Rath Checks In: Why the Hotel Industry Needs "Breakfast Directors" Again

In the pursuit of efficiency and digitalization, many hotels are neglecting their primary function: guest service. Hotel directors need to return to the front lines.

There was a time when the term "breakfast director" was a politely veiled insult in the hotel industry. It described leaders who preferred to converse with guests in the dining room rather than pore over procurement lists and "rack rates" in their offices. This criticism has lost its substance. Ironically, the very thing that was once ridiculed—proximity to the customer—is now sorely missed in our industry.

A significant reason for this is that major hotel chains have systematically pulled their general managers and resort managers away from operational involvement. This wasn't due to negligence but followed a logic that seemed plausible for a long time: less guest contact meant more time for management, better control, and more detailed reporting. All the business forecasts, owner meetings, brand standards, and endless controlling loops have created a workday where leadership largely occurs on a screen. Unfortunately, this is where it has the least impact and remains abstract.

Hospitality Needs a Human Touch

What is lost through the lack of visibility of a hotel director? They disappear from the guest's view and are also absent as role models and pace-setters for their teams. The hotel industry is not a purely mathematical model but a highly complex system of relationships. Those who lose sight of this repeatedly optimize backend processes without creating significant impact at the grassroots level.

Establishments that consciously resist this trend demonstrate that a different approach is possible. For example, the Althoff Seehotel Überfahrt in Rottach-Egern am Tegernsee, where it's no coincidence to meet General Manager Vincent Ludwig personally. Not constantly or ostentatiously, but purposefully: at breakfast, dinner, and other moments that determine whether a guest will return.

Good hoteliers don't just work more; they position themselves differently. They know when a conversation generates revenue, when a brief interaction builds loyalty, and when visible presence prevents a complaint. They intervene where their efforts are most valuable.

Presence Begins Early

Breakfast, in particular, is often underestimated! It's not for nothing that it's one of the meals I scrutinize closely during my hotel tests. Rarely does a single situation bring so many guests together, and no phase possesses greater emotional openness. The day begins at breakfast, the initial mood is set, and so is the feeling of how one is actually experiencing their stay. Those who are visible here lead and shape. Those who hide hand over the scepter of ceremony.

At the same time, breakfast is one of the few touchpoints where operational quality, atmosphere, and personal interaction immediately overlap. A brief eye contact, a remembered name, a situationally appropriate recommendation—positive recommendations arise from such seemingly small things. Whether on hotel portals or within one's social circle.

In my past roles, I consciously blocked out time slots for this. Three hours that remained untouchable. In the right place at the right time. To the guests, I seemed constantly nearby, but in reality, it was just precisely placed visibility. And it is precisely this that has been completely lost in many places.

High-Tech in the Wrong Place

Digitalization plays an important role in this context. Many establishments are now hastily catching up on what they have slept through for years. This is necessary, no question, and long overdue. However, the guest is all too often the focus—as an executing "employee." Self-check-in, QR codes everywhere, digital menus, chatbots instead of customer service. This may accelerate processes and reduce costs in the short term. But it shifts the experience of a stay from "P for Personal" to "F for Functional."

The best place for a hotel's digital development is in the back office. There, it should optimize workflows, reduce errors, and thereby free up time—for hotel managers, their teams, and the guest. Because value creation occurs in conversation. And these are not the romantic notions of a nostalgist; this is sober economics. An upgrade is usually not clicked; it is offered. At the best moment, with the right words and the appropriate tone. Attention makes recommendations more likely, and genuine loyalty grows through relationships, not technology. Those who only focus on saved personnel costs overlook something else: additional earning potential.

Perhaps it's really time to free the term "breakfast director" from its stigma and fill it with new meaning. As the highest accolade for hotel managers who have understood what I have outlined. In my view, our industry doesn't always need new, supposedly even better systems. The hotel industry needs more breakfast directors again. That would be wonderful!