With new properties opening up, the market for experienced hotel managers has tightened considerably in Orange County.
While the industry is known for rapid turnover at the top, the county’s 50 largest hotels have seen a couple dozen management changes in the past six months,about twice as many as in the comparable period last year.
Johnny So, for instance, recently replaced Tony Bruno as general manager at the Disneyland Pacific Hotel when Bruno was named GM of Disney’s new Grand Californian.
And former director of sales Dana Bartholomew was promoted to general manager at the Embassy Suites Buena Park. Her predecessor at the Embassy Suites, Steve Arnold, decided to return to the West Coast Anaheim,where he was previously director of sales,after Russ Cox was promoted to VP of operations for West Coast Hotels.
“It was a very hard decision,” Arnold said. “(I didn’t) want to make unwise career moves. But it’s a large property and coming back to the Anaheim market, with all that’s going on here, was good for me.”
Arnold said he thinks competition is heating up in the industry, with more incentives being offered to management-level employees than in the past.
“Finding good managers on every level is harder to do,” he said.
Gary Mitchell, too, made a switch this year, moving from director of sales at the Hilton Anaheim to director of marketing for Sutton Place Hotel in Newport Beach.
“The market is pretty strong,” Mitchell said. “People are looking for opportunities (and) companies are growing.”
Mitchell said he thinks more people will move around as big, new properties open.
Bill Snyder, executive director of the Anaheim Area Hotel and Motel Association, said there are projections of a shortage in management for the local hospitality industry.
“If the properties that are projected come on line,” he said, “there will be shifting in employees. Sooner or later (they) will have to come from other places.”
Irvine Marriott GM Ned Snavely, however, cautioned that some shortage occurs because of a hotel company’s different geographic needs and attempts to balance where employees want to go with property locations. (Snavely transferred to the Irvine property from the Anaheim Marriott about a year ago.)
“There’s always churn in middle management,” he said. “Additional hotels shouldn’t make a big difference at the senior management level.”
That may be true for large hotel companies like the Marriott, but it could mean trouble for smaller operators, according to Costa Mesa hospitality consultant Mark Kallenberger.
Kallenberger said finding good managers at smaller 100- to 200-room properties is “clearly a concern” for the future as bigger, full-service properties come on line.
“Good managers are always looking for better positions,” he said.
But Mitchell said smaller companies sometimes offer more in benefits and incentives than their larger brethren, a factor that can help them attract senior managers.
Meanwhile, local hoteliers said earlier this year that they were bracing themselves for a shortage of workers,particularly for line employees like kitchen help, banquet positions and housekeeping,once more rooms come into play.
Ironically, it might be the established properties that struggle in the face of new competition for line staff.
Mary Ann Woods, general manager of the recently opened Hampton Inn in Garden Grove, said the Hampton got most of its line staff from “help wanted” signs posted at the property. And Marsha Hansen, general manager of the Doubletree Irvine Spectrum, said that hotel,the first full-service hotel built in Orange County in almost 10 years,had no difficulty filling either its management or hourly positions, though she called the employee market “pretty fierce.”
“People are excited about (working at) a new property,” she said. “There are good people out there, but there are lots of opportunities, too.”n
