Trait-Based Hotel Staff Hiring

Since 1999, Dean Lee McKinney has worked in the hospitality industry, serving in multiple key leadership positions. As the former owner and manager of a hotel and restaurant located in Gold Beach, Oregon, Dean Lee McKinney has gained extensive experience hiring and managing personnel.

One of the many responsibilities of a hotel manager is to hire a competent staff capable of providing excellent service to customers. When hiring, it is crucial to look for the right traits for customer service, such as friendliness, patience, and communication skills.

An effective strategy for finding employees with personality traits that make them excellent at dealing with customers is using the acronym WETCO. WETCO stands for warmth, empathy, teamwork, conscientiousness, and optimism.

Warmth refers to simple human kindness, while empathy describes the ability to sense what another person is feeling. Teamwork is the inclination towards group achievements, while conscientiousness refers to attention to detail and the ability to carry out a task to completion. Finally, optimism describes a positive outlook that is essential for customer-facing positions. This trait also helps employees not internalize challenges.