Chief Hotel Officer (CHO)/General Manager

Job Description

WhyHotel is a fast-growing venture backed startup that operates 100- to 250-room pop-up hotels in newly built, luxury apartment buildings. We are looking for an experienced hotel executive that is ready to challenge the status quo in the hospitality industry. As one of our CHOs/General Managers, the ideal candidate will have passion for providing the ultimate experience and value for WhyHotel’s multiple customers with an entrepreneurial mindset and “do what it takes” attitude to achieve success. Our CHO will lead from the front and provide the strategic direction to the team and value delivered to our customers.

Because WhyHotel partners with real estate developers to monetize their vacant apartments during lease-up, our customers include both hotel guests as well as large real estate developers. Each pop-up operates for limited periods in new multi-family buildings (less than 24 months), which means we have a finite window to create value for our building owners. WhyHotel’s CHOs will be measured on both P&L and customer satisfaction metrics for their pop-ups. This position’s compensation includes equity participation in the company.

The CHO/GM will:

• Love working with and serving our customers. We put our customers first and customer satisfaction and value creation are an essential part of performance.
• Own the profit/loss and strategic direction for their pop-up. As the CHO/GM, performance will be measured by the financial success of the pop-ups under their stewardship. This means balancing ADR, occupancy, and expenses.
• Be passionate about the WhyHotel brand and its mission.
• Ensure that hotel operations and processes are smoothly functioning.
• Be both quantitative and qualitative. The CHO/GM will operate in a fast-paced, uncharted environment and be a pioneer in changing the industry. You will need to make good decisions with limited information and your decisions/judgement will determine our success together.
• Lead, manage and develop all hotel employees (includes, Housekeeping, Front Office, and Reservations). You are the captain of the team and must ensure that everyone is contributing and working from the same playbook.
• Arrive earnest, open-minded, and ego-free. We welcome and encourage all new ideas that increases the value that we bring to our customers and our mission from anyone and everyone. We also provide open, candid feedback, and expect all to constructively give it out as well.
• Work with the WhyHotel executive team to review operating and financial performance, in addition to maintaining brand standards and customer satisfaction.
• Manage and mentor junior employees.
• Help to build a positive culture at WhyHotel.

Education and Experience

At a minimum, a college graduate with a four year degree and five plus (5+) years hotel management and operations related experience and training; or equivalent combination of knowledge and experience.

About WhyHotel

WhyHotel is changing how guests, residents, and developers think about the built environment. With its go to market product of turnkey, pop-up hotels in newly built, luxury apartment buildings, WhyHotel is taking the first step toward blurring the line between residential and hotel use.