front desk agent

housekeeper

night auditor

line cook

sales director

Hawkeye Hotels

I worked as an AGM and they fired the GM who would do the bare minimum of work and have me do everything else, she never worked a full 8 hour shift. When they fired the GM, they sent in "Task Force GM" and a recently graduated young "Regional Director" to "assist" me and help take some of the work load off of my plate. Come to find out both the Task Force GM and Regional Director didn't know how to do something as simple as using quickbooks and uploading invoices. The Task Force GM didn't even know the reservation system so was useless in covering shifts, oh and stated she can't work late shifts cause she falls asleep early. Leaving me to cover 3-11pm and night audit when short staffed, working up to 12 days straight, with no relief from the people corporate sent to help. I had to show them how to do their jobs and I'm sure these people are getting triple the amount i'm getting paid and doing little to nothing of work. I had to leave this toxic place, I had a nervous break down and has made me not ever want to work in operations in a hotel ever again. This company hires the wrong corporate employees and the manager at property level get paid to do more work then the freshly graduated youngin or pretty slim task force GM with no Hilton experience. Stay away from this company if you are looking for a property management position, but if you are one of the lucky ones to get hired in the corporate office, kudos to you, that bachelor degree in science or home economics will get you far if you don't have to step foot on a hotel property. The only way anyone should get a job in the corporate office is if they have put the blood, sweat and tears it takes to run a successful hotel, not because you could afford or had the time to go to college, you do not know anything about hospitality until you actually work in a hotel in every department.

I spent years with the company and had a hard time committing to the processes and values they held. Bottom line and very limited services was the goal for the company. Taking over a new hotel meant cutting amenities, finding the cheapest services and products, hiring department head positions at 50-75% of the previous companies wages, etc. 

One hotel I managed had to increase housekeepers wages every year, past their regular appraisals as we paid well below the average wage and lowest in the market. 

Regional Directors of Operations give very little input or time into properties. New plans/goals/standards are rolled 2-3 times per month and most die off/fade out within months.  

Bonus plan was unobtainable with lots of hurdles. Bonus plan for staff was the same. Once my property received a $7 bonus per staff member for a 6 month time frame. This was the only bonus that was ever paid out at my properties. 

Running a new branded hotel with Hawkeye is the best route as the hotel will have minimal maintenance and the brand will enforce amenities and services the hotel offers.

● Work-life balance
Work-life balance at Hawkeye Hotels is great as I can work as much as I need to in order to get my work done and can be home at a reasonable time to be with my family.

● Pay & benefits
My pay and benefits at Hawkeye Hotels are great considering we are located in Iowa and opportunities like this are less likely in this state.

● Job security and advancement
In terms of job security at Hawkeye Hotels, I think I have nothing to worry about, this is a company that wants long term employment rather than a revolving door. Lots of long tenured employees at the office and property level which is very encouraging to see.

● Management
In general, managers at Hawkeye Hotels are knowledgeable and helpful. They don’t make you feel as though you don’t know anything and are patient with you.

● Culture
Collaboration with my colleagues at Hawkeye Hotels is extremely easy, everyone is approachable and easy to get in touch with, it’s very much a family type of environment.

● Overall
My experience working at Hawkeye Hotels has been nothing but excellent so far.

- Poor corporate office management. Corporate office shows favoritism within the organization. If you aren't a part of "the circle" - watch out.
- Not employee focused - more focused on growing their portfolio of properties and neglecting the employees and the assets as they continue purchasing property.
- Basic Obama Care type insurance, and expensive. Not worth paying for. My family purchased insurance elsewhere.
- Low pay scales.
- Lack of leadership and direction from corporate office management.
- Many field employees fear intimidation and retaliation from corporate staff members.
- Unrealistic budgets - bonus plans are virtually impossible to attain for the property General Managers.
- The company doesn't put money back into their hotels. They have and will continue ignoring brand PIP plans, until the brand puts their foot down with the project, or pulls their flag from the building - which has happened in Columbia MO.

