General Manager Hospitality – Wilderness

Reporting directly to the Chief Operations Officer, the GM Hospitality provides leadership and management for service and standards to high performance teams in the owned and partner camps to deliver high quality outcomes for customers and ensure consistency in customer experience across the Wilderness Botswana Group. As part of the Operations Management Team GM Hospitality works closely with General Manager Lodges to plan, develop and implement strategies to maintain the Wilderness brand and attain quality and efficiency in hospitality at all lodges/camps the Wilderness Way.

KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS:

• Contribute to the development of the OWS Strategic Plan.
• Cascade the OWS strategy and plan throughout the department to guide the service and standards throughout OWS.
• Compile regular Board reports.
• Integrate the Wilderness values and principles into the operational policies and processes for a unique customer experience.
• Drive process of a guest centric organisation throughout OWS.
• Monitor and evaluate compliance with, service quality standards and internal policies throughout the lodges/camps.
• Follow up customer suggestions and ensure implementation of corrective action.
• Provide leadership, oversight and direction to the Hospitality and Service teams to maintain a motivated and engaged team.
• Identify skills and competency gaps within the hospitality department and organize, coordinate and oversee on the job skills and competency development to achieve business requirements in line with the human resources development strategy and plan.
• Build and establish high performance teams, teamwork and a culture of support the Wilderness Way.
• Lead implementation of initiatives for entrenchment and sustainability of the Wilderness ecotourism values, culture principles and experience in the day-to-day provision of the hospitality services, to staff and guests.
• Work with concession managers to develop, implement and review customer service standards and align them to the OWS standards.
• Liaise with the sales and marketing team to provide input on initiatives to market the business.
• Assess guest expectations prior to arrival and during their stay to ensure these are exceeded for the attainment of the finest possible guest experience.
• Monitor and evaluate the efficiency and quality of the Spas services.
• Monitor and evaluate the company’s products to make sure they are market leading to the satisfaction of the customers.
• Oversee and ensure effective management of the Trading Store department (Curios)
• Analyse and evaluate customer feedback to identify trends and ensure corrective action is taken to meet customer needs.
• Monitor trends in the response time to customer requests to ensure standards are met and engage with concession and lodge managers to ensure continuous improvements.
• Proactively and pre-emptively drive the company’s operating delivery (including systems) to surpass customer experience expectations and company goals.
• Present budget forecast performance of the hospitality service
• Set annual Service Goals in association with Service and Standards Managers and facilitate their achievement.
• Provide input in the design and development of OWS offerings based on customer feedback and research on trends in the hospitality industry to ensure sustainability.
• Work closely with the marketing department to provide input on marketing initiatives and content to expand business opportunities for OWS.
• Define and constantly expand on the appearance and style standards per camp.
• Establish a creative process to enhance service in each camp relative to company framework.
• Commission monthly service audits at each camp and follow up corrective actions on all audit findings.
• Engage with regional Project Managers ensuring new projects are compliant with company standards.
• Monitor and evaluate company brand compliance across the region.
• Develop initiatives to attract and retain customers.
• Manage the guest recognition and appreciation program, repeat guest monitoring and gifting and acknowledgement thereof.
• Oversee the food and beverage service and engage with Food Experience Manager.
• Work closely with the Training Manager to develop the in-house training strategy and annual training plans for the department and lodges, and camps.

Personal Attributes

• Engaging, visionary and inspiring leadership qualities, collaborative, innovative and creative, passionate and energetic, self-motivated. Provide input in the development of the governance framework for OWS.

MINIMUN REQUIREMENTS

• Degree in Tourism/Hospitality/business or relevant field with a post graduate qualification diploma in business administration.
• CPD in Leadership/Governance/Finance/Management.
• Solid experience in the high-end, luxury safari hospitality market. Minimum of ten (10) years in the eco-tourism industry, of which at least five (5) is at a senior management level.
• Experience and in-depth knowledge of dealing with travel trade partners, as well as comfort with interacting with guests from around the world.

COMPETENCIES

• Strategic and analytical thinking and numerical skills.
• Leadership and people management skills.
• Verbal and written communication skills.
• Influential; ability to motivate and direct teams for excellence.
• High integrity.
• Ability to manage diversity in terms of gender, sociocultural diversity.
• Analytical and numerical skills: understanding of business numbers and financial models.
• Results orientated.
• Passion for the wilderness/conservation, people (staff and community partners) and liaison with partners (shareholders, community partners and government).
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite or related software.
• Project management.
• Organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
• Emotional intelligence.