Hotel du nord

NORTH HOTEL

Eve: Marie Thibault and Yves-Marie Abraham

Atmosphere, atmosphere!

Like every day, Monsieur Cimon ', the director of the Hôtel du Nord, arrives at work a little before 8 a.m. And like every day, he feels a certain pride in crossing the threshold of this luxury establishment for which he is responsible: 261 rooms, 150 employees, a superb hotel that quickly carved out a fine reputation in the heart from Montreal. Like every day too, Mister Cimon weaves the effects of adrenaline and stress, when facing the thousand and one problems that make the daily life of a position like the one he occupies. He alone or almost knows the amount of effort required for customers to spend a pleasant stay within these walls.

Unlike most businesses, the hotel is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I also have an impressive number of different jobs: senior managers, room attendants, cooks, receptionists, salespeople, security guards, valets, waiters, accountants, etc. And all must coordinate so that operations run smoothly. We must be able to face all kinds of often difficult situations, without ever bothering customers: the crowd who want to invade the entrance hall to see the Formula 1 drivers staying at the hotel, the discovery of a dead guest in his room, the absence of some of the staff due to a snowstorm, the guest furious at having missed his plane because he did not wake up at the scheduled time, etc. But, beyond these vicissitudes, the key to success in this profession rests on constant attention paid to a multitude of small details. Relentlessly, day and night.

Just this morning, Mr. Cimon found two night auditors outside the door of his office, "Nathalie and Antoine, accompanied by Eric, one of the" day attendants at the reception. Obviously, the two auditors stayed after the end of their shift to be able to meet their director. At the time, Mr. Cimon did not really understand what was going on. The three employees don't necessarily look angry, just very determined.

“Hello Mr. Cimon, we don't want to run into you before your day even starts, but we would really like to meet you in private. Do you have some time?”

Generally, as soon as he arrives, Mr. Cimon drops his things in his office and leaves on the floor to greet all the employees. Then he will have a coffee with the financial controller before the daily meeting of department heads at 9 a.m. What to do this morning, facing these three employees? For a moment, he thinks of sending them back to his secretary so that they can make an appointment, especially as the day promises to be particularly busy. But, he changes his mind immediately. On the one hand, it has always presented itself to its staff as a fervent defender of the open door policy. Do not receive them.

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 "In homage to the homonymous film by Marcel Carné and to the cult replica of Arletty Atmosphere, atmospheret Does the al a mouth of atmosphere, me? (Hotel du Nord, 1938, with in particular Arletty and Louis Jouvet). Reproduced with the permission of HEC Montreal. "This case is reproduced with the permission of the HEC Montreal Case Center (www.hec..ca / centredeca / index.htmll which offers a catalog of more than 2,000 cases and other educational tools (mainly in French) for training management. To consult other cases on the same theme and order them for use in class, go to www.evaloris.com. three anonymous reviewers of the first version of this cat, whose comments and suggestions have enabled us to significantly improve our work This case based on real facts As well as the name of the hotel, the names of the people whose is here question have been changed from locon to what l eur identity remains confidential. See the flowchart at the end of the case The w night auditors carry out the work of the day attendants at reception (check-in and check-out of customers, management of reservations, handling of the cash register, etc.), but also ensure the shutdown of computer systems and are responsible for achieving financial reconciliation of daily revenues from each point of sa le (restaurant, banquets, films, Internet, minibars, laundry, etc.). Hence their title of auditors 207

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would therefore be very badly perceived. On the other hand, the night listeners made the effort to wait for him for an hour rather like going back to bed, It is therefore that the affair of which they want to speak to him is very close to their hearts. And then, Mr. Cimon knows the essential role played by reception staff, especially those who work at night. Like the officers on watch on the step. serelle of a ship sailing in the middle of the night, these listeners are the only masters on board for a few hours. The proper functioning of the establishment is in their hands; all the executives then being absent. It is a job that is as difficult as it is essential. The general manager therefore opens his office to them and goes to get a coffee. When he returns, he says to them,

 "So what can I do for you?"

 - It's about last week's meeting. From what happened next, in fact. It was the first meeting since Marc's arrival and it went more or less well.

Mr. Cimon is a little surprised. He had quickly read the agenda for this service meeting. last Monday, and there were no spotted topics. But, he knows that there are some small tensions since the arrival of Marc, the new director of the service. Would these tensions have caused friction during the meeting?

The employees explain that the meeting itself went very well. Things degenerated in the days that followed. For them, the problem comes from the fact that at the end of the meeting, Nathalie did what is called Consciousness, a practice very specific to the hotel chain of which the establishment managed by Mr. Cimon is part.

Meetings like no other

The development of these service meetings is strictly codified. The preparation of the agenda is the responsibility of the department head or his assistant. It must be posted and accessible to all employees of the department concerned two weeks before the meeting. Employees must be able to suggest and add items that they wish to discuss. It is recommended to vary the days of the week and the hours for holding service meetings to allow all employees, without discrimination, to 'participate'. A final agenda is given to all participants five days before the meeting is to be held. This document also indicates the names of the participants who have volunteered to assume one of the roles provided for in the regulations. These roles, which should not be taken over by the same people from one meeting to another, are as follows:

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