If you have other options then go with those. 
It was bad before but with the current issue with the pandemic but now true colors are showing. I get that with less money coming in and less demand that managers need to work longer hours, take on more responsibility, but the leadership at Hawkeye is very out of touch with what is going on at the hotels and the amount of work that GMs have to do. They made us let go of almost all of our staff, continue to do our jobs while covering for other positions and then added even more work. 
They literally can't even say thank you or ask how you are doing.
Top level leadership has been in hiding during this whole thing. There has been no communication about what is going on with the company. There is no culture. They dont care for associates. All they care about is lining their pockets and building more hotels even if it means working people into the ground. They will use you until you break. I would not be surprised if a lot of people left as soon as more jobs open up at other hotels. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
I'm hard pressed to answer this.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Hawkeye's blind allegiance to poor managers and seeming indifference to beleaguered lower level employees. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Hawkeye doesn't pay as well as other companies. They emphasize cut rate pay for front line staff and even allowed a regional mgr to rig the books, in an effort to short pay staff. Poor mgrs are allowed to stay as mgrs, in spite of high turnover, and disregard for fair and equal treatment of their employees.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Standing for your entire shift with the expectation that if you aren't assisting guests, you are doing laundry, cooking breakfast, housekeeping, and anything else that the gm determines need to be done, in order to cut back on the hours in other areas.

  I think the owners have the heart, but they probably need to work on getting good support staff to execute this vision. 

 Expectations need to be addressed if cutting staff to cut costs is a strategy.  People have lives outside of work, and we should just respect that. They tend to burn people out with low staffing levels and high expectations. The wages for their staff is also very low which creates low moral. 

The owners are very kind people, and I know have a heart for their company. Some of the corporate staff are very kind and invest a lot into the company. 

Creating a secure work environment is important to keeping good staff. A lot of the staff feared losing their jobs. 

I was able to work on some really fun projects and worked independently on. I had the most fun I've ever had at a job. Really enjoyed Angie's food. The owners were very kind people. 

Worked for them for about 1.5 years, they never wanted to fix the hotel- elevators broke, pool broke for months, lack of hot water. At one point I was told to tell a group they needed to talk with everyone to see when they would take showers and have them do it over 4 hours and also the night before because we had broken hot water heaters for months prior to them arriving. Also many door locks were broken at the hotel, they refused to fix. I truly wonder if one day an entire staff will have enough of the circus and all leave at once. This company is not worth getting stressed over, go work for another company. Also if you look at taking a GM position ask your Regional what they are allowed to approve directly.... you might be shocked at the answer they are powerless

Large amount of turnover, General Manager and corporate are the worse. They find someone that excels in an area uses them and throws them away. There is no respect for others knowledge/experience. They prefer young managers that are yes men. They talk the talk and make the company out as a family and talk about this positive culture for growth.  It is just that, talk.  They haven't figured out that the actions of ownership and management is what creates a positive culture.  Benefits are ridiculous. They are currently posting in their job postings they have bonuses and get paid the next day. The Bonus program is a joke and my hourly employees found the app to get their pay advance to be difficult.

very hard to get any help with conflict resolution beyond the general manager which always "has to check with corporate" but no answers are ever given. Had an experience where we were short staffed and I was working alot of double shifts. Seemed as if no one else wanted to pick up any of the slack. My immediate supervisor would never come in to cover anyone and I was expecting and near my due date at the time. I worked two doubles back to back and was given permission from my general manager to rest in one of the rooms before leaving for the day when my immediate supervisor on the incoming shift found me sleeping in a guest room I recieved a write up and it was never resolved.  

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Front desk agent 17 salaries reported	$14.80 per hour
Housekeeper 12 salaries reported	$13.82 per hour
Night auditor 7 salaries reported	$15.29 per hour
Line cook 2 salaries reported	$13.00 per hour
Sales director 8 salaries reported	$59,063 per year

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