Omni Hotels Leader in Development Program: how it works and what two hoteliers who started in hourly jobs say about the first years

The Omni Hotels & Resorts Leader in Development program, called LID inside the company, is the structured way into Omni for a recent college graduate: a one year position at a single Omni hotel in one discipline, with time in other departments, learning contracts and monthly progress reports, guidance from a member of the hotel’s executive committee, and help finding a management role within Omni when the year ends. This page describes the program as Omni presents it on its own careers page and in its listings, and then turns to what those pages cannot tell you, which is what two hoteliers in my books who began in hourly jobs say about the first years and about why that start matters.

The program, as Omni describes it

Omni describes the program on its students and graduates page, which says LID is “Designed to propel recent college graduates into a management role.” Participants focus on one discipline, and the page names Rooms, Food and Beverage, Sales, Events, Finance and Human Resources, while being “exposed to all aspects of hotel operations.” It lists “Hands on and virtual training opportunities,” “Detailed and relevant learning modules,” guidance from a member of the hotel’s Executive Committee, networks built within the property and across the company, a certification through the American Hotel & Lodging Association, and “Career placement assistance within Omni upon program completion.” The page also describes the Omni Cares Internship for students, and says graduating seniors who complete it receive “Priority consideration for open Leadership-in-Development (LID) program” places.

The listings fill in the days. Omni recruits by hotel and discipline, with the start season in the title, and the Rooms Division LID listing at Omni Mount Washington Resort in New Hampshire is the one I have drawn on. It says the position “is intended to last for one year,” is “directed to entry level candidates” with a bachelor’s degree, and is meant to build management skills through training in “all aspects of Housekeeping and Rooms Division operations.” The LID “will spend a portion of their time working in other departments of the hotel,” completes LID learning contracts, meets the people named as resources in them and submits a monthly progress report, helps train front office staff by conducting standards audits and coaching “as needed,” inspects rooms, works the desk and helps cover shifts when staff call off. Omni asks for willingness to “work 50 hours per week” on a schedule that includes nights, weekends and holidays, and says candidates “must be available to relocate after completion of the program.” The listing does not describe the role you move into; the careers page’s placement assistance is the company’s answer to that.

Who it is for is plain: a bachelor’s degree, “preferably in Hospitality Management,” with prior hotel experience preferred and prior leadership or rooms experience welcome. Omni also publishes a list of hotels it calls Centers of Excellence, recognized for how well they keep and graduate their LIDs, which is a useful place to start a search. Pay, start dates and the hotels hiring in a given season change, so I have left them out; the listings carry them.

What two hoteliers who started in hourly jobs say about the first years

No one in my books came up through Omni. Two of them, though, started in exactly the jobs an LID spends the first part of the year learning alongside, and both are clear that the start made the career.

Brian Gullbrants was president of Wynn Las Vegas and Encore when I interviewed him and is now chief operating officer for Wynn Resorts in North America. He grew up in the back of his family’s restaurant in Chicago, picking up trash in the parking lot at seven for a dollar a container, then washing dishes, prepping food, bussing tables and cooking. His first luxury hotel job was in the Southwest, where Omni has several of its resorts.

“My first job in the luxury hotel industry was as a server at The Ritz-Carlton, Phoenix. It was the first time I internalized the notion that we were all ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. I was taught the basics of how to anticipate the needs of guests, how to provide genuine care, and how to focus on every aspect of the guest experience.” Brian Gullbrants, in A Wealth of Insight (2017)

He has strong views on graduates who want to skip that stage, and they bear directly on a program Omni says is for entry level candidates.

“Most college students who have just invested four years or more of their time, effort, and money into learning the industry want to move directly into a leadership role upon graduation. This is a big mistake and very dangerous in the longterm.” Brian Gullbrants, in A Wealth of Insight (2017)

The reason, he says, is that practical experience in a line level hourly job is what lets you “understand and relate to many of the challenges that your staff face or will face in the future. You simply cannot lead them without having their perspective.” The portion of the LID year spent in other departments, and the shifts covered when colleagues call off, are where that perspective comes from.

Susanne Hatje was general manager of Mandarin Oriental, New York when we spoke and now runs Mandarin Oriental Conservatorium in Amsterdam. She grew up in her parents’ hotel in Hamburg and began her career outside it as an apprentice at the Hotel Atlantic Kempinski in the same city.

“I started out in the laundry room and worked my way up. Starting from the bottom and rising through the ranks is absolutely critical. It teaches you every part of the operation, and you learn to respect and admire the work of your colleagues. Only then do you understand how valuable each individual’s role is to ensuring the overall success of a hotel.” Susanne Hatje, in A Wealth of Insight (2017)

Her first leadership position came in 1992 as director of rooms at The Mark in New York, the division the Omni listing I drew on trains for, and what she took from it was a way of seeing other managers: “how to pinpoint the qualities of effective leaders in other management roles.” An LID spending a year beside a hotel’s executive committee member is in a position to do the same.

Omni’s kind of hotel as a training ground

Omni runs large convention hotels and resorts, and both hoteliers describe what leading in that kind of operation demands. Gullbrants sets the bar first.

“If you ask for excellence, you’ll get a job well done. But if you demand perfection, you’ll achieve excellence. I have witnessed this time and again, observing and working for very successful leaders that achieve greatness. Those who demand more get more. You must set a high bar. It will surprise you how much a team or an individual can achieve when they are stretched, encouraged, and have no limits.” Brian Gullbrants, in A Wealth of Insight (2017)

He also remembers the morning, as a young restaurant assistant manager, when his food and beverage director watched him drown in a breakfast rush and walked away without helping. “It taught me a lot about being there for your team, having integrity, and leading by example.” The standards audits and on the spot coaching in the Omni listing are the mechanics of leadership; what the LID learns about being there for a team will come from whoever is leading them. Hatje’s version of that is simpler. Whether greeting staff in the morning or sitting with her executive team, she says, “being available, approachable, and appreciative are essential to success,” and she makes a point of walking both the heart of house and the front of house every day. Ask whether the executive committee member assigned to you does the same.

What to take from it

Apply to a hotel and a discipline, since that is how Omni recruits, and look first at the hotels Omni itself names as Centers of Excellence for the program. Take Gullbrants’s warning seriously: the hourly work in the LID year is the point, not a delay before the point. Treat the time in other departments as Hatje treated the laundry room, as the only way to learn what each role is worth. Ask in the interview who your executive committee guide would be, how the learning contracts work in practice, and where last year’s LIDs at that hotel were placed. And read both Voices pages above before you go in. Chapter 2 of The Luxury of Attention, The Apprenticeship, is about exactly these years.