The Hotel HR Director Who Learned to Love Numbers
This story is about how curiosity taught me that people and performance succeed together or fail together.
One of the most persistent misconceptions in business is that people and performance are in competition with each other.
My experience suggests the opposite.
Poorly managed organisations damage both.
Well-managed organisations support both.
The challenge is not choosing between people and performance.
The challenge is understanding that sustainable performance creates the conditions in which people can succeed.
If somebody had told me at the beginning of the project that the strongest advocate for performance management would eventually emerge from Human Resources, I would have been sceptical.
Very sceptical.
A hotel HR Director taught me that lesson.
And she taught it far more convincingly than any consultant ever could.
At the time, the HR Director represented something important within the organisation:
Culture, care, wellbeing, development, and respect.
The company genuinely cared about its people.
And she was one of the principal custodians of that culture.
Performance management worried her.
Not because she opposed improvement.
Because she feared what numbers might do.
Like many people, she saw a potential conflict.
People on one side. Performance on the other.
Compassion versus accountability. Culture versus profitability.
The concern was understandable.
Many organisations manage to create exactly that conflict.
Yet something unexpected happened.
She became curious. She asked questions.
She challenged assumptions.
And, at times, she gave me a hard time.
She wanted to understand. Not the spreadsheets.
The thinking behind them.
Slowly, patiently, and somewhat reluctantly at first, she began exploring concepts she had previously avoided.
Performance. Productivity. Profitability. Measurement. Expectations.
The more she learned, the more her perspective changed.
Not because she cared less about people. Quite the opposite.
She gradually realised that satisfied employees do not emerge from good intentions alone.
They emerge from functioning organisations:
Sales must perform. Operations must perform.
Finance must perform. Engineering must perform.
Managers must perform. Expectations must be clear.
Responsibilities must be understood. Resources must be available.
Only then can an organisation create the conditions that allow people to thrive.
That realisation changed her perspective.
She eventually understood something important.
People are not separate from capital.
They are one of the most significant investments any hotel makes.
Most organisations treat people and capital as different conversations.
One belongs to Human Resources. The other belongs to Finance.
Yet sustainable organisations depend on both working together.
She came to recognise that salaries, training, development, engagement, and leadership are not merely costs.
They are investments expected to generate outcomes, just as any other investment within the business.
Equally, she understood that capital without capable and motivated people rarely delivers its intended return.
People and performance are not competing priorities.
Nor are people and capital.
In healthy organisations, people, performance, capital and purpose are interconnected.
Strong performance creates opportunity, stability, investment, development, and career growth.
Strong people create the performance that makes those things possible.
The relationship is not adversarial. It is symbiotic.
Over time, she became one of the strongest advocates for performance management within the organisation.
Not despite her commitment to people. Because of it.
She recognised that performance management, applied within a healthy and humane culture, protects both people and capital.
Most importantly, she reached that conclusion herself.
Years later she joined the Board.
The promotion was deserved.
Not because she had mastered numbers.
Because she had learned to integrate two worlds that many people mistakenly separate: people and capital.
Humanity and performance.
She understood that neither can succeed sustainably without the other.
Looking back, one outcome gives me particular satisfaction.
The organisation no longer required external advocates for performance management.
One of its strongest advocates had emerged from within: The HR Director herself.
Thank you for reading my story.
This story is part of a series—”The Banana Republic Hotel and What It Taught Me About Myself”—in which I share lessons learned throughout my professional and personal journey and how those experiences have shaped my thinking and led me to develop my own principles.
If you enjoyed reading the story and have the appetite to read another one, you are invited to visit G&A’s website, in particular its INSIGHTS page, where you can find all stories.
Alternatively, click here to be taken to the next story.
I hope it has provided some food for thought, encouraged curiosity, and inspired you to keep learning.
Curiosity, humility, and continuous learning remain among the most valuable tools we possess.
Terminology for non-hoteliers:
- SOP: Standard Operating Procedure – a documented process describing how a task should be performed to ensure consistency, quality, and compliance.
- KPIs: Key Performance Indicators – measurable indicators used to monitor performance and progress against objectives.
- ADR: Average Daily Rate – the average room rate paid by guests.
- RevPAR: Revenue per Available Room – a measure combining occupancy and room rate to assess hotel revenue performance.
- Occupancy: The percentage of available rooms that are occupied.
- DOF: Double Occupancy Factor – the average number of guests staying in each occupied room. A DOF of 1.0 means every occupied room has one guest; 2.0 means every occupied room has two guests.
- AGC: Average Guest Check – the average amount spent by each guest in a restaurant, bar, or other food and beverage outlet.
- CRS: Central Reservation System – the central booking system that manages a hotel’s room inventory, rates, and reservations across all sales channels.
- PMS: Property Management System – the software used to manage reservations, guest accounts, and hotel operations.
- OTA: Online Travel Agency – websites such as Booking.com or Expedia that sell hotel rooms on behalf of hotels.
- GDS: Global Distribution System – a worldwide booking network used by travel agents and corporate travel departments to reserve hotel rooms, flights, and other travel services.
- CRM: Customer Relationship Management – systems and processes used to manage guest relationships and marketing.
- F&B: Food & Beverage Department – all restaurant, bar, banquet, room service, and catering operations within a hotel.
- Half-Board: A hotel meal plan that includes breakfast and one additional meal each day, usually dinner. Drinks other than those specifically included are generally charged separately.
- MICE: Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events – the hotel business related to corporate meetings, conferences, exhibitions, and incentive travel.
- ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning – an integrated software system that connects key business functions such as finance, procurement, inventory, human resources, sales, and reporting into a single platform.
- USALI: Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry – the internationally recognised accounting standard used by hotels to measure and compare financial performance.
- GOP: Gross Operating Profit – the operating profit generated by the hotel before management fees, rent, financing costs, depreciation, taxes, and other non-operating expenses.
- EBITDA: Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation – a widely used measure of an organisation’s operating profitability.
- COS: Cost of Sales – the direct cost of producing the goods sold, such as food, beverages, or merchandise, expressed as an amount or percentage of revenue.
- FTE: Full-Time Equivalent – a standard measure of staffing that converts part-time and seasonal employees into the equivalent number of full-time employees.
About the Author
Raoul Gransier is a Senior International Adviser and owner-focused hotelier with more than 30 years of operational and advisory experience in hospitality, tourism, governance, and performance improvement.
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