Front Office Manager

Fairfield Inn and Suites; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player in the hospitality sector is seeking an experienced Front Office Manager to enhance guest experiences at a luxury hotel in downtown Chicago. This dynamic role involves leading a team to uphold brand standards, resolve guest complaints, and ensure exceptional service delivery. The ideal candidate will possess strong leadership skills, a passion for customer service, and a commitment to fostering a positive work environment. Join a company that values innovation and exceptional service, where your contributions will significantly impact guest satisfaction and operational excellence.

Qualifications

• Minimum 1 year of hotel management experience required.
• Proven track record in guest services and conflict resolution.

Responsibilities

• Supervise front desk associates and ensure brand standards.
• Resolve customer complaints and monitor guest satisfaction.
• Support training programs and encourage ongoing development.

Skills

Guest Services

Conflict Resolution

Service Recovery

Team Leadership

Communication

Education

Hotel Management Experience

Job description

Hospitality / Hotel/Resort / Rooms - Front Office/Guest Services

Summary

Hotel EMC2 is in search of an experienced Front Office Manager with exceptional downtown Chicago market and Marriott systems experience to join our one-of-a-kind luxury, lifestyle hotel that celebrates a creative class of consumers seeking artistically curated travel, dining, and hospitality experiences. This role reports directly to our Director of Operations.

This unique property is located in the heart of Chicago's Magnificent Mile and was developed by the creators of the famed theWit Hotel in Chicago's Loop.

RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

• Represent the hotel in a positive manner at all times.
• Understand and maintain hotel and company brand standards and requirements.
• Recruit, coach, and counsel front desk associates.
• Supervise team members to ensure adherence to policies and procedures, delegation of duties, daily property inspections, and effective communication with home office staff and property owners.
• Resolve customer complaints or potential problems by reviewing and monitoring guest complaints, operational issues, and business flow to ensure the highest level of service for every guest.
• Actively resolve problems, provide open communication processes, discipline, and take corrective actions as appropriate.
• Champion the hotel's post-departure evaluation systems and responses, overseeing hotel guest satisfaction survey scores and coordinating timely responses with department managers and executives.
• This position acts as the voice of the guest; greets VIPs, confirms amenities, and coordinates Special Guest Events.
• Support hotel training programs and encourage ongoing development for managers and employees.
• Demonstrate financial responsibility by monitoring budgetary guidelines.
• Exemplify the company's Simplified Code of Conduct and all other regulations established by management and the Employee Handbook.

ESSENTIAL PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Ability to stand or sit for an entire shift.
• Ability to reach, bend, stoop, lift, push, and pull.
• Ability to lift and carry up to 30 pounds.
• Ability to work in front of a computer monitor for extended periods of time.
• Ability to tolerate moderate temperature changes in the building.
• Ability to handle repetitive motion of the wrists, hands, and fingers.

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

• Communicate in the primary language of the hotel.
• Display the proper uniform/dress at all times and be well-groomed.
• Be flexible since we are running a 24/7 hotel operation.
• Must be able to arrive to work in a timely, consistent, and predictable fashion.
• Requires a minimum of 1 year hotel management experience with a proven track record for success in Guest Services, Conflict Resolution, and Service Recovery.
• Embrace the SMASHotels' culture where our people are our greatest asset, the guest is the reason behind everything we do, we are genuine and humble in our service approach, and we embrace the diversity of our people, which mirrors the diversity of the guests we serve.
• Must be available to work weekends, holidays, and overnight shifts.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Front Desk: Occupancy, late check-outs, arrivals, VIPs, groups, special needs such as billing, flyers, or credit issues, employee breaks, closing duties.
• Bell: Arrivals, VIPs, groups, coordinate lobby patrols, employee breaks, closing duties.
• Concierge: Reservations, VIPs, guest requests.
• Housekeeping: Late check-outs, turn down service.
• Engineering: Preventative Maintenance, Duty Engineer, out of order rooms.
• Scheduling, payroll and timekeeping, weekly and monthly meetings, daily and weekly reporting, guest recovery.
• Additional duties as assigned.

About the Company:

A uniquely different hospitality company, SMASHotels relentlessly pursues the finest talent, trends, and ambiances to create extraordinary experiences. A deep passion for exceptional customer service creates engagement and loyalty. Innovative programming and perpetual development keep us fresh and relevant.

SMASHotels embraces emergent technology to drive cost control, flawless operations, marketing, customer relationship management, entertainment, and online and in-person engagement.

Our track record has shown that by raising the bar through a focused commitment both financially and experientially, we achieve success, and our return on investment is substantially higher than industry standards.