Does size really matter? Or does quality pay better than quantity? To find out we took a look at management salaries in London. 'The bigger the better', so the saying goes. Or is it that 'less is more'?

Hotels come in all shapes and sizes and management responsibilities, employee numbers, facilities, and revenues vary accordingly.

Managing a 100-room hotel with one restaurant and two small meeting rooms is certainly a different proposition to running a 600-room property with multiple food and beverage outlets and conference and banqueting facilities. Is this difference in management responsibilities reflected however in the salaries of the actual management?

To find out, we took a look at the salaries of management at hotels in London with varying numbers of rooms.


Table A shows that there is not a great deal of difference between General Manager salaries at hotels of less than 300 rooms and at those of more than 300 rooms. In fact the average General Manager salary at a hotel of under 300 rooms is £117,208 compared to £109,200 at larger hotels.

How about other executive positions? Table B illustrates that the difference in size does appear to be accounted for in the salaries of Chief Engineers and Directors of Food and Beverage, where the physical size of the operation clearly correlates to increased responsibilities, but not for Directors of Sales and Marketing.


So if the number of rooms in a hotel does not have a significant impact on salary level, then what does? Our analysis of the London data reveals that the old adage ‘it’s quality, not quantity’ holds true. As Table C shows, management at hotels with a higher average daily rate command higher salaries than their colleagues at hotels of a lower rate and class.


It therefore appears that, despite what some may think, size does not matter. Rather it is all about quality and rewarding the delivery of superior quality of service, amenities, facilities, and guest experience. As Mark Twain put it, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."

Christopher Mumford is Managing Director of HVS Executive Search in London and specializes in sourcing talent for the hospitality industry throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.