It’s the end result that counts…not how you get there…

As mentioned in a previous post, there has been a regime change at Hotel A. Regime changes in hotels fascinate me, they are great examples of how different individuals look at a challenge, and what different solutions will be thought of. Here’s a classic example….

Our regime change took place last week on Thursday; the morning briefing on Wednesday was held by our original fearless leader, Thursday morning’s briefing was held by our babysitting fearless leader (hereafter known as ‘The Babysitter’).

Hotel A is a new hotel, with a relatively unknown brand in this particular country and city, added to the fact that the city is very oversupplied with hotels and restaurants; brand recognition is therefore an issue.

On Wednesday morning, our original fearless leader touched on the subject of advertising the hotel in the future, stating that the budget for advertising should not be wasted on magazines or newspapers – that programme should be cancelled immediately, the money should be spent on big advertising i.e. billboards and large LED’s around the city. We all nodded in agreement – it made sense!

On Thursday morning, The Babysitter was asking about the advertising of the hotel, before our MarComm Director could answer, The Babysitter started giving his opinion that we should be advertising in all the magazines and newspapers in order to get the public familiar with our name. We all nodded in agreement – it made sense!

Both GMs are professionals who have been in the field for many years, in many different corners of the globe, both have to face the same problem, both have different opinions in how to fix the problem.

A combination of the two would be nice, but we can’t afford that! So let’s see which direction we end up going in!

All Change

Here at Hotel A some changes are happening, personnel changes, fairly dramatic personnel changes actually.

A change of GM can always be a disrupting event, questions run through everyone’s minds; the basic questions of “will they like me?”; “will we get on?”; “will we be able to communicate?”…these are standard and are probably the same in any company when the boss moves on.

For us mortals at Hotel A this change over is a little more challenging.

Our Fearless Leader has heard rumblings from the Mother Ship over the last few months. These rumblings have been telling him that it’s about time to start looking for a new job. Eventually he confronted the Mother Ship, only to be told that yes, the search was on for his replacement (he knew that already given that one of his friends had been summonsed to the Mother Ship for an interview for the Fearless Leader’s position).

The ensuing confusion has not been pretty, events have unfolded a little like this..

1. Fearless Leader announced to his Department Heads that the Mother Ship was going to replace him and he would be leaving at some stage…no dates, no times…no other information

2. Two days later the Fearless Leader goes on an unannounced vacation for a week or so

3. Fearless Leader returns…no further news

4. A week goes by…no further news

5. A brief mention in the morning briefing about booking a couple of rooms for Mother Ship visitors the next week.

6. A quick call from the Fearless Leader’s secretary to ask if we are available for the new GM’s orientation the following week – with a specified date and time.

So this is how we discover when we will have a new Fearless Leader.

Who they are, what their background is, what their Mother Ship instructions are – we shall have to wait and find out!