How to Set Up Your Organizational Structure & Save Your Sanity

You had made a conscious decision in the past to open an Independent Hotel, Inn, Resort or Bed & Breakfast.

The idea of being your own boss, spending days chatting with your guests, sharing stories, being known far and wide as The Friendly Innkeeper sounded extremely appealing.

It was a wonderful and romantic vision.

Now back to reality.

Occasionally, you might have days like that but more often than not you find yourself in your office; taking care of the accounting; replacing staff and trying to put a marketing plan in place. Your time for schmoozing with guests is becoming less and less; you’re feeling tired and the idea of taking a day off is out of the question. You worry that you always have to be onsite or things will fall apart. 

The romantic vision you had when you began now feels like an unrealistic notion.

If you can relate to this, then it is time for you to step back and re-evaluate your organisational structure.

So, what is the first step?

This may sound a little strange but instead of thinking of yourself as an innkeeper, hotelier or Bed & Breakfast owner, think of yourself as a franchisor.

You might be thinking that sounds insane and you have no intention of ever franchising your property…but hear me out.

Think of some of the most successful franchises in the world; let’s use McDonald’s for an example. You can travel the four corners of the world and if you buy a Filet-O-Fish in Toronto Canada, Düsseldorf Germany or in Mumbai India, you will find it contains tartar sauce and a thin slice of cheese placed exactly the same way.

This is not done by accident.

Much time and research went into determining the sharpness of the sauce and type of cheese. Actually, much time and research have been spent on the design of the business so that each restaurant has basically the same setup.

• McDonald’s signage
• Uniformed employees
• French fries deep frying on timer
• Filet-O-Fish made with the same tartar sauce.
• Ect ...

Why this consistency? They have an organisational structure they follow and it works.

So you might ask “How does this apply to my hospitality property?”

If you put an organisational structure into action, you will know all that is required to operate your property and who is responsible.

Here’s how you start. 

Think of yourself as a large corporation and that someday you might wish to sell. Whom do you need to run your corporation?

First of all, you are going to stop thinking of yourself as the owner. Imagine you have shareholders and any action you take might have to be justified to them.

So one job functions would you need in your corporation?

You need a:

President: (This person is accountable for the overall achievement of the business and reports to the shareholders.)

Marketing Manager: (this person is responsible for discovering new clients and finding new ways to provide these customers with an excellent experience at a competitive cost. They report directly to the president.)

Operations Manager: (This person is responsible for keeping clients by providing to them what is promised by Marketing Department, and for discovering new ways to make the operation more efficient and so as to provide clients better service. They report directly to the president.)

Finance Manager: (this person is accountable for both the marketing and operations departments’ budgets, ensuring the property is profitable and by securing funds when needed but the best rates available. They report directly to the president.)

 Salesperson: (they report directly to the marketing manager.)

 Advertising/Research Person: (they report directly to the marketing manager.)

 Housekeeping Manager: (they report directly to the operations manager.)

 Front desk Manager: (they report directly to the operations manager.)

Maintenance Manager: (they report directly to the operations manager.)

Now, you might be thinking

“That is crazy! I only have a small operation with three employees. I can’t afford or need more staff.”

Well, you don't have to. Here is how you start.

• Take a look at your property and determine in a perfect world, the positions you would like to have and what their responsibilities would entail.
• You assign positions to current staff and to yourself. More than likely you will be taking on more than one role. Probably, most of the roles.
• For each of these roles, you will need to start documenting a checklist of what is required and who is responsible for each job. Each of these checklists will then require their own section in a new operations manual.
• This checklist or operations manual will be used in the future as a teaching tool for anyone who steps into that specific role. Over time these manuals will help your organisation to run like a well-oiled machine.

Now this might sound like a lot of work, and it is but you have to start somewhere.

I did mention earlier that the president and COO are responsible to the shareholders.

Who are the shareholders you might ask? Well, you are.

If you have any stories about your properties organisational structure and would like to share, or have any questions or feedback you can leave them in the comments section of the show notes. The show notes for each episode can be found at our website:

keystonehospitalitydevelopment.com

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Gerry MacPherson is a travel authority and partner at Keystone Hospitality Development Consulting. With over two decades of Hotel and Bed & Breakfast visitation experience, Gerry knowledge has given him a unique insight into the wants, needs, and requirements of individual and group travellers, as well as management and employees.

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