Hotel Operations Manager

The Goodenough Hotel is looking for a hands-on hotel professional to lead our Front of House operation, deliver exceptional guest experiences and drive high operational standards across the hotel. This is an opportunity to take real ownership within a unique hotel environment, leading people, improving performance and helping shape the future of a business that combines commercial success with a wider charitable mission.

Location

The Goodenough Hotel, 23 Mecklenburgh Square, London WC1N 2AD

Hours of work

40 hours per week

Contract

Permanent

We're looking for an excellent hotel operator to take responsibility for the day-to-day operation and guest experience at The Goodenough Hotel, our independent four-star hotel in the heart of Bloomsbury.

This is a role for someone who enjoys being close to the operation.

You'll lead our Front of House team, including Reception, Nights and our Duty Manager, and take ownership of the standards our guests experience every day. You'll also work closely with our outsourced Housekeeping and breakfast partners, the College Estates team and our Revenue & Reservations colleagues to make sure the different parts of the guest journey work seamlessly together.

We're a 65-bedroom hotel, so this isn't a management role at a distance. You'll undertake Duty Manager shifts and occasionally step onto Reception when needed. Equally, you'll have genuine responsibility for developing the team, improving standards, managing key operational relationships and making things work better.

What you'll be responsible for

Front of House will be at the heart of your role. You'll recruit, develop and lead the team, manage performance and training, oversee rotas and ensure Reception, Nights and Duty Management consistently deliver the standards we expect.

You'll also take ownership of:

• The day-to-day guest experience and operational standards.
• Guest feedback and reviews, including GuestRevu, using what our guests tell us to drive improvement.
• Our operational relationship with outsourced Housekeeping, including regular meetings, audits, standards and SOPs.
• Breakfast service standards and our relationship with our F&B provider.
• Day-to-day liaison with Estates, including maintenance follow-up, room condition, planned maintenance and contractor access.
• Front of House use of Guestline and other operational systems.
• Operational Health & Safety administration, risk assessments, training and compliance.
• Relevant Hotel suppliers, purchasing and stock.
• Routine operational administration including invoices, expenses and Front of House payroll information.
• Ensuring the Front of House team understands our commercial activity, protects revenue and identifies appropriate opportunities to upsell.

There will also be plenty of opportunities to improve things.

We're not looking for a dedicated project manager. We are looking for someone who notices when something could work better, takes ownership, involves the right people and sees the improvement through to completion.

Who we're looking for

You may currently be an experienced Front Office Manager looking for the opportunity to broaden your responsibilities, or already working in an Operations Manager role within a smaller hotel.

Either way, you'll have strong hotel Front of House experience and be confident leading a team.

You'll be organised, practical and an excellent communicator. You'll be comfortable making decisions, holding high standards and keeping the General Manager appropriately informed without needing every decision to be made for you.

You'll also understand that in an independent hotel, good management sometimes means moving between very different conversations in the same hour: supporting a team member, discussing room standards with Housekeeping, following up a maintenance problem with Estates and making sure a guest concern has been properly resolved.

Most importantly, you'll take ownership. We value people who follow things through, communicate clearly and care about the detail of the guest experience.

Something a little different

The Goodenough Hotel isn't part of a hotel chain.

We occupy five Grade II-listed Georgian townhouses overlooking Mecklenburgh Square in Bloomsbury, and our size means you'll be able to see the impact of the decisions you make.

We're also unusual in another important respect.

The Hotel is owned by Goodenough College, an educational charity providing a residential community for international postgraduate students in London. Our commercial success helps support the College and its wider charitable mission.

We're continuing to develop the Hotel, from our guest experience and brand to our sustainability programme and the way we make the most of our Bloomsbury location. We're looking for someone who would enjoy being part of that journey.

If you're an experienced hotel operator who likes being close to guests and teams, enjoys making things work well and would value having the scope to make a visible difference, we'd be very pleased to hear from you.

This role attracts a salary of £45,000 per annum, free meals when on shift, 26.5 days' annual leave, additional days for Christmas, pension contributions, income protection, life assurance and discounted stays and performance related bonus.

Candidates who are invited to interview will be asked to prepare a short verbal presentation.

Applicants must be able to provide evidence of their right to work in the UK.