A hotel director is in charge of managing every aspect of a hotel. This job requires the director to handle everything from sales, to hospitality, to facilities management and personnel. This job varies in scope depending on the size of the rooming house and the staff on hand, but in most cases the director is the central figure making all the important decisions.
Handling sales is one of the biggest hotel director duties. This individual is responsible for the operation's profits, which stem directly from sales. A director will adjust room rates based on tourist season, economic factors and competition. In addition, the director is often responsible for handling marketing, like commissioning advertisements for billboards, television, print and online. Larger hotels may have sales and marketing departments, but the director still must be involved in working with the department managers to steer the direction of these efforts.
Facilities management is another crucial part of the job of a hotel director. In order to run smoothly, a hotel must be kept clean and orderly on a tight schedule. Thus, working with the hotel staff is very important. A director must foresee any problems, like a rush of hotel guests, a shortage of supplies or changes in workers' schedules, and make decisions that result in getting the rooms into presentable shape.
Hospitality also takes a great deal of time for a hotel director. Whenever there is an unhappy customer or a complaint, the director must frequently work as a mediator to research the issue and, if action is necessary, take the steps to correct any wrong. An example would be talking to a customer whose stay did not meet expectations, finding out if the hotel should have met those demands and offering the customer compensation for this mistake. Hospitality is not all bad news, though, because a director can also be in charge of planning special events, like customer appreciation days.
Perhaps the most consuming hotel director job is dealing with personnel. This important task means overseeing the schedule of cleaning workers, front desk workers and any other employees needed to be fully staffed. Hiring and firing employees also is a duty of the director. Dealing with payroll is often handled by an accountant, but the finances of the hotel still must be monitored by the director in order to have a full overview of the operation.