President's Blog December 2017 - A Glimpse of our 2017 Journey
A Glimpse of Our 2017 Journey
Welcome to our 2017 roundup, an opportunity to reflect on recent achievements and think about how the lessons learnt can guide the Association’s future. 2017 has been a strong year overall, characterised by a period of consolidation for IAHGM and IAHE, as we continued to gain traction and build long-term credibility.
Executive Placement
I am particularly proud of becoming known not only as a membership organisation, but as a trusted industry partner that provides services and support to hotel companies. We have been assisting hotel companies with their executive placement needs and we are uniquely placed to provide a truly bespoke service that elevates the job seeking process to the next level. Thanks to our extensive database of global talent, we can match the very best candidates with our clients’ needs and as an added benefit, our members get priority consideration for job opportunities.
Advisory Services
We also launched our advisory and consultation services this year, which have received a fantastic response so far. Our hospitality experts advise hotel general managers, hotel executives, hotel companies, and owners, on a range of topics - asset management and profit optimisation have proved two of the most popular so far.
Top 100 GMs
At the end of October, we announced IAHGM’s Top 100 initiative, creating an elite network of the world’s top 100 GMs within the Association. Once again, we would like to congratulate all those selected and we look forward to receiving their input in order to maximise our proposition for members as the organisation evolves.
Benefits
The goal has always been to offer the most relevant benefits to our members and this value proposition is something we devote a lot of time and attention to. Whilst the portable benefit plans are not necessarily of interest to those whose companies provide comprehensive coverage, there is no reason why people without access to individual plans wouldn’t want to take advantage of such competitive rates. Particularly for anyone on a Total Cash Compensation package, the cost of membership really is negligible in terms of the benefit savings you’ll make. Healthcare, life insurance, income protection, and retirement savings planning are all key components of the value proposition and if your employer doesn’t provide you with a basic benefit plan, the Association can.
Safeguarding Retirement
Retirement planning is something I feel passionately about and it certainly frustrates me that the majority of GMs are still not paying enough attention to this critical part of their future. You all do so well when it comes to maximising revenue for your hotels, your companies and your owners, but what about your own savings? If we’re lucky, we all reach our 60s one day, but our research shows that over 50% of GMs were not well enough prepared for it and they wish they’d planned better! You need to have someone working on your finances for you and our membership gives you access to a retirement and savings plan from Hansard International with very low ongoing charges, and 100% of each premium invested. There’s no charge for credit card payments and you can make additional payments whenever you want. Have a look at our member benefits and take better control of your future today.
Yours sincerely,
Leon Larkin
