Director of Rooms

Appellation Healdsburg•Healdsburg, CA

11d•Onsite

About The Position

Appellation, a new hotel brand developed by visionary co-founders Charlie Palmer and Christopher Hunsberger, is seeking a Director of Rooms. Appellation is inspired by its name, bringing together the best of local elements in a new way: a hotel collection powered by people, connected by food, and defined by place. The Director of Rooms will deliver approachable luxury experiences to guests and the Rooms team, providing guidance and leadership to the Rooms Division. This role ensures compliance with hotel policies, quality customer service, and maximizes departmental profits through forecasting and budgeting. The position oversees front office, reservations, housekeeping, laundry, and security operations, communicating with the General Manager on all aspects of the Rooms Division. Key responsibilities include maximizing hotel revenue and productivity, controlling labor, and selecting, training, and developing the Rooms Division teams. Excellent leadership, communication, and team-building skills are essential. This role serves on the Company's Executive Committee and assumes the property leadership role in the absence of the General Manager. This position is located onsite at Appellation Healdsburg.

Requirements

3 or more years of rooms management experience, preferably at a luxury hotel with a mix of both guest services and housekeeping management
Attention to detail and problem solving skills, as well as customer service
Leads by example and embraces the Appellation philosophy of approachable luxury, by devoting the majority of their time interacting with guests and team members at the front of the house
Clear, concise written and verbal communication skills.
Exhibits leadership and effective coaching that facilitates continuous learning and skill development of spa team members.
Instills a calm, organized approach in all situations, yet with urgency when necessary.
Works as an effective member of the executive team as well as the ability to work with managers at every level of the company.
Manages and executes special projects as necessary at the direction of the General Manager.

Responsibilities

Oversees all day-to-day Front Office, Reservations, Housekeeping, Laundry, and Security operations.
Directs daily activities and key initiatives for guest contact departments within the rooms divisions by providing guidance, leadership, clarity, and instruction.
Maintains high quality of guest service and operational excellence.
Directs all activities of the Front Office Manager, Housekeeping Manager, Reservations and Security to ensure communications and follow-up on any problems, guest requests or special requirements.
Develops and implements training and SOPs to align to the Appellation standards for all new and existing team members to positively improve results in Guest Satisfaction, Compliance with Brand Standards, and Employee Engagement.
Actively trains Front Office Manager and Executive Housekeeping Manager and Supervisors in employee management and revenue management and other pertinent skills.
Actively involved in scheduling of all departments to maintain and approve proper parameters.
Conducts ongoing coaching, formal Performance Evaluations and disciplines staff when needed.
Resolves guest complaints from all areas of the hotel, handling all guest interactions with the highest level of hospitality and professionalism, accommodating special requests whenever possible; assists guests in all inquiries in connection with hotel services, hours of operations, key hotel personnel, in-house events, directions, etc.
Oversees all inventory control procedures and inventory levels for housekeeping area and rooms and the honor bar.
Monitors all rooms systems to enhance team efficiency, guest feedback and revenue enhancement and labor management productivity metrics to develop actionable objectives to target goals.
Leads, attends and participates in department specific meetings to coordinate and plans daily activities to support and provide guidance in hotel operations within the rooms division.
Ensures that regular, ongoing communication is happening in Rooms (e.g. pre-shift briefings, staff meetings).
Facilitates the coordination of marketing initiatives, sales site visits and special housekeeping requests, VIP reservations, etc. to deploy the team to deliver best in class hospitality.
Highly visible and interfaces with guests and customers on a regular basis to obtain feedback on quality of product, service levels and overall satisfaction.
Creates an atmosphere in all Rooms and Food and Beverage areas that meets or exceeds guest expectations.
Facilitates the development of creative solutions to overcome obstacles and ensures implementation to continually improve guest satisfaction results.
Solicits team member feedback, utilizes an “open door policy” and reviews team member satisfaction results to identify and address team member problems and concerns.
Monitors guest ledgers, trial balances, and other daily reports to ensure Rooms posts all revenues appropriately and collects all necessary payments from guests.
Maintains reservations procedures and implement policies that will capture maximum revenues.
Oversees OTA accounts including promotional discounts and information provided on the site such as photos and property descriptions.
Oversees the reservation booking engine including rate building, inventory management, information provided and administration procedures such as setting up new users.
Manages the reservation function to maintain the highest possible room occupancy and average daily rate through employee training and suggestive selling.
Prepares annual budgets and administers in a fiscally responsible manner.
Leads and supports all areas in the achievement of their team, guest and financial targets.
Controls all purchases for the department, consistently aware of quality and cost.
Completes and maintains weekly, monthly, yearly rooms revenue forecasts.
Develops & maintains a yield management system to achieve revenue goals (based on rooms division budget/forecast) and train FOM accordingly.
Monitors and analyzes, coordinating with the Director of Revenue Management, the current rates to determine if the rate structure is in line with the revenue goals of the hotel.
Actively participates with the Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Team to increase RevPAR index within the competitive set.
Completes the scheduling of security based on events and business which includes in-house security employees and third-party security vendor.
Takes action in all matters related to the safety, security, satisfaction and well-being of hotel guests and team members.
Responds swiftly and effectively in any hotel emergency or safety situation.
Responsible for facilitating and documenting regulars life safety activities including, but not limited to: routine hotel fire drills, active shooter training, CPR training, and other local and state mandated trainings.