Senior Director, Hotel Operations

Journey with us! Combine your career goals and sense of adventure by joining our incredible team of employees at Royal Caribbean Group. We are proud to offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, and excellent career development opportunities, each offering unique ways to explore the world.

We are proud to be the vacation-industry leader with global brands — including Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises — the most innovative fleet and private destinations, and the best people. Together, we are dedicated to turning the vacation of a lifetime into a lifetime of vacations for our guests.

Royal Caribbean Group’s Celebrity Cruises brand has an exciting career opportunity for a full-time Senior Director, Hotel Operations and Cost Management reporting to the AVP, Hotel Operations.

This position will work onsite in Miami, Florida.

Agency and Third-Party Submissions: Please note this is a direct search by the Company, and applications through agencies and other third parties will not be accepted, nor will fees be paid for unsolicited resumes. Any unsolicited resumes will be considered the Company's property.

Position Summary:

The Senior Director of Hotel Operations and Cost Management is a leadership position reporting directly into the Associate Vice President of Hotel Operations for Celebrity Cruises. In this land-based role, you would be responsible for managing half of the Celebrity fleet, for the day-to-day support of the shipboard Hotel Directors, for ensuring exceptional guest experience, and overall ship’s performance. This position is accountable for each ship to meet / exceed the established net promoter score (NPS) and key performance indicators (KPI’s).

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Ensures optimal guest vacation experience in accordance with company’s brand promise and standards.
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• Accountable for the overall performance of each vessel.
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• Ensures that each ship is operated safely, effectively and efficiently following brand standards related to Service Excellence, Workplace Safety, Crew Satisfaction, internal and external regulatory compliance guidelines.
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• Liaises closely with all corporate and operational groups to ensure that each ship is fully supported at all times; including F&B Operations, Rooms Division (Housekeeping & Guest Relations), Onboard Revenue, Entertainment & Cruise Programs, Marine Operations, Finance, IT, Human Resources, Marketing, Accounting, Internal Audit, Safety & Environment, Corporate Communications, Land Operations, Revenue Management, Deployment, Legal and Customer Service.
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• Acts as Brand ambassador ensuring company’s culture and ethics are understood, adhered to, and exhibited by all shipboard teams.
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• Responsible for the hotel operations planning and flawless launch of new ships entering service.
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• Collaborates with all hotel functional areas and Revite / Dry Dock Teams to ensure smooth and seamless ongoing shipboard maintenance and planning for Dry Docks.
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• Ensures guest experiences on Celebrity ships transitioning to or operating in EMEA and APAC markets are properly planned and executed in a culturally equitable way.
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• Plans the regional customization of the product along with the shoreside leadership in Food and Beverage, Shore Excursions, Entertainment, Guest Services, Onboard Revenue, Housekeeping.
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• Continuously tracks individual ship performance, reviews and analyzes Medallia and guest experience commentaries.
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• Works closely with the shipboard leadership teams to review results and trends to make necessary operational adjustments.
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• Generates routine updates and executive reports to shore-side leadership personnel.
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• Partners with Human Resources to recruit the best hospitality leaders in the industry.
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• Conducts periodic operational ship visits to assess guest experience and identifies areas of opportunities to improve produce offerings.
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• Represents hotel operations in situation management meetings and is expected to make critical decisions to ensure the best possible guest experience on ships impacted by unusual or unexpected situations.
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• Participates in deployment planning and provides operational guidance to ensure optimal port destination guest experience.
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• Ensures adherence of Covid protocols to mitigate potential spread and impact to guest experience.
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• Conducts annual assessments of the Hotel Director / AHD and provides coaching and guidance on leadership effectiveness.
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• Oversees HDs & AHDs selection, scheduling and ensuring proper familiarization and succession plans.
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Qualifications, Knowledge and Skills:

• Ten years of experience in hospitality management preferable cruise lines, hotels, resorts.

• Five years of managerial experience as a Hotel Director or General Manager.

• Work experience with a diverse multicultural work force preferred.

• Previous exposure to worldwide operations a plus.

• Bachelor degree from a hospitality college or university. 

• 5 years of shipboard experience preferred.

• Working knowledge of computers, Internet access, and the ability to navigate within a variety business related software packages such as Microsoft Word and Excel.

• Cultivates Customer First attitude: Demonstrates a passion for service, requiring a strong commitment to the delivery of a superior customer experience. Possesses knowledge of the internal and external customers globally and understands the implications of cultural differences for service requirements. Creates and fosters an atmosphere that invites ownership of the customer experience at all levels, ensuring that new ideas for the creation of customer value are cultivated and celebrated.

• Leads with Passion Drive, Energy: Personally emulates the pride, passion and commitment.

• Acts with integrity: is an admired business leader whose character is beyond approach. Sets the standards for ethical behavior by promoting and modeling the principle and values that are central to RCL on a daily basis. Has an intense of right and wrong, and will not compromise those values to achieve desired results. Holds his team accountable for the same ethical standards.

• Thinks and Acts Globally: Helps evaluate and ensure the execution of strategic initiatives in the global arena capitalizing on the potential of those opportunities while managing cost. Understands and respects cultural differences, working effectively with a culturally diverse environment. Possesses the necessary breath, sensitivity, and openness to attract, retain, and motivate a diverse workforce.

• Attracts and develops talent: Motivates shipboard leaders to perform their best by communicating the company’s vision, strategy and business plan, talking with shipboard leaders in an honest, open and candid way encouraging a two-way dialog, listening to and addressing shipboard leaders’ issues and suggestions. Actively coaches shipboard leaders and provides them with challenging assignments, feedback and insight into their behavior and performance.

• Proven track record of driving high performance and achieving results. Has a disciplined and focused approach to providing support and monitoring performance as to quickly identify unfavorable performance trends. Has the operational experience to assist the shipboard management team in identifying the root cause and developing the appropriate corrective action plan. This needs to be achieved with a decisive approach predicted on speed and simplicity. Applies critical thinking using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

• Detailed understanding of shipboard Hotel Operations, ability to work in a faced-paced environment with multiple priorities.

• Demonstrates ability to handle fast-paced decision making and crisis management skills.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and strong knowledge of USPH

Work Conditions:

While performing job functions the employee is regularly required to sit, stand, write, review and type reports, compile data, operate a computer, communicate, listen, and assess information.  The employee may move about the office complex, may travel to other office locations and may lift, push, pull or move 10-25 pounds. The employee is occasionally required to walk to the dock, ascend and descend the vessel.

We know there's a lot to consider. As you go through the application process, our recruiters will be glad to provide guidance, and more relevant details to answer any additional questions. Thank you again for your interest in Royal Caribbean Group. We hope to see you onboard soon!

It is the policy of the Company to ensure equal employment and promotion opportunity to qualified candidates without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, sexuality, gender identity or expression, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Royal Caribbean Group and each of its subsidiaries prohibit and will not tolerate discrimination or harassment.

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities and to providing reasonable accommodation to support candidates with disabilities during our hiring process. If you need a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at hraccess@rccl.com. This email is for disability-related accommodation requests only.