Managing Directors in Hotels As in any business, there must be one person responsible for the overall operation. That person is the general manager, sometimes, particularly in the larger hotels, called the managing director. In the past, possibly into the 1930s, the hotel manager was primarily a genial(和蔼的)host, personally greeting the guests and seeing to it that they were properly cared for. But as the banks, corporations and other business organizations began acquiring hotels, this image began to disappear. The first concern to executives and stockholders of these companies was that the property shows a profit. As a result, a new type of innkeeper emerged, and today the successful general manager is a highly trained person, capable of directing a complex business enterprise. Running a hotel is a full-time, 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week operation. The hotel is never closed — there can be no time off, no holidays. Someone representing management, and some members of the operating staff, must be on duty every hour and every day of the year. No broad policy could possibly cope with the many diverse situations that occur daily in any given hotel. The general manager is the person responsible for defining and interpreting the policies established by top management. In addition, the successful manager must implement and improve them and, on occasions, may be forced to completely disregard them. To perform these duties properly requires a working knowledge of all phases of hotel operation. No one can properly give or explain an order without some idea of what is involved. The quickest and easiest way for an executive to lose the respect of the employees is to give instructions without understanding their implications or the amount of time necessary to carry them out. In fact, we believe it is impossible to properly and intelligently supervise anyone without having at least a general idea of that person’s duties and responsibilities.