Interview Questions Flashcards
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What did you like best and least about your previous job?
One thing I liked about my last job was it allowed me to develop different skills, it exposed me to different skills such as capital budgeting, asset management and refurbishmentsABILITY TO WEAR MULTIPLE HATS,With dusit preopeningTalk about Project Financing: cost of plant and machinery, pre operative expenses, financing, funding, DSCRprofitability check etc,ABILITY TO WEAR MULTI
What’s the worst mistake you ever made on the job, and what did you learn from it?
Some of the decisions I made were probably wrong .One good thing about our industry is that we work in people industry and take decisions collectively. Working with others allows you data-mine other people’s skills and experiences. You get perspectives and ideas that you would not have on your own. You can also check the quality of your own work before it goes out the door.
What is it EBITDA?
We come to EBITDA by taking the operating income plus the D&A amount: two large non-cash items.core sustainable recurring profitability from core operations before the effect of capital structure.
What can you see from editda?
We want to see how is the company profitability before the effect of capital structure. Or what is the ability of the company to generate profit and cash flow through EBITDA.
Tell me about yourself?
Apart from what you see in my cv, I’m someone who likes to be around people because I feel I get a lot of energy by connecting and communicating with other people. / unleash energy and walk that true potential.in my early years, my father had a guest house, That’s where I inherited the feeling for this Indusrty, you this foundational knowledge of people skills and a deep understanding of different cultures and industry.I’ll try to sizely summarize..in 2011 Keppel land conducted a company wide employee climate survey and My hotel became the best managed property in Keppel Land in terms of staff handling. Not only hotels …I won several performance awards etc. I love managing teams and solving customer problems.
Tell me something you accomplished with the owners?
In 2013 I helped our J/V partner understand the importance of integrating e-commerce into Sedona’s overall business strategy. The total OTA sales for 2013 were just 12 RN. At that point local owners were simply comfortable with the basic e-commerce set-up they had which comprised of the brand website and direct reservation system.After discussing with them about potential benefits of my proposal, they understood the interdependence of opening up inventories tobte OTAs and the ability of our hotel to sell our brand online by setting up a channel management system. Finally, they were sufficiently interested to join and help to put my plan together and granted the green light to setup a new e-commerce platform with more than 20 OTAs. With increased traffic flow, the business started booming and OTAs became a dominant force in our sales strategy. At the end of 2015, we were more than happy with the level of sales we achieved; it was in thousands, to be exact 2800 RN in 2015 with revenue of more than ¼ million US Dollars. The new e-commerce platform included the channel management system “Rate Gain”. We homogenized and centralized our revenue management strategy by automating the booking platform that tremendously increased the productivity and efficiency. Capturing data and usage of that data made our reporting tasks related to Revenue Management Strategy much easier.
What can you do for us
I am good at Improving net earnings that are directly linked to controlling costs, increasing productivity, marketing resourcefully and tightening credit terms.I will help implementing a clear strategy looking at the different parts of the business and having measures for those to make them very successful in future. I will have measurable goals and outcomes for all departments and more importantly all HODs will be accountable for these measures and we will make it actionable through monthly meetings.I’ll make sure you drive in the right direction, product & services resonate with customers etc ercI like to look at it this way first and foremost businesses are in businesses to achieve results, if we can do it while we continuously improving our work force, the way we delight our customers, product and services and being profitable for our finance and stakeholders, expanding our customer base and market shares through ROI & revenue growth (operational efficiency and asset mgnt) and our processes are always improving to better the productivity then that is going to make us the market leaders and make us successful and improve bottom lines.
What kind of a GM are you?
I’m kind of a GM who can spot the best course for a revenue/yield plan or marketing plan that will get the best ROI or build the better RevPar on a short and long term basis, based on primary objectives. I think in today’s market and with the current highly competitive nature of our industry, having a GM who can synchronize the entire process including the sales, marketing and yield management realm of the hotel would be helpful. After all, his decisions should be a major factor in and will significantly affect the hotel’s Revenue and state of finances, including market share, RevPar and guest comments and reviews.
I think as a GM your success is based on simple fundamentals of having clear strategic focus on all operational areas.
What’s your management style?
I am some one who had spent 14+ years in Myanmar and have a deep understanding of people skills and foundational knowledge of their capabilities and foresights. Some of your missions are to guide weaker people, to assume responsibilities, and to transmit security and confidence to those who need it.Management style can be so different as it needs a bit of tweaking in Asian Countries, it’s difficult to put myself in a prefabricated category, I have been working in countries, about 70 percent - are living in grinding poverty, still depending on subsistence agricultureand has high level of poverty. Most of your employees are coming from different social, economic and cultural backgrounds.
What can you do best for us based on your experience and for brand
Hotels are fast phased high pressure asset heavy industry.I think to be successful we need to ensure we create a Critical mass in every aspect of business. Goal would be to create a critical mass of successful employees to take the lead and operate daily tasks.
Weakness
Perhaps trying to be too perfect or detail oriented. It is a learning curve everyday as we meet and deal with new people. The questions is also where are you showing up in the compset? We want to be Ranked high & rated high. You want to maximize revenue, provide excellent customer service, but then again I think that is what differentiates us from others and how we grow from mistakes to champion them.
Strength
Strongest trade understands and adopt to the environment I’m working in & people I’m working with and adopt a proactive (hands on) strategy towards company goals. Try to build a company culture that reflex company goals and objectives. Understand cultural diversity and interpersonal experience with others be it guests or staff.
How do you handle changes?
In hospitality nothing is static, everything is like a moving target. People have different needs and you have a lot of staff, and there are changes as things may not always take the preplanned routes, change is necessary and change will happen. You don’t know sometimes what is necessarily coming at you, but you can handle how you face and respond to them. It is a matter of preparedness,experience and knowledge approach.But you must anticipate what’s coming, if not you are going to be stuck reacting to what’s happening; this is not a great choice.
How do you handle difficult situations in business or Guest issues?
Handling difficult situations in business or guest issues as a hotel General Manager (GM) requires a combination of effective communication, problem-solving skills, and a customer-centric mindset.
Listen, understand, show you are willing to help and don’t interrupt. Two things you need to understand; patience and understanding
