Can managers at hotels give interviews?

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Br’er Rabbit

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So I’m majoring in hospitality and I have a project due coming up where we need to interview a manager at a hotel. Since I live in Orlando I thought it would be fun to interview a hotel manager at Disney.

If I show up to the Gran Floridian let’s say and ask for a manager, would they let me do a quick interview? It’s only 10 questions or so and would take like 5 minutes. I think it would be more fun to interview a manager at Disney than let’s say a Best Western or Super 8.
 
Mouse Trap

Mouse Trap

Well-Known Member
Br’er Rabbit said:
It has to be in person and it’s just a simple 5 minute quick interview. I honestly don’t have the time to go on Linkedln and set up an interview. It’s not supposed to be that elaborate.
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Then it's 50/50. Impromptu interviews aren't exactly appreciated. But maybe you'll catch someone with some downtime and willingness to spend that time to chat.

Can they? yes.
Will they? ehh.
 
MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Br’er Rabbit said:
So I’m majoring in hospitality and I have a project due coming up where we need to interview a manager at a hotel. Since I live in Orlando I thought it would be fun to interview a hotel manager at Disney.

If I show up to the Gran Floridian let’s say and ask for a manager, would they let me do a quick interview? It’s only 10 questions or so and would take like 5 minutes. I think it would be more fun to interview a manager at Disney than let’s say a Best Western or Super 8.
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Have you tried calling the GM's office at the hotel, and asking for a (brief) appt. to interview the GM? That might be another way to approach this. Good luck with your school project.
 
D

DisneyJoe

Well-Known Member
MinnieM123 said:
Have you tried calling the GM's office at the hotel, and asking for a (brief) appt. to interview the GM? That might be another way to approach this. Good luck with your school project.
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This can be a challenge, as there are multiple levels of people answering the phone before you can even get close to speaking to someone who has access to a manager. Even when you are at a resort with an issue, you can wait for 30 minutes or more for a CM to get an issue resolved with manager input.

My advice would be to go to a resort, approach the front desk and ask to schedule an interview with the manager for your project. You may possibly get lucky and find that they have time that day, or you may need to come back in a few days or even a week or more.
 
larryz

larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
You get more flies with honey than vinegar... offer to buy the manager lunch and interview during said same.
 
Michaelson

Michaelson

Well-Known Member
Best guess would be 'maybe', but as has been suggested above, contact them first, and offer to send them a list of the questions for them to review.

We did a video interview in the WDW art department back in the late 80's (yeah, I'm showing my age) when I worked for the Florida DMV and the first Florida Licensing on Wheels (FLOW mobile) was being introduced to the community. We started with Disney, and they were more than happy to participate, as it gave them the opportunity to not only support outside projects, but gave them free PR.

Just tell them what you're doing, and as I said, give them a list of questions you plan on asking.

No one likes to be surprised with unknown questions, and that's what usually keeps the door closed.

That manager knows when they're talking to someone on the outside 'for the record', they ARE the voice of the Disney Corporation, and that's a heavy mantle to wear on ones shoulders. This includes not only the large governmental projects like mine was, or the small interviews for graduate studies.

I now work at a graduate level campus of a State University, and our students are assigned projects like yours every semester, and that's what our professors advise....and even then, it's that corporate hand on the shoulder of the potential interviewee that keeps them from wanting to talk to folks outside their organization without someone from their PR department being involved.

Good luck!

Regards! Michaelson
 
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Networth

Well-Known Member
I agree with those that say call ahead. Ask him or his secretary if you can make an appointment and say why. You will have a better chance doing that than walking into the GF and asking for the GM for an interview.
 
D

DisneyJoe

Well-Known Member
Networth said:
I agree with those that say call ahead. Ask him or his secretary if you can make an appointment and say why. You will have a better chance doing that than walking into the GF and asking for the GM for an interview.
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The challenge with a phone call is getting through the many gatekeepers to even get to him or his secretary. By going to the front desk you reduce that dramatically. I'm not saying that you will get the interview then and there, but there are less people between you and the GM attempting to keep you away. Phone gatekeepers are there to read their scripts and reduce the time that the GM needs to handle random phone calls.
 
wdwfan22

wdwfan22

Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure the answer is no. Disney most likely won't permit front line managers from speaking publicly on any type of interview without proper approval. Your best bet is to contact the Resort's General Manager by email.
 
B

Br’er Rabbit

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Update: I went to the DVC building of the Grand Floridian and asked the head conceierge who was happen to be working at the time. He graduated from the same school I’m at now so he understood the struggle haha.
 
dieboy

dieboy

Active Member
Large companies are very strict regarding talking to the public via a formal interview, regardless of the length as wdwfan22 mentioned. They just do not like minions (even hotel GMs would be considered a semi minion in the WDW schematic). Typically a company like WDW will have a media arm, that is tightly controlled, and hard to access.
Also, if you manage one, it would be a very good idea to let the interviewee' know what kind of questions they will be asked well ahead of time. No one likes going into an interview that could have a very wide subject scope, that is hard to prepare for.
 
B

Br’er Rabbit

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
dieboy said:
Large companies are very strict regarding talking to the public via a formal interview, regardless of the length as wdwfan22 mentioned. They just do not like minions (even hotel GMs would be considered a semi minion in the WDW schematic). Typically a company like WDW will have a media arm, that is tightly controlled, and hard to access.
Also, if you manage one, it would be a very good idea to let the interviewee' know what kind of questions they will be asked well ahead of time. No one likes going into an interview that could have a very wide subject scope, that is hard to prepare for.
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I already got the interview.
 
B

Br’er Rabbit

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
dieboy said:
Good fer you! I'm semi impressed someone out side of their media group would be allowed to speak for the company ;)
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The dude I interviewed was a graduate from the school I’m in now so he knew what I had to do. I also went to the DVC building because the main lobby was a tad busy. The DVC building was empty so he was happy to spend a few minutes doing something.
 
danyoung56

danyoung56

Well-Known Member
Be careful with what you do with distribution of your interview. I'd guess that the manager you spoke with could get in a lot of trouble with his superiors.
 
T

thomas998

Well-Known Member
Br’er Rabbit said:
So I’m majoring in hospitality and I have a project due coming up where we need to interview a manager at a hotel. Since I live in Orlando I thought it would be fun to interview a hotel manager at Disney.

If I show up to the Gran Floridian let’s say and ask for a manager, would they let me do a quick interview? It’s only 10 questions or so and would take like 5 minutes. I think it would be more fun to interview a manager at Disney than let’s say a Best Western or Super 8.
Click to expand...
You could also just make up the interview. Nothing was ever as annoying in college as professors assigning this type of busy work that truly serves no purpose other than to provide the professors with data that they will use on their own paper and just forcing students to act as free data gatherers.
 

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