Being a hotelier is no easy job, especially since there are usually various departments to manage and dozens of guests to attend to. If you are not busy with one thing, you are likely busy with another. As manager or owner, you are expected to oversee the general operations and see to it that all departments' members deliver as they are expected to.
Between being busy with the hotel management, you have your personal life as well and always wish for more time to carry out other productive things.
Here are 15 time management tips that really work. I can assure you that you'll find them useful.
1. Delegate
Delegating can never go out of style, and it can never be too much. One of the top-secret to freeing yourself and having more time on your hand is to delegate as much as you can. Look into your teams, understand each person, their skills, talent, what they do best, how they work, and use it to your advantage. Do not be afraid that they will not do the work the way you want. Yes! They won't. Everyone has different styles of working. However, what is essential is that the result is a well-done job with a beautiful product.
Whoever, you deem fit for the job may not get it perfectly the first time too. However, with guidance and practice, they will be able to do things half as much as you would have done it, f not even better.
2. Have a to-do list and a schedule
Yes! Unforeseen circumstances crop up once in a while, but what about the things you foresaw and the ones you have control over? Plan how to tackle them. Every day, have a schedule of the things you plan to do and have a mental note of the ones you'll do yourself and the ones you'll delegate to people. It is more advisable to write it down so that you do not forget and so that you can always check back to track it. Plan your day and how you'll do all that you have to do evenly. Do not leave anything out of your schedule, as sometimes the things we thought were minute may end up becoming essential and significant.
3. Break down tasks
Large tasks shouldn't be postponed or push off. Rather, they should be broken down into stages so that they can be done. This way, you save your time as you don't have to worry about doing it or approaching it in a way that will take up much of your time. You need to do your inventory and determine what you need. Do it one step at a time. You could check out first for the significant things that are always in demand; then, you could go from there to the least important ones. Breaking down will also help you to determine which of the tasks at hand you can delegate.
4. Adopt Technology
Today, many of the hotel management activities can be carried out using different software. Why not talk to an expert and adopt a good one for your hotel. A hotel management system takes charge of various aspects of hotel management, leaving you with more time on your hand than you know what to do with. However, when picking a hotel management system, consider what you need, what you should be doing, and how the software can help you realize it all faster.
5. Hire good hands
Hiring competent people to fill positions in your hotel makes delegating easier. When you can trust that they will do the job at hand excellently, you will love delegating and be at peace with doing it. Hiring good hands also means that you spend less time going over works that have been done previously. Even when there is a need for correction, you will find out that it is not as much as when you have incompetent people working on your team.
6. Train your team members
Do you think your team members need to learn more to help you? Train them! Encourage them to take training outside the organization, bring in experts to train them, or spare a few hours monthly to do it yourself. In the end, you'll find out that you are saving yourself more time with the training. Two hours spent training them weekly may give you twenty hours of free time later when they become competent.
7. Be focused
It is easy to get distracted when you start working on something, especially if your attention is needed elsewhere. However, when you sit down to do a task, ensure that you complete it before leaving, except there is a dire situation that needs your attention. Do not leave many tasks in the middle; they disorient you and mess up your plans. Set a timeframe for jobs you have to carry out, block out the distractions around, focus on doing them and do them!
8. Ask for advice
As the hotel's overall authority, you may find it hard to seek advice from your team. However, the fact is your team is closer to your guests than you are. They interact with the guest directly, know what they want and how best to deliver it. You can solve that problem by taking up your time in a group discussion with your team. Ask your team for advice, hear them out, and see things from their perspective.
You can also reach out to other experienced hoteliers outside your business for more information on how to tackle specific problems that may be taking up your time.
9. Prioritize Tasks
Another way to save time is by prioritizing the tasks you have to do. Bring up the important ones and plan how you'll carry them out. Arrange the tasks in order of importance, using time frame as well as other essential factors. This will allow you to even focus more on what you have to do and, therefore, avoid last-minute rushes.
10. Be on time!
Arriving early at meetings, events, and other things may seem like it is not essential, but it will also help you manage your time. Coming to meetings early means that you care about other people's time and yours as well because meetings start faster, end faster, and you reach a decision in no time. Arriving at places early also helps you work strictly with your schedule as every minute means something to you, and you work to get things done at the appropriate time.
11. Communicate
Want to know another way to manage your time? Through communication! In all your dealings with your team, communicate! Tell them what you want them to do and suggest how they should do it. Call meetings when necessary and reach agreements before moving on. All of these will help you to save time that can be consumed doing assumed works. Be explicit about the tasks at hand and encourage your staff to be vocal about their needs.
12. Learn, Grow and pick up new habits
To improve your overall management skills and time management, grow! Reading books, learning, and being deliberate about your growth helps you to pick up new habits. As you read and learn more, you have more scope on managing things and acting better in your position, invariably saving your time and putting efforts into other beneficial things.
13. Quit Procrastinating
Procrastination is one of the top stealers of time. Therefore, if you really want to do incredible things with your time without affecting your work, ensuring that you remove procrastination is essential. Quit postponing the works you have to do! Stop finding excuses and get to work. That's another true way you can help yourself.
14. Be time conscious
If you're looking to save your time and utilize it in the best possible way, then you should be wary of how you spend your time. Know how long it takes you to carry out specific tasks and how much input it takes. Set alarms to remind you of certain things that you have to do. Give yourself deadlines and work towards beating them. When you put time frames to finish work, do not engage in other frivolous activities that might take up your time, distract you, or stop you from your work. If you are no expert at it, do not multitask, it would only lead to your getting nothing substantial done. Work with time and do your best to stick to it.
15. Be organized
The last tip here is organization. Stay organized, be organized, and keep your workplace organized. When you are organized, you give yourself the leverage of focusing even more. An organized hotelier means things being in their right place, showing up because you are time conscious, and communicating your needs to your staff. Because being organized means that you are not disoriented, and you know where things are, it will help you see them when you need them so that you don't spend time meant for other tasks looking for tools to complete another.
As a hotelier, time management is essential because it helps you stay at the top of your game, achieve more and do more.
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