Guest Relations Manager -St. Pancras London Autograph Collection

Guest Relations Manager(GRM) is responsible for the experience of all hotel guests through the planning and delivery of the highest levels of hospitality and service. The GRM is accountable for two areas; the Guest Experience department which encompasses Concierge (Guest Experience Associates) & luggage porters; the GRM will oversee a large vital team. Specific Duties

• The Guest Experience department is responsible for elevating the key touch points that VIP guests encounter during their stay. The GRM will lead the hotels' VIP program from pre-arrival, to the on-property experience and departure. This includes identifying and classifying VIP's and tailoring an experience that is personalized and pulls through the Renaissance core values: intriguing, indigenous and independent.
• The GRM is a key leader within the room's division department and is also required to support the duty management program.
• Lead the Front Office department on the absence of the FOM
• Manages day-to-day operations, ensuring the quality, standards and meeting the expectations of the customers on a daily basis.
• Serves as a leader in displaying outstanding hospitality skills.
• Empowers employees to provide excellent customer service.
• Observes service behaviours of employees and provides feedback to individuals.
• Maintains high visibility in public areas during peak times.
• Provides immediate assistance to guests as requested.
• Interacts with customers on a regular basis throughout the property to obtain feedback on quality of product, service levels and overall satisfaction.
• Supports handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others
Managing Guest Experience and Front Desk Operations
• Utilizes interpersonal and communication skills to lead, influence, and encourage others; advocates sound financial/business decision making; demonstrates honesty/integrity; leads by example.
• Encourages and builds mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.
• Serves as a role model to demonstrate appropriate behaviours.
• Supervises and manages employees. Understanding employee positions well enough to perform duties in employees' absence.
Maintaining Guest Experience and Front Desk Goals
• Manages day-to-day operations, ensuring the quality, standards and meeting the expectations of the customers on a daily basis.
• Develops specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
• Supports handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.
Ensuring and Providing Exceptional Customer Service
• Provides services that are above and beyond for customer satisfaction and retention.
• Improves service by communicating and assisting individuals to understand guest needs, providing guidance, feedback, and individual coaching when needed.
• Intervenes in any guest/employee situation as needed to insure the integrity of the property is maintained, guest satisfaction is achieved, and employee wellbeing is preserved.
• Serves as a leader in displaying outstanding hospitality skills.
• Sets a positive example for guest relations.
• Empowers employees to provide excellent customer service.
• Observes service behaviours of employees and provides feedback to individuals.
• Maintains high visibility in public areas during peak times.
• Provides immediate assistance to guests as requested.
• Interacts with customers on a regular basis throughout the property to obtain feedback on quality of product, service levels and overall satisfaction.
• Records guest issues in the guest response tracking system.
• Reviews comment cards and guest satisfaction results with employees.
• Emphasizes guest satisfaction during all departmental meetings and focuses on continuous improvement.
• Oversees the Concierge/Guest Experience operations to ensure the team take and confirm reservations and cancellations for guest requests for internal and external services.
• Leads the GuestVoice program ensuring all complaints and issues are replied to and follow up with.
• Proactively engages with regular guests to ensure we are meeting their needs and going above and beyond their expectations.
• Manages the relationship with Tour Operators & is the point of contact for all new requests.
• Trains the team on all Concierge related tasks, booking restaurant, tours, transport..
Managing and Conducting Human Resources Activities
• Identifies the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills.
• Provides guidance and direction to subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance.
• Assists as needed in the interviewing and hiring of employee team members with the appropriate skills.
Additional Responsibilities
• Provides information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
• Analyzes information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Informs and/or updating the executives, the peers and the subordinates on relevant information in a timely manner.
• Maintains a strong working relationship with all departments to support property operations and goals and to expedite the resolution of any problems that may arise through the general operation of the property.
• Communicates any variations to the established norms to the appropriate department in a timely manner.
• Participates as needed in the investigation of employee and guest accidents.
• Performs Front Desk duties in high demand times..
Technical Expertise
• Performs all technical/procedural requirements of the job
• Demonstrates understanding of how a department and/or property operates
• Promotes safety and security of co-workers.
