The Credit Policy
Another country. Another hotel. Another culture.
In that particular environment, petty theft and corruption at scale were part of daily life.
At the time, people would sometimes say: “If you don’t steal from your company, you steal from your family.”
I spent much of my time firefighting.
Cash disappeared. Controls were weak. Responsibilities were unclear. Departments blamed one another.
There was confusion everywhere.
What fascinated me was not the theft itself.
It was how easily accountability disappeared once money started moving between departments.
I decided to approach the problem differently.
Not by punishing theft.
But by preventing it.
I did so by first following the flow:
- How cash entered the business
- Who touched it
- How accountability was transferred
- Where controls broke down
Slowly, patterns started to emerge.
Over many months, I developed a credit policy and control framework.
Not because I enjoyed writing procedures. But because I wanted accountability to become visible.
Years later, I visited another hotel.
The Front Office Manager, who I had trained while working in another hotel, welcomed me warmly.
Proudly, he showed me what he described as the best cash-control manual he had ever encountered.
He had discovered it in a previous hotel. Not one where I had worked.
The document had travelled.
People had copied it. Adapted it. Used it. Across multiple organisations.
My initials were still visible on the cover page.
The lesson was not about authorship. The lesson was about systems.
Good systems survive the people who create them. The best systems become part of the organisation itself.
Long after their creators have moved on.
Thank you for reading my article.
This article is about how systems taught me that sustainable improvement is measured by what remains after you leave.
This is the eighth of a series of articles – “What hospitality 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.
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.
About the Author
Raoul Gransier is a Senior International Adviser and owner-focused hotelier with more than 25 years of operational and advisory experience in hospitality, tourism, governance, and performance improvement.
Website