A Holiday Maker's Paradise

Greetings fellow colleagues and industry professionals, my name is Majella and on Tuesday 16th February, I was very privileged to participate in the Mantra 'Manager for a Day Program' at Mantra Sun City Resort. On arrival I was greeted by the Front Office Manager, Warren and amazed by the resort's unique Aztec themeing of a holiday maker's paradise.

First on the agenda for the day I was treated to a grand tour of the property and by the resort's inviting pool area, featuring an incredible waterslide. Following this, Warren explained to me the hotel's pricing strategy and what life is like in the day of a hotel manager, in addition to kindly answering my revenue management questions.

For the second half of the day, my fellow "Managers of the Day" and I were given the opportunity to meet and speak with Mantra industry professionals from each of the departments that comprise the Mantra Group, including: Human Resources; Marketing; Sales; Revenue Management; Finance and Asset Elevation and gain an insight into their roles and responsibilities.

The professionals also willingly answered our many questions for which we were all so grateful. My favourite part of the day was definitely learning about Mantra's unique corporate culture and its beneficial impact on hotel performance. The Mantra 'Manager for a Day' is an invaluable work experience opportunity that helped me extend my knowledge and practical application of a hotel's daily operations. I strongly advise those students contemplating applying for the 'Manager for a Day' Program to apply without hesitation, as it is an incredible and highly beneficial opportunity.

Achieving Great Things...

On the 23rd of February, 2010, I was fortunate enough to attend a Manager for the Day program with Mantra Group, spending half the day at the Mantra Circle on Cavil and the other half at Mantra HQ in Surfers Paradise. I met Colin Stevenson, the Executive Assistant Manager, at 9:00am. We spent about half an hour looking at several reports from the day before which included comparing the number of rooms sold to the predicted forecast and incidents from the day before. We then spent another half hour touring most of the property (both front and back of house).

From 10:00am to about 11:45am I watched Colin, the General Manager and the Front Office Manager work on budgets and forecasting occupancy levels for next financial year. This was a rather repetitive, yet very important, process as occupancy levels were being predicted for not only the next years 12 months, but occupancy levels for different types of guests as well including FIT’s, MICE’s and government to name a few.

From 1:00pm to 5:30pm a group of us met with high level managers from the following departments at the Mantra Group HQ: Human Resources, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Revenue Management and Asset Evaluation. We spent 45 minutes with some of the highest ranking people within the Mantra Group organisation. It was an absolute privilege to talk to these six people and hear their own individual stories on where they began and the path they took to get to where they are now. They all offered great advice that you can only learn from experience.

I would suggest that anyone who is doing a Bachelor of International Hotel and Resort Management at Bond University participate in a Manager for the Day Program. These people have shown me that no matter where you start if you are willing to learn and work hard then you can achieve great things. This is probably the best experience I have had in my four semesters at Bond University and it is something that I will remember for a long time.