Guest Experience Assistant

HHM Hospitality; California; On-site; USD 25,000 - 39,000; Full time

Job summary

The Sanctuary Beach Resort and Salt Wood, part of HHM Hotels, seeks a Guest Experience & Programming Assistant to support GE operations, programming development, vendor coordination, and cross‑department handoffs across Sales, F&B, Rooms, Housekeeping, Engineering and Leadership.

This role focuses on elevating the guest journey through event planning, marketing collateral, scheduling, and guest arrangements, with opportunities to grow into a Guest Experience Manager as the program

Job description

Overview

Opportunity: Guest Experience & Programming Assistant

This Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) defines the operational boundaries, ownership structure, and accountability metrics for the Guest Experience (GE) department at Sanctuary Beach Resort and Salt Wood. Its primary objective is to maintain an elevated, brand-aligned guest journey while standardizing cross-departmental hand-offs between the GE team, Hotel Sales, F&B, Rooms, Housekeeping, Engineering, and Property Leadership.

Potential Career Path

Guest Experience Manager

GUEST EXPERIENCE RESPONSIBILITIES MOVING FORWARD LOBBY & SW MARKET

• GE will continue to oversee:
• Design and sourcing of all new retail merchandise
• Inventory management
• Budget forecasting
• Accounting and financial oversight

IN-HOUSE PROGRAMMING (25+ MONTHLY CLASSES)

• GE will continue to oversee:
• Programming Development
• Creation of monthly programming schedules
• Development of new classes, experiences, and offerings
• Programming structure and guest experience standards

Vendor Management

• Vendor communication and scheduling
• Vendor accounting and payment coordination Guest & Private Bookings
• Private class reservations
• Guest scheduling
• Vendor scheduling for private experiences
• Accounting related to private bookings

Materials & Supplies

• Purchasing of all supplies and materials required
• Guest-facing programming flyers
• Lobby programming binder
• Monthly schedules for property and off-site teams

ENGAGEMENTS

• Handling all guest arrangements, pricing, departmental coordination plus on the day and up and coordination

IN-HOUSE EVENTS & HOLIDAY PROGRAMMING

• GE will continue to oversee:
• Planning & Development
• Event ideation
• Pricing recommendations
• Leadership approval process
• Operations Support
• Operational coordination
• Department communication
• Décor and event setup execution

GROUP PROGRAMMING

• GE will continue to oversee:
• Program Development
• Vetting and sourcing new group experiences aligned with the Sanctuary brand

Vendor Onboarding

• Initial vendor setup and accounting coordination
• Vendor information transferred to Sales to handle moving forward for bookings

Sales Team Resources

• Creation and maintenance of group programming cheat sheets
• Documentation of all current group experiences and offerings in Canva *Sales team will handle*
• All or any new client needs outside of the cheat sheet must be run through and worked out with the GM for pricing approvals and bespoke creation on a case by case bases. The cheat sheets provided will have everything the GE team knows so if not answered in that document please consider it a bespoke offering to be created by the sales team, host and GM based upon client requests

Collateral & Materials

• Tabletop templates provided to Sales team to handle printing and setup at event or handed to f&b team by Sales
• Gift purchase links and pre-designed label templates included within programming guides. *All gifts will be handled by the sales team on a case by case bases per approvals*
• New collateral requests routed through to the HHM Design Team

Future Group Customization

• Sales Team to manage client modifications and customizations
• Pricing adjustments and bespoke offerings to be reviewed with GM approval

MARKETING

GE will continue to oversee:

Brand & Social Strategy

• Social media strategy and content alignment and gathering for Sanctuary Beach Resort and Salt Wood
• Brand consistency across guest-facing communications Public Relations & Influencer Relations
• Press approvals and scheduling
• Influencer approvals and scheduling
• VIP gifting
• Property cheat sheets for hosted media and influencers
• PR strategy and story development
• Brand promotional partnerships

Digital Marketing

• Website updates in partnership with the Corporate E-Commerce Team
• Third-party digital and print marketing placements
• Development of promotional packages

Restaurant Marketing

• Review and management of Salt Wood collateral and marketing initiatives, plus photo shoots

DÉCOR & PROPERTY STYLING

• GE will continue to oversee:
• Seasonal & Holiday Décor
• Holiday décor installations and transitions
• Seasonal property refreshes

Property Enhancements

• Design and implementation of interactive guest spaces
• New installations and experiential elements
• Ongoing property aesthetic enhancements

Décor Management

• Approval of all new guest-facing décor items
• Management of department décor requests through the Décor Request SOP
• Check-in/check-out oversight of shared décor inventory

MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES

GE will continue to oversee:

Property Support

• CAPEX sourcing projects as requested by the GM
• Renewal Studio scheduling
• Bonfire digital booking scheduling management and group block-outs

Design Coordination

• Collection of collateral requests from departments
• Submission of creative briefs to the HHM Design Team

Brand Stewardship

• Final review of guest-facing setups and experiences
• Ongoing oversight to ensure property experiences remain brand-aligned, elevated, and consistent with Sanctuary standards. Set ups and clients relations to be handled by Sales or F&B

Work Environment and Context

• Work schedule varies and may include working on holidays, weekends and alternate shifts.
• Requires standingfor extended periods, walking, pushing, lifting up to 25 pounds, bending and reaching; stooping, kneeling, or crouching.

What We Believe

People Are Our Capability – Hearts That Serve – Only Excellence – Stay Nimble - Own It

About Us

The Sanctuary Beach Resort is an oceanfront Monterey Bay resort and hotel set on 19 acres of Pacific shoreline in Marina, California. A rare Monterey Bay hotel on the beach, The Sanctuary invites guests to fall asleep to the soothing surf from their private waterfront cottage.

Nestled between Monterey Bay and the protected Marina Dunes Preserve, The Sanctuary Beach Resort’s 60 contemporary cottage guest rooms and suites offer more than just uninterrupted, panoramic views from private decks or patios.

The Sanctuary Beach Resort is a secluded getaway that provides unmatched access to California’s beautiful Central Coast region. The location beckons both coastal road trippers as well as single-destination vacationers. Bringing top-of-the-line meeting and event spaces to the waterfront, The Sanctuary is also the perfect backdrop for business retreats, weddings and other celebrations.

This property is a part of the Echelon Luxury & Lifestyle division of HHM Hotels.

HHM Hotels is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, age, religion, disability, veteran status, genetic information, citizenship status, or any other group protected by law.