Exclusive 5 Articles Series: Performance driven by passion is what makes hospitality industry flourish and as a hospitality consultant you come across much more than just buildings, the beauty of the industry are the people, employees and guests from all over the world, each with their own view on quality, on life and on experiences. 

In 2016 I published the book ‘A Hotelier’s mind, setting strategy for the future’. This is part 1 out of 5 in total, where I will share fragments out of the book. I wish to share to inspire. 

I have passion to protect and educate those who put their heart and soul

into running their hotel, restaurant, bar or spa, whether they own it, manage it or work in it. I want people who read my book to understand that, we are all in the people business whether that be our employees, our suppliers, our owners and of course our customers and guests.

Recruiting for the future

In this final part of the book, I want to highlight a few elements that you have already read about earlier in the book. The hospitality has lots to learn from and also to teach to other industries. You have read many examples in this book.

Creating or vitalizing a brand in hospitality does not start with the employees, it starts with leadership. Investing in leadership is the primary reason people will apply to a company and most certainly stay in the company. With the right leadership and management, the company will become a breeding ground for skilled staff.

Clearly all the tools have to be in place to do proper training on company standards, core values and skills that are needed to carry out the jobs that need to be done.

Hotels are good at that, they take the job description serious, even before recruitment, however, we should not over complicate it. We hear we hire attitude a lot. I believe over complicating the hiring

process with endless forms and interviews actually does quite the opposite. Instead of focusing too much on technical skills, we should focus on emotional intelligence, motivation and energy. You can see that in all the brands that I have mentioned in the book, and in this chapter. The energy and motivation of the people translates directly to the delivery of customer’s expectations.

The final opportunity lies within keeping people, good people, by promoting them and incentivizing them. All too often, companies are looking into recruiting from outside, while there are lots of opportunities to promote or recruit within the organization. Important

is for management and leadership to ensure annual appraisals, which includes questions about the individual’s wishes for the future, his or her personal goals and vision, so the company can match this, and educate or re-educate accordingly.

Let’s create strong cultures â€" let’s make our workplaces a place to enjoy â€" let’s deliver the best possible customer experience that we can! I have been fortunate to meet some great people in this industry and as part of the sharing philosophy that this book is based upon, I am sharing some of my favourite published articles and interviews which I hope will bring the insights more to life for the reader.

Whether you are an Operator, a Manager, a Restaurant Manager or someone aspiring to work in a hotel one day, I hope you will not only enjoy reading this book but it is my goal that there will be some insights that I have shared which will help you to deliver a better experience for your customer whether that be internal or external! It is fine to have a

strategy but when it is all said and done it all comes down to the final guest experience â€" whether that be internal or external.

This is strictly an exclusive feature, reprints of this article in any shape or form without prior written approval from 4Hoteliers.com is not permitted.

About the Author:

Jeroen Gulickx is a well-traveled hospitality professional with two business degrees and extensive experience within the hotel-and-spa segment.

The main capabilities vary from streamlining cost and operational models to strategy yielding, business development, and marketing and digital marketing.

In 2006, he started Mocinno International, a hospitality consulting company that now has offices and representation in seven countries in Europe, USA, Middle East, Asia, and Russia. The team is focused on delivering incremental revenues for hotels and spas and also develops and strategizes hotel suppliers, using mainly the Six Sigma methodology.

Mocinno International works with a network of highly experienced, energetic, and innovative people based in key locations. The team also leads client or Mocinno-originated projects or concepts.

Jeroen shares his over 20 years of industry knowledge through his blog, and other social media, and speaks in travel, marketing, innovation, or strategy related forums.

The book - ‘A Hotelier’s Mind, Setting Strategy for the Future’ - is available in most local online bookshops, or over 1000 bookstores all over the world and here.