All hotel operators and owners value the commitment and pursuit of excellence demonstrated by the General Managers of the individual properties. 

Usually they also desire to recognize and reward the General Managers who exemplify the high standards of guest service, profitability and commitment and who constantly perform above average in their category. 

This article details the criteria and point system which can be used in determining General Managers of the Quarter/Year for multiple hotel/motel owners or operators. This program should be used in conjunction with a well-planned incentive bonus plan tied to each hotel's financial performance. 

Procedure

A person with all the pertinent information should prepare summary information on the objective and performance items. The information should be used to help finalize the selection of the winners. 

The person or persons actually supervising General Managers would rate the subjective information and put into tabulated form. This in turn would be combined with the objective data. The decision making group would then review and discuss the information and recommendations to decide the winners. 

The awards should be announced and presented as soon as possible after the end of each quarter and not more than sixty days afterwards. 

Criteria

There are one hundred possible points distributed among these criteria: 

Salary and Wage Expenses should be ranked based on percentage of sales and cost per occupied room. Each method of calculation should be worth five points and ranking should be based on the first three places for each category. With five, three and two points respectively. 

Guest Satisfaction should be measured objectively by Guest Comments Cards and subjectively based on reviewing other sources such as Complaint Letters, Observation and Other Comments. A Maximum of ten points may be earned and should be calculated as follows: 

Guest Comment Card responses should be based on the lowest percentage of less than excellent comments and the greatest percentage of improvement in overall responses. Each method of calculation should be worth three points and ranking should be based on the first three places for each category. With three, two and one point respectively. 

Guest Satisfaction other than the Guest Comment Card portion should be worth a maximum of four points. 

Quality Assurance inspection scores should be ranked based on the lowest scores on items which are controllable by the General Manager. 

Rankings should be divided into guest rooms and all other areas of the hotel. Each method of calculation should be worth five points and ranking should be based on the first three places for each category and five, three and two point respectively. 

Employee Retention and Promotability should be primarily measured by ranking the hotels based on calculating employee turnover. Bonus points may be assigned for filling vacancies from within through promotion or for having employees which are transferred out and promoted into higher positions in other hotels managed by the company. A maximum of five points can be earned in this category. 

Timeliness and accuracy of reporting and responses to inquiries from guests, owners and the company should be rated by deducting points from a base of five points. 

Compliance with the requirements and procedures promulgated in company and franchise manuals should be measured in two ways. The supervisor and other reviews should be conducted and the resulting notes submitted to the company office. The company office staff should note errors and omissions. Points should be deducted from a base of ten to arrive at each General Manager's score. 

Telephone Courtesy and Efficiency should be valued at five points. Points should be deducted based on comments received and the experience the supervisor and others note during the Quarter. 

Personal Goal Achievement as set forth in General Manager performance reviews should be reviewed to evaluate each participant's degree of improvement and or success. For each goal or improvement noted a point should be given up to a maximum of five points. 

Civic and Professional Involvement in the community and the industry should warrant up to five points if it is deemed to be exemplary. 

Quality Sales Calls completed by the General Manager during the quarter should be averaged by the number of weeks in the quarter as ascertain the number of points awarded for the General Manager's sales effort. A maximum of five points should be awarded for this category. 

Profitability should be measured objectively based on the Financial Statements. Thirty points may be earned and should be calculated as follows: 

Increases in Year-to-Date (YTD) Income Before Management Fees and Fixed Charges should be ranked based on the highest percentage of increase as compared to Last Year's YTD Income Before Management Fees and Fixed Charges used by the owner to finance the property, which ever is the higher goal. The greatest excess should be worth fifteen points, the second largest, ten, the third, eight and the fourth six points, respectively. 

Awards

Awards should be given quarterly and then yearly. Quarterly awards could be money items of value and yearly awards include money with a plaque or trophy or recognition. Awards should be given to first place, runner up and second place winners. Scales of value differ between full and limited service hotels. 

As an additional incentive, all General Manager of the Year award winners might be permitted to attend their franchise system's annual convention. Additionally, General Manager of the Quarter award winners might attend based on availability of funds and could be selected based on highest cumulative point scores. 

All of the following features apply to this program:

• This is an annual program judged and paid quarterly.
• The program's calculations should be based on your Year-to-Date results and should be paid quarterly on a special paycheck about thirty days after nudging is complete.
• Newly assigned General Managers should be eligible to compete as of their third complete month at the property.
• General Managers who leave the company for any reason should not be entitled to any payments or awards due them under this Program.
• The following adjustments may be made if your company operates only a few hotels:

• Two managed hotels or less, two phantom hotels should be added using either last year data, previous manager, or management oversight hotels.
• Three managed hotels, there should be no runner up.
• Four to six managed hotels, there should be only one runner up.
• An anomaly or extraordinary event might occur which might affect this program in a negative or positive manner. In all cases, the President of the company should reserve the right to adjust the program or an individual's results so that the program is fair to both the General Manager and the hotel. Any such adjustments should be at the sole discretion of the President and not subject to any appeal outside the company.

Remember, everyone wants to be recognized for their performance, effort, and results. General Manager of the Quarter and General Manager of the Year programs can be effective in going beyond purely monetary incentives by motivating staff via both peer pressure and appealing to your staff's pride.

For additional information, contact:
Kirby D. Payne at the firm
American Hospitality Management Company
1500 South Highway 100, #375, Minneapolis, MN 55416
Phone: 763-591-7640 Fax: 763-591-1593
email: kpayne@american-hospitality.com

The article first appeared at www.HotelMotel.com