Stress Management for Hotel Owners & Innkeepers

By Nathan Gawlik

Nathan Gawlik's experience includes being a General Manager of a Hampton Inn and other front line roles such as a Banquet Captain, Front Desk Agent, Housekeeper, Catering Event Manager, and Director of Sales.

Stress Management for Hotel Owners & Innkeepers

By Nathan Gawlik

Working in the post-COVID-19 hospitality industry has never been more stressful. Hundreds of Inn, vacation rental, and boutique hotel owners are uncertain about the future of their business. But it doesn't take a global pandemic to cause stress. Hotel owners and innkeepers run inherently complex and service-oriented businesses that can overload even the most seasoned hospitality professionals. We've put together a few simple ideas to help you manage your stress and stay productive.

Recognize That You Are Stressed

Stress affects everyone differently; you'll need to find what symptoms and triggers are unique to you.

Do you toss and turn all night while worst-case scenarios plague your mind? Are your shoulders constantly sore? Are you gaining or losing weight? Losing patience with a loved one or spouse? These are all common symptoms of stress.

Once you identify your symptoms of stress, you can work backwards to find your triggers. SCORE, a small business mentorship nonprofit, recommends using a tool called the Stress Continuum, which will help you identify some of your stressors. There are also several quizzes created by Mental Health America and other organizations that you might find helpful.

If you're an innkeeper, there's a good chance you're stressed; these two conditions seem to go hand-in-hand. A contributing factor of this stress is often the difficulty of separating work from life. Hotel owners, innkeepers, and other hospitality professionals are on-call 24/7 to handle late check-ins, maintenance issues, and a host of other potential problems.

Due to this, it may be impossible to completely separate your work life from your home life, but you need to try. Have you streamlined the booking and check-in processes for your guests, do you offer self check-in?

Have you thought of hiring a part-time night manager? Are you constantly flipping through binders of guest information, or have you organized your documents in a property management system?

As with anything, it's important to take time and relax. If you don't, you may find out that you are no longer running your business, it's running you.

Even if you can't control the external factors causing you stress, you can still control your responses to these factors. If they are inevitable, then acceptance is the best course of action. I'll give you a personal example.

"Happiness can exist only in acceptance"
-George Orwell

I recently packed up and moved my family to a new state so I could take on the challenge of opening a new hotel. I was the General Manager and I knew I was going to be laid off weeks before that day came. My team and I opened the property in mid-February and by April only a third of the staff were still there due to the pandemic.

"Happiness can exist only in acceptance"
-George Orwell

I recently packed up and moved my family to a new state so I could take on the challenge of opening a new hotel. I was the General Manager and I knew I was going to be laid off weeks before that day came. My team and I opened the property in mid-February and by April only a third of the staff were still there.

While I welcomed the break from working sixteen- plus hour days, I had decided I would prepare for the eventual outcome as news regarding the coronavirus intensified. I started to take a free self-paced online class in March. This meant I had weeks of catching up to do with the course once I was fired. I knew that unemployment would come but it would likely be several weeks behind. So I also updated my resume and did what I could to save money before my termination.

I took an active role in positioning myself for this eventuality. When that day came, I wasn't emotional. I didn't pass judgment on those who had to make that difficult decision. I went home, took the night off, and the following day I set my plan in motion.

That is, until my wife lost her job. She worked in hotel sales. She fell apart for a solid twenty-four hours after she was laid off. It came as a shock to her and she decided to be upset about her situation. She was a victim of her fate, blaming the apologetic managers that came to this decision by external factors outside their control.

We were just like nearly 40 million other Americans without employment in the spring of 2020.

When I feel anxious or worried, I envision riding a horse without holding on. The ride is jarring, uncontrollable, and directionless. I might shout at the horse to stop, but until I reach out and take the reins, I am powerless. Be intentional about where you place your focus. But you don't have to do it alone. A Gallup poll found that 8 in 10 Americans feel stress sometimes or frequently and 1 in 14 people are diagnosed with anxiety. Be sure your strategy consists of healthy coping mechanisms that improve your stress response.

Building Community

If you don't already belong to a strong community such as a church or club, seek one out. Find volunteer opportunities in your community, join online forums, or connect with other innkeepers who can relate to you. The psychological benefits of a support network are well-documented. Consider your interests, there is likely a group of people out there who identify with the same hobbies or who have similar questions. Network with these people so you can share in these experiences and learn together. This could even lead to a mentor/mentee relationship. Being a mentor can force you to learn more about a subject and can be incredibly rewarding. Finally, consider the following resources provided from SBDC:

Mindfulness Meditation: A Research-proven way to Reduce Stress
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/341273
TEDx: How to Cope with Anxiety
6 Ways to Reduce Stress in the Workplace
8 Ways to Avoid Burnout in Your Small Business
9 Self-Care Strategies for Busy Entrepreneurs
Feeling Lonely? 5 Ways to Cure the Entrepreneurship Blues

Summary

A cynical and rather morbid friend of mine once told me, "Life is hard; if it was easy everyone would be doing it." I'm not sure who the quote is attributed to but I know that stress can get to each and every one of us. We are all humans and we are all vulnerable. Only in accepting of this our own inadequacies can we begin to grow.

Do what works for you and get support. Asking for help doesn't denote weakness or indicate that you are wrong. We have all been there.