Focusing on Customer
• Actively listens and asks questions of customers to assess the level of satisfaction with the service being provided and to prevent problems from occurring
• Regularly monitors customer satisfaction and takes personal responsibility to ensure it
• Proactively demonstrates hospitality in all customer interactions
• Follows through on customer inquiries
• Takes personal responsibility for correcting customer service problems
• Leads action plans relating opportunities to improve standards and processes.
Organizational Learner
• Acts independently to improve and increase skills and knowledge
• Demonstrates an awareness of personal strengths and areas for improvement
• Seeks feedback from others on performance and modifies behaviour as appropriate
• Keeps up-to-date on available resources that can help to better serve customers' needs and to improve organizational performance
• Shares learnings, innovations, and best practices with ambassadors
• Is willing to learn from others.
Developing Others
• Gives timely and specific performance feedback to ambassadors
• Takes time to assist ambassadors and to provide specific, detailed follow-up.
Fostering Teamwork & Relationship
• Considers the impact of personal /departmental actions on other parts of the organization/property
• Works to meet goals in a manner that does not disadvantage other ambassadors or groups
• Solicits and uses other ambassadors' ideas and opinions to resolve issues.
Managing Work Execution
• Helps and supports ambassadors in solving problems and accomplishing work objectives
• Approaches own work with a sense of urgency and purpose
• Ensures that desired results are achieved in the most efficient manner while maintaining or improving the quality of service
• Allocates time and resources effectively when faced with competing demands
• Tracks activities in progress and/or completed activities to ensure stated objectives are accomplished
• Tries new approaches to overcome obstacles or to accomplish challenging objectives
• Anticipates potential obstacles and develops contingency plans to overcome them.
Managing Change
• Seeks full understanding of new procedures or methods resulting from change
• Understands and communicates reasons for change.
• Shows willingness to learn new methods, procedures, techniques, or systems resulting from departmental or organizational-wide change
• Takes action to make changes work rather than only identifying why changes won't work
• Sees change as an opportunity rather than a problem
Leading
• Leads The Chambers operation like they would lead their own home with visiting guests
• Demonstrates commitment to the organization and its vision, mission, and ambassadors
• Establishes measurable and achievable expectations of results
• Holds self and other ambassadors accountable for achieving results
• Makes decisions and commits to a course of action with information available
• Addresses conflicts in a timely manner.
Communicating Openly
• Encourages others to share their points of view
• Openly and accurately reports errors, mistakes, and unintended outcomes without rationalizing them
• Actively listens and responds to ambassadors
• Shares relevant, timely information to help others understand and support business objectives
• Speaks clearly and articulately with individuals and groups
• Delivers constructive feedback with sensitivity to others' feelings
• Facilitates group discussions
• Prepares and delivers presentations tailored to the audience
• Writes memoranda, letters, etc. that are clear and effective with few, if any, spelling or grammatical errors.
Operations/Property Management
• Maintains a strong working relationship with all departments
• Leads team to ensure an unrivalled five star experience is received for both Barlow House and the Chambers Club Lounge and private butler service facilities.
• Attentive to guests requests including arranging outside bookings
• Conducts regular inspection tours of the entire facility for appearance, safety, staffing, security, and maintenance to ensure five star standards are achieved.
• Sends copy of required reports to all departments on a daily basis.
• Ensures compliance with all policies, standards and procedures.
• Reviews staffing levels to ensure that guest service, operational needs and financial objectives are met. Creates effective rosters to ensure that the Guest Experience team, Chambers and butler service has coverage to meet the business demands depending on occupancy levels and club membership levels
• Observes service behaviours of ambassadors and ensures that all uniformed ambassadors are properly attired and groomed.
• Devises and implements all Guest Experience Executives, Chamber's Club and Private Butler Standards ensuring all SOP's and LSOP's are adhered to at all times.
• Participates as needed in the investigation of ambassador and guest accidents.
• Understands and complies with loss prevention policies and procedures.
• Participates and is responsible for staff training within the Chambers Club and Guest Experience team
Guest Satisfaction
• Is a leader in displaying outstanding hospitality skills.
