by Jason Leppert
Last updated: 10:00 AM ET, Fri September 16, 2016
It takes a lot of work to make the Royal Caribbean International cruise experience a flawless one for its guests, and the brand's hotel directors see to it that everything is in order accordingly.
For a behind-the-scenes look at the life of hotel director Gary Davies onboard the Anthem of the Seas, the line has released a video, hosted at my Popular Cruising YouTube channel and embedded below.
Watch and learn how the days of the hotel director include walking seemingly every inch of the ship, interacting with guests, inspecting all venues, supervising crew and leading meetings; and that's just onboard one of Royal Caribbean's now 25 cruise ships, each with its own such leader.
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"The hotel director onboard works very closely with the captain," said Raimund Gschaider, AVP, Hotel Operations for Royal Caribbean. "The captain is obviously in command of the ship, but the hotel director is looking after the guest vacation experiences." That is the captain is in control of all things navigational, but the hotel director oversees everything else.
The hotel director heads up the entertainment, culinary, dining and housekeeping departments, according to Mark Tamis, senior vice president, Hotel Operations for Royal, saying, "It's really the hotel director who's conducting that orchestra."
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Describing his own job in detail is Davies himself:
"I head up a team of 13 subdivision heads. So, on a daily basis, there are inspections in the morning; there are walk arounds in the morning; there are conversations with different department heads; there's always emails. You get emails in from the office, emails in from guests; checking on the shows, checking on the restaurants, checking on basically how the operation is going. It's very diverse, always changing; and it hardly ever repeats itself. So, it's a very enjoyable job.
"It's all about teamwork. I rely on my managers. I have a very good strong set of managers that are very good and capable in their respective areas, and then obviously being out in public and having conversations with guests that are wowed by our product or simply just appreciate the crew. That's always a nice feeling when somebody comes back to you and says your crew's amazing. That gives you a great sense of satisfaction."
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