Hotel General Manager: Role, Responsibilities & Resources
A hotel general manager (GM) is responsible for all operations aspects of hotels, including daily management of staff and guests. The hotel general manager oversees each major department within a hotel and makes decisions on how to allocate budget and effort across the property.
The main goal of a general manager is to have happy guests and smooth operating facilities. Without these two elements, the hotel will not survive long. General managers have extensive industry knowledge of hotel operations, management and booking acquisition and are thus the best source of truth for all intra-hotel concerns. General managers maintain good relationships with all employees and set the standards for quality of work and property culture.
What are a Hotel General Manager's responsibilities?
Hotel GMs often have to "wear many hats" in their day to day operations, especially with smaller independent hotels. With larger hotel groups, the role is more standardized and will include responsibilities such as:
- Provide leadership, strategy and property vision to staff
- Provide exceptional guest service
- Engage and collaborate with hotel department leads
- Balance hotel budget to minimize costs without impacting guest experience
- Establish and improve hotels reputation
- Optimize hotel operations and maintenance management
- Lead meetings and initiatives at property
What is a Hotel General Manager's Annual Salary?
Hotel general manager salary can vary a lot depending the following factors:
- Is the property independent or corporate?
- Where is the property located?
- How many rooms are in the property?
- What is the experience level of the applicant?
- How is the overall job market demand?
There are many more factors that contribute to salary data variation, so most sites provide salary information in a range to ensure that there is proper coverage. The table below shows the latest salary ranges for hotel general managers across the major salary reporting platforms:
What are characteristics of good Hotel General Managers?
The average age of a general manager is 44 and average education level is a bachelor's degree. Beyond education, a good general manager has at least 5 to 7 years of industry experience at multiple levels of hotel operations. Over those years, a good general manager would have developed skills in people management, organization, budgeting, strategy, and more.
Average Age: 44
Average Education Level: Bachelors degree
Average Salary Range: $60,000-$110,000
Industry Experience: 5-7 years
Management Experience: 2-3 years
Key Traits:
- Multi-talented
- Good with numbers
- Good with people
- Strategic mindset
- Critical thinker
- Problem solver
- Organized
- Proactive
- Methodical
- Lead by Example
Top Resources for a Hotel General Manager
Xenia offers tons of free educational resources for frontline teams. For Hotel Sales and Marketing Directors, we recommend visiting:
Research Articles:
- Ultimate Hotel Operations Management Guide [+10 Free Checklists]
- Hotelier Guide to Maintenance, Inspections & Audits
- Hotel Reputation Management Checklist
- Benefits of a Digital Work Order System [+ free excel template]
- Hotel Rules and Regulations Every Owner Needs [+Template]
- How to Ensure Hotel Guest Safety and Security [+checklist]
- How To Manage a Boutique Hotel: Hotelier Tips and Resources
- 5 Small Hotel Management Tips that Improve Operations
Checklists, Logs and Calendars:
- 99 Lodging Competencies Checklist
- Hotel Reputation Management Checklist
- Hotel ADA Compliance Checklist
- Hotel COVID Risk Management Checklist
- Hotel General Manager Checklist
- Hotel Mystery Shopper Checklist
- Hotel Risk Assessment Checklist
- Snagging / Punch List Log
