For my “Day in the Life Of” interview, I chose to interview
an owner of a motel. This motel is a part of a very large motel chain that is
also part of a network of a few different motels. The interview was conducted
using the average day in the life of Terry.
Terry first acquired the motel by investment. He, and a group of fellow investors bought the property because they believed that it would be a good investment to put a motel and restaurant together on the parcel. As it turns out, it was a great investment!On any given day, Terry wakes up at about 5am. He begins his day by drinking a cup of coffee and reading the daily newspaper. He then checks his emails for any messages from other partners of the motel that he co-owns. A good portion of his morning is spent reading reviews from the customers that have recently stayed at the motel. This is done to ensure that the needs of the customers are being met in order to keep the business running smoothly. Afterall, happy customers equals loyal customers. After reading reviews and checking emails, Terry then does some yard work, watches the news and relaxes for a while before continuing with his motel duties.
Later on in the day, Terry hops into his car to drive over to the motel to check on how it is running for the day. While there, Terry checks on the occupancy, rates, and appearance of the property. Two main factors of occupancy, besides the season, are the rates per room and how the property looks. If the rates are too high, no one will want to stay. However, if the rates are too low- the motel won't make a profit. After reviewing these things,Terry deals with any problems that may be occurring at the motel. Some day-to-day problems that can occur are: maids not showing up to work, maids not cleaning the rooms in the allotted time frame or not doing so efficiently, a front-desk clerk showing up late, or the parking lot being fuller than the number of guests registered at the motel.
When any problems do occur, Terry has to try to find a solution. As a way to try to be proactive, Terry will on some days drive to the motel early in the morning and count vehicles to ensure that the parking lot is only being used by registered guests. He also checks in with the desk manager to make sure that they are patrolling the parking lot as well. As for maids not showing up to work, Terry tries to hire employees who are trustworthy and value other's time and money. If a maid is late or a no- show Terry tries to find a maid to come into work or get the remaining maids to clean a few extra rooms each. If problems with the same employees are recurring, there can be few days where Terry will have to let an employee go.
Some of
the other challenges that can occur for Terry are dealing with competing
prices, advertising, keeping a good manager employed, hiring reliable maids,
and keeping the property up-to-date. If there is not
enough advertising being done, this could also hurt business for obvious
reasons. As for the employees, it is important for any business to have
reliable employees because if they are late, steal, do a poor job, or are just
plain lazy, all of this can have a negative effect on the overall success of motel. Also, a
good manager can be the difference between how much time Terry must
spend at the motel as well as the level of morale of the employees and the service that
the customers are receiving.
Being a
co-owner, on the average day, Terry spends about 25% of his day at the motel
or dealing with problems that occur. As a management major, I think that
this is a relatively small amount of time to spend at the motel but this is not
a bad thing. Due to his own management skills, Terry must be hiring the right
employees, training the staff properly, and assigning smaller duties to
employees who are capable of completing them. Overall, Terry loves his job and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
Did Terry franchise the motel or is he the owner of the chain? To me it seems like Terry needs to hire a better team so he can have more time to focus on increasing revenue. If he does count an excess in vehicles, how does he know which vehicle belongs to the guests? Counting the cars in the parking lot is a redundant task that can be done by any employee. He can also set up a system where they hand out tickets that guests place on their dash while staying in the motel. Running a motel requires lots or work and coordination. They have to maintain the motel, order supplies, have a schedule of washing sheets, and room service are just a few aspects of running the business.
ReplyDeleteTerry is the owner of the motel. I actually think that Terry's team is what allows him to spend time dealing with the smaller details such as ensuring that his actual guests have a place to park. By doing this he is creating a great customer experience for his guests. As far as maintaining the motel, he is one of a few owners and has an on site manager who takes care of the day-to-day tasks or ordering and scheduling. Wouldnt you think that Terry is actually doing an excellent job of running his motel for the fact that he does have to do minimal work to stay in business? Part of being a manager is delegating. By Terry hiring the right employees he has been able to delegate all of the work while taking part in more important things such as customer experience. Reading reviews everyday is another thing, besides providing enough parking space, that allows Terry to monitor just how well is business is doing.
DeleteI think it is awesome that an owner is taking the time to show up on site and do little tasks because his presence is important, however I believe he should spend more time devising methods on how to maximize room occupancy. He might be doing a good job to stay in business but the goal is to flourish not thrive. Hotel businesses are very competitive and they are continually evolving. If the owner is stuck doing the work that can be done at the operational level he has no time to think of new innovations that will bring more customers. Reviews are important but just a small percentage of customers give their feedback. Instead of waiting for reviews he can focus on cash flows or occupancy ratio to get an idea of his capacity and how he can expand or downsize.
DeleteYou had talked about how he starts his day also by reading recent reviews from customers staying in his hotel But in terms advertising, did Terry ever thought about writing blogs to promote his motel business?
ReplyDeleteIn terms of employees, does Terry motivate his employees so they will have a better performance while they are working? Do he provide incentives for employees so they might be more willing to work harder?
Yes, I did talk about reading the reviews. He actually has other owners that take part in different aspects of the business. Seeing that his business has been able to stay open I would take a guess that another owner takes care of the advertising. Although I did not give the name of the business, I can tell you that it is a large chain motel that does a lot of advertising on its corporate side as well and so Terry does not need to do much of his own.
DeleteI think that Terry does a great job of motivating his employees because every time I have been in the business it seems as though the people really like working there. I have stayed at many of these same motels, in different locations, and Terry's is by far the best. The attention to details that his employees provide must mean that they are motivated and enough to work harder. For instance, they provide dark brown towels in Terry's motel for guest to use to clean up spills. This idea was actually thought of by Terry's manager and while it may seem like a small thing, I feel that as a consumer this was a very smart move in providing great customer service. It is the attention to little details such as that that make me belive that Terry has provided enough incentive for his employees to want to work harder.
I am curious about how Terry pricing the rooms for different seasons to keep his motel running. Being a motel owner looks like is much easier than being an owner of other business. I think might be because he hired somebody else to do the management job for him. Some small business owners cannot afford to hire somebody to manage the business for them need to take care of every detail in their business themselves. Those business owners are actually very busy. If I am going to invest in a business, I better make sure to be able to hire somebody to do the dirty works for me!
ReplyDeleteTerry doesn't actually price the rooms. The motel is part of a large corporation which sets a price standard. I agree that there is deffinately a difference between being able to hire someone to do a lot of the work and doing the work yourself. The jobs are the same but the amount of work is not depending on who is doing it. Depending on the business, sometimes it is best to be the manager in charge of everything and other times it is best to let someone do the "dirty work" for you. In Terry's case this works because he has a dedicated manager who is competant at their job. However, like you said, if an owner cannot afford to hire somebody or is very particular about things than I think that it is best that they be the manager of their business. It really varies by business and circumstance.
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