Assistant Director of Guest Experience

Sheraton Grand Hotel, Dubai; Dubai; On-site; AED 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A luxury hotel in Dubai seeks an Assistant Director of Guest Experience to lead the Club Rooms and community operations. This role involves enhancing guest engagement through operational excellence and community-building initiatives. Responsibilities include managing local partnerships, organizing events, and ensuring adherence to Sheraton brand standards. The ideal candidate will have strong leadership skills and a background in hospitality, aiming to create an exceptional experience for all guests.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Employee discounts

Training and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Proven experience in guest service or hospitality roles.
• Strong leadership and communication skills required.
• Ability to build relationships within the community and with guests.

Responsibilities

• Oversee operations of the Club Rooms and Community experiences.
• Manage partnerships with local businesses for guest events.
• Ensure compliance with Sheraton Brand Standards.

Skills

Guest engagement

Operational excellence

Community building

Event planning

Budget management

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Hospitality Management

Job description

POSITION PURPOSE

• The Asisstant Director of Guest Experience is responsible for overseeing the Club Rooms, lounge, and Community operations at Sheraton Grand Hotel. This role combines operational excellence with brand-driven guest engagement, ensuring a seamless and elevated Sheraton experience.
• This role activates key Sheraton public space proof points and programming including the Community Table, Studios, Booths and the Coffee Bar&More which enable guest productivity and connectivity and foster a sense of community, delivering on the Sheraton experience.
• Responsible to facilitates connectivity between guests and the local community by forming and managing partnerships with local businesses and organizing lobby events that promote the learning and growth of our guests.
• Drives profitability in the transformed Sheraton public space and is empowered to use their discretion to elevate and deliver personalized guest service with a community mindset – critically important as a core value of the Sheraton brand.
• Responsible for short and long term planning for the Club operation and assuring a continuous update with Sheraton Standards and training activities to the club team members.
• Recommends budget and manage expenses/margins within approved budget constraints.
• Follows and implement Sheraton Club program as per Brand Standards/Guidelines.
• Provides personalized branded experience to club guests.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Guests Communications as per VIP/Club service leader guide.
• Ensure that services provided are in harmony with our Sheraton core values (warm, connecting and Community)
• Monitor club rooms and suites inventory and ensure maximum availability on daily basis to maximize room revenue.
• Manage and operate the business facilities and club lounge meeting room.
• Take the necessary action to ensure FFE in the club lounge is well maintained.
• Prepare a daily P&L summary for Sheraton Club performance.
• Ensure Sheraton Club lounge amenities and daily F&B program is on time, food is fresh and presentation is on brand.
• Ensure that Club and Suites arriving guests receive their amenities and GPS as per preferences prior to arrival.
• Perform In Room personalized check in for all Suite booked Guests.
• Ensure and enforce delivering of an on brand arrival/departure and Sheraton Club Lounge experiences throughout every Club and Suites guests stay.
• Ensure the full compliance and implementation of the WELCOME upon Check in and FAREWELL upon check out.
• Ensure strict compliance with Sheraton Brand Standards in all related tasks and duties achieving 90% or above in the LRA inspection
• Live and enforce activating of Sheraton Brand Differentiators (Sheraton Sweet Sleeper Bed, Sheraton Fitness by EXOS, Sheraton Social hour, Sheraton Link by Microsoft and Sheraton Club).
• Ensure a 100% daily usage of the Master Arrival Report to deliver GPS initiative successfully to our club guests.
• Ensure Bonvoy Enrolment daily, MTD and YTD goals are not only met but exceeded.
• Support thoroughly the MGS up selling activities and achieve the daily, monthly and yearly set goals.
• Support thoroughly to achieve the COFC daily, monthly and yearly goal.
• Support thoroughly to achieve the MAGC daily, monthly and yearly goals.
• Ensure smooth and clear communication between Club GSAs and all other FO, HK, club and Room service associates.
• Ensure compliance with PCI policies.
• Ensure rooms allocation are made according to guest preferences and requests and based on the information available in Master Arrival Report.
• Ensure Club GSAs acquire the proper product and service knowledge needed and passed all required trainings to perform their job properly.
• Ensure Club GSA appraisal and PMP are made on a timely manner using the right PMP forms.
• Ensure that club and suites guests’ requests are fulfilled and closed in GXP within 15 minutes as average response time.
• Ensure guests defects are logged in GXP and handled in 15 minutes. Follow up call are made to the guest within 30 minutes from the time the complaint was received while ensuring that guests are appropriately compensated and guests are satisfied.
• Use GXP to update club and suites guests’ profiles with requests, defects, preferences and any other comments/information acquired during stay.
• Meet arrivals and departures and ensure satisfaction with check in and check out processes.
• Participate as a member of the Hotels Fire and Emergency Team as required.
• To be an active member in the hotel safety and security committee.
• Ensure with no failure that checking in and out guests are registered in the Government CID reporting system including scanning their passports.
• Ensure buckets are cleared at the end of every day from all checked our registration cards.
• Ensure desk is at all times equipped with functional equipment and stocked with enough stationary and collateral, forms and order them in a timely manner.
• Ensure that all Club GSAs cashiers are closed with no pending or problems prior to GSAs departure.
• Set a departmental development plan and conduct on and off the job training to our GSAs accordingly. (Performance result after training will reach above 85%)
• Participate effectively in OI activities.
• Monitor and control costs by controlling guest entry, food quantities, identifying nonmoving items and suggest alternative.
• Have sufficient information about local surrounding areas to able to provide guests with choices and/or alternatives when requesting for assistance.
• Build positive, effective and on brand relationships with internal and external customers including VIPs and Bonvoy elite members (P&V)
• Enforce free marketing activities to promote the hotel services through our guests by encouraging them to post reviews and tweets in the various social media.
• Actively participate in the hotel sustainability, community and OI activities.
• Ensure proper grooming of his/her associates at all times as per hotel guidelines.
• Lead and assist DOGS and FOM with the GEI analysis and setting improvement plans when needed.
• Activates key branded public space proof points that deliver on the Sheraton experience.
• Manages public space operations, particularly around on-strategy branded proof points, maintaining quality and standards on a daily basis.
• In support of the brand vision for public space and core value of Community, develops specific public space goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish work in support of those goals.
• Identifies and implements strategies and tactics for creating and maintaining an atmosphere conducive to customer productivity and success and implements strategies for the property or specific tactics on a guest by guest basis.
• Develops staffing plans and executes against them to provide public space coverage that enables customer productivity through space, technology, and business services by having a continual presence in the public space, including awareness of onsite VIP and in-house groups.
• Orchestrates public space services with key on property partners and departments to maintain a flexible and inclusive lobby that meets guests needs in a seamless manner. Anticipates guests’ needs to book Studios, leverage Booths, have printing needs met, order F&B and have needed meeting materials.
• Finds, builds and manages relationships with local professional service businesses, such as graphic designers and print shops, to serve as a local expert and facilitator for business service needs to guests.
• Assists guests in maintaining routines while visiting the Sheraton public space by keeping them informed of local vendors that may assist them or working to alleviate any technology issues they may be experiencing.
• Engages in constant communication connecting all departments to deliver seamless guest service in the public space.
• Proactively gathers data and seeks opportunities to improve hotel and local guest productivity needs in the public space

