So, I have a general question to the group...do you feel there is any benefit to you from having interaction with a hotel General Manager during your stay? Do you as a guest like to see the GM out and around the hotel during your stay? Is it important for them to be out and visible to the guests? Would it make you more apt to stay at that particular hotel if you felt the GM was physically around the public areas of their hotel greeting and talking to the guest?

Thanks for your thoughts!

MB

It would make absolutely no difference to me if I ever see the GM out and about like that.

The GMs of the hotels I stay (and have stayed) at regularly make a point of getting to know me and what things I like and don't like. This results in pleasant things like a bottle of the red wine I like from their restaurant being put in my room before arrival (gratis), or things like hard pillows being provided. For one-off stays it makes no difference to me.

I think it depends on the hotel - in some hotels I have found that the GM being out and about on the floor sets the tone for the rest of the staff to be customer-oriented. The flip side being that in hotels with poor service, I usually find it is matched by a lack of management presence in public areas.

Stay @ the hotel I work at 2 day a week, you may very well see GM working front desk.

Depends on the caliber of the hotel honestly. It's much more important at true luxury properties than chain hotels from Hilton, Marriott, et al. However, presence of a GM at these places would seem to indicate that the GM cares enough to make sure day to day operations are going smoothly for guests.

It's definitely a big plus to me when the GM is engaged in FOH activity such as greeting guests. It's not the introduction or chitchat I care about, per se, though. It's the fact that the GM is directly observing service delivery and customer experiences. Generally speaking, such a GM is going to be more on top of customer satisfaction problems than one who hides in the back office and knows only what his/her department managers report. Thus I'd expect to have better experiences in general at a hotel with a visible GM.

OP: I'm curious if you have a particular reason for asking this question. Do you work at/with a hotel? Have you recently encountered a GM taking a visible presence at one of the hotels you've visited? How did/do you feel about it?

and an advance conversation of whether I'd rather be in a room sooner or wait for a room they think I'd prefer, and a heads up on changes that might impact my stay.