Pros
Encouragement and faith in me by the partnership. Gave me the green light to put an employee empowerment program into place. The family atmosphere of the staff and great employee retention. The opportunity to learn all facets of the business from sales, catering, human resources, accounting, food and beverage, back of the house and of course the front of the house. Revenue management was my specialty and so was yield management, forecasting and budgeting. I built my own programs that were market specific which made it all easier in the long run.
Cons
The hours could be brutal when short staffed, but it's the nature of the beast. After 20+ years, you get used to it. Hotel management is not always glamorous as it is often times portrayed on TV. When the market is flooded with rooms as Austin is now, it's a dog eat dog business but the hotels still work well together to insure no one is giving rooms away or selling to high. We all supported each other even when it came to borrowing rollaway beds when needed.