BUILDING COMMUNITY

• Builds relationships with both guests and local organizations and business to create a sense of community within the hotel through networking and enriching events that foster personal and professional development of guests.
• Brokers and negotiates relationships with local organizations and businesses for on-property programming, events and other partnerships.
• Plans and hosts regular events that focus on professional and personal development. Partners with other departments for awareness and promotion of events.
• Partners across departments for compelling and flawless execution of community activations. Finds, builds and manages relationships with local organizations and vendors to enhance guests’ experiences.
• Serves as host to both locals and travelers in the lobby by getting to know them and when the opportunity presents itself, makes introductions between guests with common or complimentary interests, especially around the Community Table feature of the lobby.
• Maintains awareness of cultural differences needed to meet guest’s specific needs and requirements.

GUEST RELATIONS

• Creates a seamless, easy experience for guests, provides continuity to the guest experience journey by supporting all guest relations matters within the public space.
• Maintains awareness of daily operations and events at the hotel including daily house-count, arrivals/departures, VIPs, scheduled in-house group names, background, activities, locations, and times as well as special requests/arrangements.
• Provides check-in and check-out services and handles reservations when needed.
• Provides warm welcome and anticipation of guest needs throughout their stay.
• Confirms repeat and VIP guests are receiving appropriate service and verifies their requests are carried out.
• Delivers an appropriate response and resolution of all Public Space guest issues received directly from guests or from Guest Relations.