Once you start working and interacting with people — especially with housekeeping frontline employees such as chambermaids, laundry attendants, and supervisors — you quickly realise that hotel school did not prepare you to become a character analyst or a psychologist. But believe me, to become a great Housekeeping Manager, you need to become one.
Different characters from all walks of life who need clear instructions, task assignments, empowerment, discipline, and the ability to get along with each other to get the job done. Most of the personnel manage this — except the drama queens. Every hotel and every department has them.
Pay attention though, because there are two types.
The first type complains a lot but is not a negative or mean person — and is super productive. The second type is the negative one: complaints constantly, quarrels all the time, to the point where colleagues would rather take sick leave than work on the same floor as this person. Still highly productive, but poisonous to the work environment.
Let me tell you a real story about a Type 2 drama queen. I was working as Housekeeping Manager at a property, and it is my character to create a friendly and professional environment where everyone can thrive and be proactive. We had one cleaner who was so negative that nobody wanted to work with her. We even had a newcomer who changed department the moment she was assigned to work alongside this person.
In cases like this, you speak with your employee, issue disciplinary forms, and involve your HR department. If no real progress is made, you need to let this person go — and this has to happen quickly. The longer they stay, the more damage they cause to your department. That was a lesson I learned, and from that point on, whenever I had negative personnel making everyone miserable and nervous, I would not accept them in my department unless they changed their behaviour completely. Some did — but most are incorrigible.
Now, back to the Type 1 drama queens. In my experience, if they simply complain, you can always defuse it with a good sense of humour or a pat on the back when you catch them doing something well and productive. Most of the time they need attention and recognition for their contribution — they always see themselves as top performers.
Managing people well starts with empathy — the ability to read a person before they become a problem. You sense it early: in the body language at the morning briefing, in the silence of a colleague who used to talk, in the small complaint that is really asking for something else.
Empathy is not softness. It is intelligence. It tells you who needs a pat on the back, who needs a firm conversation, and who is working against the team rather than with it.
Know the difference. Act quickly. And remember — it is always the manager who confronts the drama that earns the respect of the team. Not the one who avoids it.
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