The Director of New Hotel Openings reports to the Senior Director of Transitions & Task Force and is responsible for the overall management of new hotel openings. This role will coordinate, assign tasks and ensure milestones are met with all disciplines including but not limited to design, construction, procurement, operations, IT project management, and brand elements. The Director of New Hotel Openings is additionally responsible for preparing a pre-opening budget and communicating required funding with the accounting department throughout the course of all projects assigned.Essential Functions:
- Develop and manage pre-opening plans and budget
- Ensure brand pre-opening sales, marketing, and revenue management tasks are completed to ensure website visibility and pre-sell are executed timely
- Develop, manage, and assign full pre-opening critical path task list
- Work with the accounting department to ensure pre-opening expenses are tracked and paid according to schedule
- Engage procurement companies and coordinate all FF&E (with design) and OS&E purchases and related efforts including warehousing of goods
- Ensure all local, county, and state requirements for licensing and permits (outside of GC scope) are executed
- Manage and work with HR and Operations leadership to ensure all key property level roles are hired in accordance with the pre-opening budget
- Ensure hiring plan and activities for hourly associates are in place and executed
- Work with design and architecture firms ensuring plans executed are operationally sound
- Participate in Value Engineering (VE) process
- Work closely with the construction project manager to ensure milestones are met
- Coordinate with IT to execute all low voltage requirements and ensure all systems are identified and installed based on timeline
- Work with legal to finalize all vendor agreements
- Develop a calendar for all training activities including brand requirements, systems, guest engagement, and Remington policies and procedures
- Coordinate all soft opening activities
- Provide ownership with status of project when requested
- When requested, assist with Design, Architecture, and General Contractor selection
- Ability to juggle multiple projects at one time and be detail oriented and organized
Education and Experience:
- Bachelor's Degree or equivalent work experience required
- 3 - 5 years' experience in hotel pre-opening and transition related work
- Previous hotel General Manager experience preferred
- Experience in all phases of hotel management, including sales and marketing, human resources, budget/forecast management, rooms, housekeeping, maintenance and food and beverage
- Strong financial acumen
Physical Requirements:
- This position requires long hours of sitting at a desk in a climate-controlled environment with frequent computer, mouse, 10 key touch and phone work.
- Ability to travel to multiple hotels locations by car or air and work at various locations outside the office
- Ability to travel extensively at times including internationally
- While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand, move, lift, bend, push, pull, operate with hands and arms, and lift up to 25 pounds. The employee is regularly required to use hands to operate or feel objects, tools or controls, communicate, distinguish or identify, adjust or focus.