I’ve worked at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel since January 2005. As director of operations, I oversaw the day-to-day operation of the rooms, food and beverage, and support departments of the hotel. I’ve been the general manager since April 1 of this year. Now I have to look at the big picture. I can’t blame anything on other people.

I’m usually up at 5:30 every morning. My wife is also in the industry and she is out and about early in the morning. I feed my 5-year-old son and take him to school. I try to be in the office by 7:30. I live in South Pasadena, an easy commute down the 110 in the morning to the hotel on Bunker Hill in downtown.

Usually on the drive I check my voice mail. I get my e-mail at the office and look at information from the previous night to see what occupancy we ran. I look at the manager’s report to see if there were any problems while I wasn’t there. The manager’s report could contain anything from guest inconvenience to information about fire alarms in the building to the success of a catering event in the hotel.

Let’s say for some reason, we weren’t able to accommodate a guest’s request they wanted two double beds instead of a king size bed we ask if they would like to change rooms the next morning when the room they want becomes available.

Before 8:30, I do a walk around the property. The housekeeping staff is the largest division in the hotel. I will often stop by their morning meeting to make sure everything is going well and to stretch with them. They have a very physical job so we have them stretch before they start.

I stop by the Grand Caf & #233;, one of our restaurants open for breakfast. I walk through the dining room and greet customers. We are very fortunate to have a lot of loyal guests; they stay with us week to week and work in the area. We also do a lot of attorney business. It is always nice to say hello and thank them for their business.

I walk through the kitchen to make sure everything is running smoothly and I’ll grab something to eat for breakfast.

At 8:30 a.m., we have a daily stand-up meeting. Representatives from every department meet in a board room and discuss anything that will affect the operation of the hotel that day. We discuss the greeting of arriving VIPs and the plans surrounding any large catering functions.

Each department has time to announce their agenda for the day. For example, in engineering, they may be in particular guest rooms or meeting rooms doing painting or wall covering. We talk about any site inspections coming it.

The operating departments stay back and we have a meeting to review requests from the previous day and we look for trends. Why are we continually getting requests for light bulbs being changed? We discuss any guest that came up on the manager’s report and ask, “Do we need to follow up with this guest?”

Depending on the day of the week, the morning hours are free for big issues. They may be spent meeting with a guest. Or they may be exploring issues regarding sales and securing business for the hotel.

I work with different team members discussing manpower needs. There is a lot of interaction with management staff and associates. I do a walk through with the director of housekeeping to look at maintenance issues.

I try to eat lunch in the associate cafeteria. It is a great time to interact with the staff.

Afternoons are a time to schedule a lot of weekly meetings. We have a safety meeting to make sure we are doing all we can to minimize hazards. We hold special management skills training, and a staff meeting to make sure we know what is going on in our own back yard.

About 4:30 we have another stand-up meeting with the p.m. staff what is our arrival and departure schedule, how busy do we expect the company to be. .

I’m usually out of the office between 6:30 and 7:30. I try to spend time with the family. Usually they have already eaten dinner. I also read different industry magazines, print and online. It is a great time to catch up.

As told to Sarah Filus