The field of hospitality is run by service industries which are comprised of hotels, restaurants, clubs, event planning, tourism-related businesses, travel providers, and many others that provide intangible goods to customers to meet their satisfaction. Because of the nature of this field where human interaction is vital, high emotional intelligence will always be a trend in hospitality management.

However, it should be kept in mind that emotional intelligence in the hospitality field not only applies in an employee-customer interaction. It should also be highly present in employee-to-employee engagement, as well as interpersonal reflections in the context of work.

Marriott Marquis City Centre Doha’s executive housekeeper Jan Jeroen Hartog shared at the 2017 Hotelier Executive Housekeeper Forum in Dubai how an employee in the hospitality field can rise from manager to becoming a great leader with five emotional intelligence qualities.

From His Lecture, These Five Qualities Are Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, Motivation, Empathy, And Social Skills.

Self-awareness focuses on intrapersonal reflection. Hartog explained that the ability to understand and control one’s own emotions will ensure that personal problems will neither directly nor indirectly affect working relationships. As a leader in hospitality management, it is important to know how one’s actions and words affect employees under his care.

Self-regulation is all about empathy towards employees and customers. By properly assessing and understanding the emotions of your audience, self-regulation will help you decide how to react and respond in the right direction.

The third quality, motivation, is determining what keeps your employees and staff motivated. Motivation strengthens the bond between leaders and employees in a way that, keeping employees motivated help motivate the leader.

Empathy is another quality that supports the relationship among employees and between employees and customers. This quality lets you imagine yourself in the shoes of another, pushing you to go that extra mile for either your employee or customer.

The last quality, which is a social skill, allows one to develop effective communication, which will result in strong relationships with other managers and employees. Social skill is founded on listening, understanding, and knowing when to talk.

It is also good to note that emotional intelligence is also a powerful quality in any workplace.

Sources:

http://www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/30455-how-to-go-from-manager-to-leader-in-hospitality/ 

https://www.eremedia.com/tlnt/how-emotionally-intelligent-is-your-culture/