• Sets a positive example for guest relations.
• Empowers ambassadors to provide excellent customer service. Ensures ambassadors understand expectations and parameters.
• Maintains high visibility in public areas during peak times.
• Provides immediate assistance to guests as requested.
• Is highly interactive with customers on a regular basis throughout the hotel to obtain feedback on quality of product, service levels and overall satisfaction. Effectively responds to and handles guest problems and complaints.
• Records guest issues in the guest response tracking system. Tracks all guest issues from various sources and reports results. Identify trends for resolution.
• Reviews comment cards and guest satisfaction results with ambassadors. Participates in the development and implementation of corrective action plans.
• Emphasizes guest satisfaction during all departmental meetings and focuses on continuous improvement.
• Leads GXP Empower, for the wider hotel, ensuring all departments are recording issues and complaints..
Human Resources
• Responsible for the interviewing and hiring of ambassador team members with the appropriate hospitality skills for the Guest Experience Team.
• Supports departmental orientation program for ambassadors to receive the appropriate new hire training to successfully perform their job. Ensures ambassadors are cross-trained to support successfully daily operations.
• Uses all available on the job training tools for ambassadors; supervises on-going training initiatives and conducts training when appropriate.
• Communicates performance expectations in accordance with job descriptions for each position.
• Performs all performance reviews / career discussions with Chambers Club and Guest Experience teams.
• Participates in the ambassador performance appraisal process, providing feedback as needed.
• Participates in ambassador progressive discipline procedures. Ensures hotel policies are administered fairly and consistently, disciplinary procedures and documentation are completed according to Standard and Local Operating Procedures (SOPs and LSOPS).
• Ensures that regular on-going communication is happening with ambassadors to create awareness of business objectives and communicate expectations, recognizes performance, and produces desired results.
• Celebrates successes and publicly recognizes the contributions of team members; ensures ambassador recognition is taking place on all shifts. Participates in an on-going ambassador recognition program.
Financial Management
• Comprehends budgets, operating statements and payroll progress reports as needed to assist in the financial management areas of department.
• Leads the management of the department controllable expenses to achieve or exceed budgeted goals.
• Understands the impact of department's operation on the overall hotel financial goals and objectives and manages to achieve or exceed budgeted goals.
Concierge/Guest Experience Management
• Builds and maintains positive relationships with Tour Operators and third party companies such as travel companies.
• Has extensive knowledge of the London, Bar & Restaurant scene, with contacts to build relationships with.
• The GRM will be the Head Navigator, leading the Renaissance Navigator program, and responsible for curating bespoke guides and recommendations for guests. .
• Oversees the Concierge/Guest Experience operations to ensure the team take and confirm reservations and cancellations for guest requests for internal and external services.
• Supply guests with information regarding property amenities, services, room features, and local areas of interest and activities.
• Respond to guest requests for special arrangements or services (e.g., spa services, transportation, religious services, babysitting, financial services, business centre services, interpretation services, reservations, dry cleaning, entertainment/sporting events, shopping) by making arrangements or identifying appropriate providers.
• Contacts appropriate individuals outside the hotel or department ambassadors as necessary to meet guest requests.
• Manages the Brands Navigator program ensuring all standards in this are met.
• As a key member of the hotels front of house team ensures five star service is delivered throughout all areas of responsibility by ensuring team members use initiative and a proactive approach to ensure that the hotel always gives our guests unique and fabulous options to make the most of their time and their visit, thus making guest experiences in the hotel unique.
  
  The Autograph Collection is a growing collection of four and five-star independent hotels, each offering unique and memorable experiences. Each hotel is thoughtfully chosen for its quality, originality, bold character, and ability to offer today's traveler a range of unique experiences suited to their individual sense of style and adventure. All Autograph Collection hotels look to attract The Individualist, the brand's target consumer. The Individualist is someone who uses travel as an opportunity to add to their personal narrative - in essence they are hand selecting our hotels whether for personal or corporate travel because it is much more than simply a place to rest. In joining Autograph Collection, you join a portfolio of brands with Marriott International. Be where you can do your best work, begin your purpose, belong to an amazing global team, and become the best version of you.