept applicants with an associate’s degree or certificate in hotel management or operations.
Article Citations
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Lodging Managers.
National Center for O*NET Development. 11-9081.00. O*NET OnLine.
The career video is in the public domain from the U. S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.