A Busy Monday

November 9, 2009 was a big day for us, we, Alice Zheng and Candy Miao, went to Radisson resort to take Manager for a Day programme. It was a rainy day, however, we were very pleased to follow Jenny Mulholland who is the HR manager in Radisson to act as a “real manager”.


We arrived there at 8:20a.m, and after introduced by Jenny to other departments, we started by checking emails with her. Firstly, she told us checking email is crucial to her and other top management because it reflects the procedure and customer feedback. For a hotel, customer feedback is a key issue help them not only to be aware of existing problems, but forecast contingencies. Secondly, email is one of the best costly ways for recruitment, HR manager can use Internet recruitment instead of agency, and the information on the Internet can be updated in time.

Last but not least, we want to talk about the special software system which is used throughout whole Carlson named Medallia. It is an evaluation tool for each hotel under Carlson to check their ranking and customer feedback every time. The guests will receive the email sent by Medallia after they leave the hotel 24 hours. It is remarkable advantage of Carlson on its hospitality management.

At 9:30 a.m, the management had a meeting as usual and the meeting is held every day in order share information among all the departments. In that meeting, we learnt a lot, for instance, how to arrange the shifts in front desk, how to make sure the transportation and concierge for banquets and how to make an appropriate approach to adjust staff performance.

It was a lucky day for both of us because the admin office held a small celebration for Jenny’s birthday. We both not only shared the harmonious environment in the office, but also the delicious birthday cake. Despite of high pressure working condition, we still could feel the enjoyable and positive working atmosphere. It is a kind of incentive way to encourage and retain staff in the hotel.

We had lunch with Jenny and Sarah who is the coordinator of HR at 12:00p.m. It was a nice and neat lunch we had in that hotel. On the table, we talked about our education and future planning, and Jenny gave us some suggestion on how to study better in hospitality. Moreover, we talked something about cultural difference between western and eastern countries. It was a interesting conversation and all of us had a good time.

We finished at 3:30 p.m, and we were satisfied with most of the trip. However, we still desire to know something about organisation structure and problems solving methods in hotel industry. It is because we had a very short time and it was busy Monday. So we hope we could have another time to experience more in that hotel.