Ms. Gioia

Human Resources, Recruitment & Training

Hotel Executives at Sea: How they get Top Ratings

By Joyce Gioia, CEO, Employer of Choice, Inc

If you think being the General Manager of a hotel on land is challenging, imagine being a GM on a cruise ship where you are “on duty” almost 24/7, where your crew of thousands to take care of hundreds, sometimes over a thousand guests, is composed of mostly young people from all over the world---who also work long hours. Not only that, but your Gen-Yers speak several different languages and worship in a handful of faiths!

And on top of all that, your guest population is very demanding and highly discriminating. That’s just what these brave executives are up against every day. Plus as if all these factors were not stacked against them enough, many receive bonuses based on the additional revenues generated in the bars, optional dining restaurants, and casinos onboard. They are on these floating hotels for several months at a time and rarely take breaks. How do they manage to keep both guests and team members happy, and keep their eyes on the goal of profitability? It’s simple. They engage their employees on many levels and in many ways. This article shares with you those very effective best practices.

They Stack the Deck with an Effective Onboarding Program

Most cruise lines take great pains to hire only people who have the temperament and attitude to succeed in jobs at sea. They screen carefully for job fit, learning agility , and desire to succeed. This screening is vital to insuring that the rest of their investments in training and development are not in vain. Cruise lines also have to make sure they are not hiring any ticking time bombs.

A Great Start

Training is extensive. Holland America has training facilitates in Bangkok, Thailand and Manila, Philippines, while Cunard has its training facility in Kuala Lumpur. These cruise lines hire mostly from Southeast Asia, while other cruise lines hire from other parts of the world. They spend months training the young people to be stewards and kitchen assistants. It is critical for the companies to do this continuous training, because they only keep their team members for nine or ten months and they need high levels of productivity and efficiency to operate optimally.

Once the recruits are onboard ship, they work with a preceptor for a week to insure that what they learned in the courses they took is not only remembered, but also translated to real-world situations.

Being away from your family for months at a time is not fun for anyone and sometimes, their first cruise is the first time these front-line employees have been out of their homeland. Some of the cruise lines support a “buddy system” to help fresh recruits to acclimate to their new floating environment. Featuring very long hours and very cramped quarters, for many of the young people, the adjustment is tough.

Foster Team Spirit

The hotel managers foster team spirit in many ways. First, they schedule ethnic shows at which the team members from a particular country perform by singing and dancing in their native languages. These shows are mounted once each cruise and are usually performed twice for the passengers and once for their fellow team members, often later the same evening. The crewmembers work together to create and deliver these entertaining presentations and a good time is had by all. We know that young people around the world aspire to be famous and these shows give each team member his or her 15 minutes of fame.

Another way these GMs foster team spirit is to provide evening parties for the crew, often with live music. These after-hours parties with ethnic food and non-alcoholic beverages are also frequently themed to a country or a holiday.

The team members celebrate birthdays and other occasions together. The cruise lines figured out a long time ago that their Malaysian stewards much prefer fish congee to sirloin steaks. Serving food that employees have eaten at home is one way the cruise lines provide ongoing comfort foods to their team members. Hotel managers look for opportunities to celebrate, including Valentine’s Day and Halloween. Employees love to dress up and welcome the chance to dress up on the job.

Provide Luxury Perks

Team members aboard cruise ships also enjoy free spa and salon treatments. About once a month, at 11pm team members who have signed up go to the spa and receive their color treatments, haircuts, manicures, pedicures, and other services free of charge. The women really appreciate this particular perquisite.

In addition, on some cruise lines, each shore excursion― that’s a side trip at a port of call for which guests pay between $35 and $300, depending on the length of the trip and the amenities provided. They are ambassadors of the cruise line and I believe that Cunard Cruise Lines even calls them “Ambassadors”. support their people

Like their land-bound counterparts, hotel managers at sea are often called upon to support their people, when guests have been unnecessarily abusive. There have also been cases of sexual harassment of the staff by the guests and in those cases, guests have literally been escorted off the ships at the next ports of call. When a GM defends a team member in cases like this, s/he wins a lot of credibility with the employee population. And if you think that positive messages spread like wildfire in a company, imagine being on a ship at sea? Messages go viral very quickly.

Leadership By Walking Around (LBWA)

Most GMs I have encountered believe in LBWA; however some hotel managers take it to a whole, new level. You will almost never find them in their offices. They are always walking the halls and speaking with team members, interacting with guests, and making sure that all their systems are running smoothly.

Moreover, as they walk around, they engage their employees on a personal level to discover what’s working and what’s not, so that they may address any personnel issues before they become serious. They know each staff member personally, including his/her country of origin, family situation, and likes/dislikes.

Honor Religious Preferences

Not only do cruise lines honor the typical holidays of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, but they also celebrate the Chinese New Year, Malaysian Independence Day, and Ramadan, numerous other religious holidays. At these holiday parties, the regular ethnic foods are served, including the more exotic, if available. One example of this is durian, a fruit that is often served in Malaysia. When it comes to durian, either you love it or you loathe it. Though it tastes pretty good, it has an odor that is offensive to many and it taints one’s breath for hours. However, many Malaysians swear by it and for some, a meal is not complete without their durian. Obviously, any party for Malaysians would be complete with durian.

Dress Your People for Success

One of the most fascinating things that we learned in preparation for this article was James Deering, one of the GM with Holland America. He said that when employee relations people (front desk) are allowed to wear street clothes, that complaints go up and ratings go down. Obviously, he much prefers to dress his people for success by insuring their credibility with uniforms. Uniformed staff command higher levels of respect and garner higher ratings.

Wow, that’s a learning, I thought! Then I remembered the times I had stayed in hotels and motels at which the front desk staff were just wearing street clothes. I didn’t take it as sign of disrespect, but I did feel that they commanded a lot less authority. Somehow, I had less confidence in their ability to solve my problems and get things done. Very interesting!

Ask People for their Best Ideas

Just as mining the collective intellectual capital of employees on land works to engage team members, it works just as well afloat. Embracing new ideas and welcoming innovation and creativity was a hallmark of the most successful hotel executives at sea. They take in those ideas in many ways, including in conversation as they are “doing their rounds” of the decks. They know that increases in productivity and profitability come these great ideas that their employees come up with.

Unique Workaholics

In a strange way, hotel managers at sea may have an easier job than their land-locked counterparts, because their people are a captive audience. A team spirit naturally flows from their close proximity and their needing to work closely to get their jobs done. That said, like their people, they work very long hours and need to have very high energy levels. They command levels of respect and admiration that are reflected in their high service levels and correspondingly high ratings.

While I would not want to be a hotel manager at sea, I do admire them greatly for their abilities to be all over their ships and yet still get their paperwork and other administrivia handled as well. I can only imagine how difficult their lives were before Amadeus!

Joyce Gioia is a workforce futurist concentrating on relationship aspects of the future. This arena includes workforce and workplace trends, as well as consumer, education, and business-to-business trends. Ms. Gioia is also CEO of Employer of Choice, Inc, a distinction earned only by companies whose leadership, culture, and best practices attract, optimize, and hold top talent. Employers of Choice® enjoy "a higher level of performance, greater workforce stability, and the level of continuity that assures preservation of the knowledge base, customer loyalty, employee satisfaction, and stronger profits". Ms. Gioia can be contacted at 336-210-3548 or joyce@hermangroup.com Extended Bio...

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