Words from the Wise – Vivien Sirotkin

Words from the Wise – Vivien Sirotkin

Vivien Sirotkin, director of hotel operations, QHotels, shares her business secrets

Get up early I got into this habit when I first became a general manager. Get in before rush hour to minimise travel time. Then use the quiet time before customers and the team arrive to plan your day, complete important tasks that need concentration and refocus on priorities.

Listen to your customers Never forget customers have a choice. You need to understand what they want and expect, and then deliver it better than the competition. We focus heavily on "net promoter scores", which show what percentage of our customers intend to return or will recommend us to friends and colleagues. Growing the volume of repeat business is the key to success in any business.

Focus on the priorities It is too easy to be sidetracked by day-to-day events in hotels and not move the business forward. It is always critical as a leader to remain focused on business-critical activities and key properties within a group. Being even-handed with time and people may be popular, but is rarely the right approach to deliver company expectations.

Don't be scared to make a mistake Take risks to differentiate and innovate. Taking the safe approach will not move the business forward. A willingness to try different approaches to old problems or new challenges will give you a competitive advantage. By the same token, encourage this in your team by not being too hard when they get something wrong.

Deliver quality at a profit It's all about balancing the two. Too often hotel managers are great at delivering service but don't do so commercially. In times like now, they will be exposed. Throughout my career, whether running four- or five-star hotels, I have sought to deliver a high-quality offer at a reasonable price, generating a decent profit.

Empower the team The best way to give great personal customer service has to come from the ground floor up, not top down. Get the team to decide what they need to do better or differently to enhance customer service and then support them to do it and watch customer satisfaction and repeat business grow.

Employ emotional intelligence Follow Daniel Goleman's approach (author of The Brain and Emotional Intelligence) to get the best out of people. Understand what makes colleagues tick to get the best out of them. I found this approach invaluable in my many corporate roles.

Who I most admire

I first worked with Peter Lederer, chairman of the Gleneagles hotel, when he was general manager in 1984. He asked me to help him with a project for a couple of weeks, and I ended up staying for almost a year, including a stint as acting resident manager. Three years later he offered me the role of GM at Gleneagles.

Not only will I be eternally grateful for the amazing opportunity - a very bold move given that I had never run a hotel before - but I admire him as a leader. He has the highest-quality standards, a great business brain, is always an "out of the box thinker" and is never frightened to push the boundaries. He gave me great freedom to operate, but was always available to consult with and always thought-provoking in his opinions and suggestions.

CV highlights

1988-91 General manager, Gleneagles
â- 1991-92 Executive vice-president, Guinness Enterprise Holdings, USA
â- 1992-94 General manager, Forte
â- 1996-99 Associate lecturer, Oxford Brookes University
â- 1999-2001 General manager, Paramount Hotels
â- 2001-02 General manager, Cliveden
â- 2002-06 General manager, Paramount Hotels
â- 2006-present Director of hotel operations, QHotels

TagsHotels
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