General Manage Couple - Stowe, VT

Lark Hotels is seeking a full-time, year-round live-in management couple for our boutique hotel and restaurant located in Stowe, VT.  Field Guide is a perfect location for our guests to experience the active, the nostalgic and the unexpected, from our rustically luxe hotel. With 30 spacious suites and rooms and an onsite restaurant, Field Guide provides the perfect place to begin (and end) a Vermont journey.

We are seeking a high energy couple who can assume responsibility for all hotel and restaurant activities, who have presence and poise in relating to guests, and who possess the organizational and computer skills necessary to manage the office.  We are seeking a hard-working, forward-thinking and honest couple who can learn quickly, communicate effectively with us, and offer first-class hospitality while being attentive to the needs of the business.  We will offer training.

The manager couple is to perform all duties of running the property:  i.e. guest reservations, hospitality and concierge service, preparation and service of a small plate gourmet breakfast baskets for hotel guests, bed making and laundry, property maintenance, gardening, purchasing and cost control, some accounting of revenue and expenses, preparation for holiday events,  participation in annual renovation projects, and oversight of the onsite restaurant.  The restaurant has a kitchen manager and front of house restaurant manager but the GM will have oversight of the entire property and will need to step in in the absence of staff.

Requirements include, food and beverage experience,  exceptional interpersonal skills, polished telephone and email skills, superior attention to detail, computer and organizational skills, some housekeeping and maintenance skills, and the abilities to multi-task, take initiative, and to employ situational thinking.  Must be willing to be trained, show excellent follow-through, and be comfortable giving and receiving feedback.  Having baking training or formal cooking experience and/or handyperson experience are qualities that would make applicants more attractive to us and that would be utilized at the hotel.  

This job requires a full-time commitment.  Applicants must be familiar and comfortable with the demands of a 24/7 job.  Although management support will be readily available to answer questions and provide input, the manager/couple is expected to assume responsibility for any issues or tasks that arise related to the operation of the hotel and maintenance of the building, though all of those items may not be named in this description.  The manager/couple is expected to utilize all skills that they possess to operate the hotel to the best of their ability.

The hotel offers 30 rooms and suites, and operates at seasonal occupancy rates between 75% and 95%.   During the season the manager couple hires, supervises and trains housekeepers who perform the heavier cleaning duties.  The manager couple is expected to expedite and support housekeeping, do laundry, supervise and work with the housekeepers to assure that quality standards and timeliness expectations are met.  Housekeepers typically work a 30 - 36 hour week over 6 days during the highest occupancy months. The manager couple will be supported by a staff including an assistant manager and guest services associates.  Occupancy in the shoulder season is lower and staffing can be more challenging. During these times, it may be necessary for managers to participate more actively in housekeeping duties.

As a management company, we are not involved in the on-site daily operations of the hotel, however, we make scheduled trips to Stowe to check in and meet with you.  Lark Hotels conducts the bill payment, budgeting, revenue and expense management, marketing, website maintenance, property improvement planning, and issues that arise that are most appropriately handled by the management company.  Although we are not on-site, we review most reservations via our online reservation system, we monitor purchasing when we receive invoices and receipts, and in general we like to keep close tabs on what is happening at the property.  Therefore it is important that the manager couple be able to communicate with us in a clear and positive manner.  While we are interested in hearing new ideas and suggestions from the management couple, it is important that the overall operation of the hotel remains consistent with our expectations.  We hope that the management couple brings their own personality and creativity to the hotel, and expect that this is balanced with continuity in the hotel experience from one management couple to the next.  

Field Guide is a Lark Hotel and part of a growing group of boutique hotels located in iconic coastal destinations in the North East of the United States and California.. This is Lark’s first foray into the mountains and we are very excited by the new experiences we will be able to share with our Lark guests. Lark hotels embrace the locations they are in — but in playful, unexpected ways. Think "sense of place" with imagination and a touch of mischief. We invite our guests to experience modern luxury in the heart of iconic destinations, to feel the pull of a nostalgic getaway while surrounded by today's amenities and to find attentive service when they want it and privacy when they don't. It is vitally important that our management team subscribe to the notion that our hotel guest’s relaxation is our top priority.

Compensation includes salary, as well as a stipend after the first 6 months of employment.  We provide an onsite  apartment in the hotel with utilities included.  This living space cannot accommodate anyone other than the manager couple.  We also offer valuable training in revenue and expense management if desired.

Our hotel is non-smoking.  Given that the apartment is under guest rooms, we welcome well behaved, quiet pets in the manager's apartment.   We expect that the manager couple will model this by being non-smokers.  

The manager couple is given 14 days of vacation time per year during a period when the hotel may either be closed or during the slower season.

START DATE: FEBRUARY 2017

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