General Manager - One&Only Gorilla's Nest and Nyungwe House 
(17405)

At One&Only, we exist to create joy for our guests through anticipation, creativity, precision, empathy and warmth. We tailor every aspect of our guests’ stay to bring their dreams and desires to life. With an atmosphere that’s chic but wonderfully unstuffy™, and a team who are meticulous but warm, we seek to exceed our guests’ expectations at every possible turn. 

Cushioned in the foothills of the breath-taking Virunga Volcano Range, One&Only Gorilla’s Nest makes the magical possible to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime, personal encounter with the rare and majestic mountain gorilla, roaming free in its own natural habitat. The warm African charm is one of our most unique and valued assets. With abundant knowledge and generosity, we anticipate our guest’s every need and surpass expectations. Whether we are designing the perfect day out or arranging a romantic private dinner, we approach everything with imagination to spark a sense of playfulness, discovery and adventure. This is not simply our job, it’s our passion. We don’t just exist in the environment, we exist with the environment; from working the land or building a shelter, we like to give back in as many ways as we can to help our communities flourish.

Job Summary

This position reports to the President, One&Only and works with direct reports on property to develop and implement the operations strategy while ensuring implementation of the brand service strategy and brand initiatives. The role ensures operations meet the brand quality, ensures colleague satisfaction, focuses on growing revenues, and maximizes financial performance. As a Member of the Executive Committee, the position develops and implements hotel-wide strategies that deliver products and services to meet or exceed the needs and expectations of the brand's target guests and property colleagues while providing a return on investment to the owner and Kerzner International Management.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop operational strategy that is aligned with the brand's business strategy and lead its execution while working with team to put sustainable work processes in place
• Keep operations team focused on critical components of operations to drive guest satisfaction and desired financial results while making key decisions to keep property moving forward
• Champion change and ensure brand and regional business initiatives are implemented while communicating follow-up actions to team as necessary
• Establish vision for product and service delivery on property while continually communicating clear and consistent message regarding operational goals
• Identify and analyze operational challenges and facilitate development of solutions to prevent reoccurrence while ensuring all operational areas have conducive atmosphere
• Research new products, services or trends and introduce ideas to operations to enable property to remain competitive
• Analyze pricing and services of competition and maintain active relationship with competition to understand market positioning
• Review staffing levels to ensure guest service, operational needs and financial objectives are met across all departments including wellness and spa operations
• Tour building regularly speaking with colleagues and guests to understand business needs and assess operational opportunities
• Participate in public space walk-throughs with Engineering, Housekeeping and Stewarding to ensure areas are well maintained
• Work with community and local officials to ensure operational issues involving external parties can be resolved beneficially
• Champion the brand's service vision for product and service delivery and ensure alignment amongst hotel leadership team
• Foster colleague commitment to providing excellent service while participating in daily stand-up meetings and modeling desired service behaviors
• Demonstrate and communicate key drivers of guest satisfaction for brand's target guest while ensuring core elements of service strategy are in place
• Serve as guest advocate on property and pull together resources to resolve guest and operational issues
• Maintain high visibility and interface with guests regularly to obtain feedback on quality of product and service levels
• Review comment cards, guest satisfaction results and other data to identify areas of improvement while ensuring corrective action is taken
• Champion "We Create Joy" service philosophy while hiring operations management colleagues who demonstrate strong functional expertise
• Create appropriate development plans and develop colleagues based on individual strengths, development needs, and career aspirations
• Set goals and expectations for direct reports using performance review process while holding staff accountable for successful performance
• Establish and maintain open, collaborative relationships with direct reports and entire team
• Ensure regular ongoing communication takes place to recognize performance, set expectations, and create awareness of business objectives
• Champion all HR programs including Talent Review, 360, Colleague Engagement Survey, and Appraisal processes
• Provide input and support overall sales strategy while suggesting innovative marketing ideas to gain market share
• Attend revenue management meetings, evaluate mix of transient and group revenue, and provide pricing recommendations
• Monitor operations sales performance against budget while ensuring revenue goals are met or exceeded across all revenue streams including spa and wellness
• Review financial reports and statements to determine Operations performance against budget while working with direct reports on improvements
• Coach and support operations team to effectively manage occupancy, rate, wages, and controllable expenses
• Facilitate capital expenditure process with operations departments while ensuring funds address service strategy priorities
• Provide operational expertise during owner meetings while demonstrating understanding of cash flow and owner priorities
• Build owner loyalty through good communication, recognition, and involvement in key decisions
• Balance owner objectives and Kerzner International objectives to produce mutually beneficial solutions

Skills, Experience & Educational Requirements

• Extensive knowledge of hotel operations and operating strategies with proven leadership as a General Manager in luxury hospitality.
• Must have expereince managing a resort in a remote location.
• Financial management skills including ability to analyze P&L statements, develop operating budgets, and forecasting
• Ability to effectively manage labor productivity while demonstrating strong organizational skills
• Ability to creatively execute against strategy and drive results while originating innovative guest experiences
• Effective decision-making skills with ability to choose course of action among options involving uncertainty or risk
• Strong problem-solving skills with ability to encourage new innovative solutions
• Strong communication skills including verbal, listening, and writing with effective influence and consensus building abilities

Our brand is expanding faster than ever before. We are investing in the growth of our company, and that means we are committed to investing in you. Join a team that is open-hearted, intuitive, generous, and spontaneous in spirit. We believe in making our guests happy beyond anything they have ever imagined. We wow them at every turn and create memories that will last a lifetime. You will be at the heart of this vision, to constantly innovate to deliver Amazing Experiences and Everlasting Memories.