Hospitality Financial Leadership – Conference Services Managers’ Disease and Its Devastating Effects on Your Hotel’s Bottom Line

I first diagnosed CSMD in a hotel where I held the position of the hotel manager in the early 2000’s. I call it conference services managers’ disease because this position seems to develop this disease more often than other leadership roles in hospitality. However, it’s important to point out CSMD is not limited to just CSM’s as other leaders can also develop this debilitating disease and if you’re a CSM you are not predisposed to developing CSMD, you just might have a greater risk.

The symptoms of CSMD are quite easy to spot once you know what to look for. People who have CSMD are always too busy. Too busy to attend important meetings. Too busy to make administrative deadlines.  The telltale sign is, it is always their clients that need them and this important “fact” precludes them from keeping their commitments and obligations. Too busy to get their colleague reviews done. Too busy to make the payroll cut off. Too busy to attend the department head meeting. Too busy to get their departmental revenue forecast done. Too busy to do their day by day budget. Too busy to write their monthly commentary. You know the drill.  

Managers inflicted with CSMD have a distorted belief about the client’s needs coming first, which we all know in hospitality that this is the golden rule. Behind the golden rule lies the reality. The reality is that our guest’s needs come first, however, we need to organize ourselves, our team and our world so the guest’s needs get looked after and we can consistently deliver on our agreements and perform to a high standard in all our work areas. People with severe CSMD believe the very fact that they interact with the clients in real time excuses them from their other leadership responsibilities. This condition gets acerbated by their leader who allows and even encourage this excused standard. They can “get away with this” because their leader wants as little as possible to deal with those pesky guests. Normally CSMD starts when this individual is a banquet manager or captain or a similar guest facing position. CSMD is caused by a legitimate event taking place in your hotel that requires the personal attention of your CSM or like position and then this euphoria transmutes itself into everyday hotel life. CSMD is not something that happens overnight it is a progressive disease that takes hold after long periods of being busy.

Behind CSMD is a mindset disorder that has been learned and in fact, it’s just a habit. The habit is formed in the victim part of the brain. It starts out very innocently, usually taking root when the CSM or like position is directly servicing clients on the banquet and event floor. The junior CSM is a full-on position that services guests. Now the Conference Services Manager finds him/herself as the Conference Services Director. Why? He or she is the best at handling the grueling hours, customers and all the internal goings on that it takes to pull off a successful group in your hotel. This skill is an incredibly valuable one and it’s critical for any hotel group/catering operation to have.

Why is CSMD so devastating to your bottom line? The Conference Services Director in your hotel manages the second largest revenue stream in your hotel and the engine of profitability in your food and beverage department. They need to manage all the functions of the department and quite often what’s missing is the business acumen. They are now not just directing the movements of groups and the utilization of the space they are also the needle point of your F&B success. Knowing what will transpire with groups means a day by day forecast, by meal period, and by the group. Without this kind of detailed focus the entire banquet, food preparation and stewarding departments are just floating around and they are lost. The number of hotels that operate today without this level of information is a lot more than you can imagine. I estimate that more than 2/3 hotels do not have this day by day revenue forecast as a monthly practice. The reason for this is CSMD. Your conference services director must be capable and able to master the numbers as well as the service. Generating this meaningful forecast not only provides valuable top-line information but more importantly it allows for planning and efficient use of the resources in the kitchens and the banqueting departments. The amount of resources it takes to staff and supply these areas is huge, arguably the largest portion in some hotels and without a detailed forecast that the other leaders can rely on to do their planning, you’re not going to be efficient and you will not be as productive as you could be. A telltale sign of deep-rooted CSMD is the number of days out your Conference Services Department gets their banquet event orders (BEO’s) out. The shorter the BEO lead time window, the greater the chaos. The greater chaos brings lower labor productivity and higher cost of sales.

CSMD can be treated and even cured. Your CSM must step back and look at their role and realize they can manage the numbers. They move in this direction by slowing down and taking the first step which is to prepare a day by day, group by group, meal period by meal period forecast. Try to pull it all together for next week. Then, try two weeks and then 1 month. Once you have a month down, do 12. This is the only way to master the groups that have booked, the tentative and the prospects. 

Without a solid daily group conference services and catering forecast, the entire operation is lost. If you run a hotel without this valuable tool there is a cure. Get your CSM some help. They really do want the chaos to end and it’s only a habit. Your bottom line will thank you.