Director Operational Excellence

Vertiq Hospitality Partners is looking for a Director Operational Excellence to complete the Senior Operational Leadership Team. In this full time position you will report to the COO (based in the UK).

Vertiq Hospitality Partners

Vertiq is an investment and operational management firm focussed on the hospitality real estate sector in Europe. Vertiq works with capital partners to identify, execute, operate and asset manage its investments.

Vertiq’s current portfolio includes owned, managed and leased hotels across Europe in 7 different countries.

JOB SUMMARY

The Director Operational Excellence (“DOE”) sets the standard for how Vertiq Hospitality Partners operates. As a member of the Senior Operational Leadership Team (“SOLT”), the DOE turns company strategy into the operating frameworks, processes and performance insight that help every hotel in the portfolio, branded or independent, run better, earn more and deliver a consistently exceptional guest experience.

Working with considerable independence, the DOE is accountable for: hotels that operate consistently to Vertiq standards, measurable improvement in portfolio performance, and new hotels that open on time and on standard. This is a role for a leader who wants to build a proactive best-in-class management company, not simply maintain one.

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS

• Minimum 5 years’ progressive hospitality operations leadership, including senior responsibilities.
• Experience in a multi-property operations role (cluster, regional or corporate) in an international, multi-branded environment.
• Demonstrable record of writing SOPs or operating programmes and rolling them out across several hotels with measurable results.
• Hands-on experience building and managing operational and capital budgets.
• Working knowledge of hotel management agreements and owner obligations.
• Evidence of leading a change initiatives across multiple properties through to full adoption.
• Experience presenting performance and recommendations to owners, investors or an executive committee.
• Able to interpret hotel KPIs and financials and translate them into clear priorities and decisions.
• Able to coach hotel leaders and hold them accountable without direct line authority, across cultures.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.

DESIRABLE

• Experience as Hotel Operations Manager.
• Pre-opening or conversion experience.
• Experience running an international quality assurance or brand standards audit programme.
• Command of additional European languages.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Operating standards: own Vertiq’s SOPs, policies and operating frameworks across the branded and independent portfolio, keep them current and ensure every hotel adopts them to ensure SOP and brand standards internal and external audit compliance.
• Quality and guest experience: run the quality assurance programme and act on guest satisfaction trends, driving guest satisfaction and quality audit scores against targets.
• Hotel turnaround: lead task forces for yellow and red zone hotels, with a recovery plan and timeline for each to minimise the timeline to return to compliant levels.
• Performance management: set the hotel KPI framework and lead the performance review cycle with the SOLT and company management, resulting in portfolio outperformance against budget on revenue, GOP and productivity.
• Commercial and cost initiatives: lead portfolio-wide Rooms/F&B, ancillary revenue and operational and undistributed cost-saving initiatives, driving incremental GOP through savings and growth.
• Owner and investor reporting: together with FP&A, own the reporting framework for owners and investors ensuring reports are delivered on time and in line with the standard and owner feedback/requirements.
• Strategic workstreams: contribute to the SOLT’s operational workstreams and turn company strategy into priorities and timelines.

NEW OPENINGS AND CONVERSIONS

• Lead the operational onboarding of each new management contract, conversion and strategic partner, from signing to stable operation.
• Own the pre-opening critical path and budget, and coordinate the task force, process implementation and organisation technical training.
• Act as the operational point of contact for owners throughout pre-opening.
• Hand over to the hotel team with Vertiq standards, systems and reporting in place.
• Within the scope of your control, ensure openings delivered on the agreed date, within the pre-opening budget, and the hotel operating to Vertiq standards within the agreed stabilisation period.