Hotel Operations Manager

About The St Ives Hotel

The St Ives Hotel is a long-established, family-friendly 72 bedroom seaside hotel in the heart of Lytham St Annes. With a reputation for warm hospitality, excellent service, and memorable guest experiences, we pride ourselves on offering a relaxed yet high-quality stay for families, couples, and leisure guests alike.

We are now seeking a commercially minded, hands-on Hotel Operations Manager with a strong hospitality background to lead our day-to-day operation, raise standards, and develop our team as the business continues to grow.

Role Overview

The Hotel Operations Manager is responsible for the smooth, consistent and profitable day-to-day running of The St Ives Hotel, by maximising room revenue yield, focus on food and beverage opportunities, whilst exceeding guest expectations for service and operating standards across all departments.

This is a highly visible, hands-on role for someone who leads from the front, has an exceptional eye for detail, and enjoys coaching an enthusiastic, developing team. Over the next couple of years, the successful candidate will play a key part in building capability and confidence in the team allowing the owners to step away from day to day involvement.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership, Training & Culture

Lead from the front and set the pace for maximising revenue, service, standards and guest care across the hotel, remaining mindful of essential cost controls.

Recruit, onboard, train and coach team membersbuilding confidence, skills and pride in their work.

Create simple, effective ways of working (briefings, checklists, SOPs) to support a motivated team at the start of their hospitality journey.

Oversee departmental rotas prepared by Heads of Department, ensuring labour is deployed effectively to meet service needs and commercial targets.

Support and develop supervisors and heads of department through regular feedback and performance conversations.

Attend monthly meetings with the board to agree targets and provide progress updates.

Has strong organisation skills:- Is able to set and meet targets and deadlines, both personally and for the team.

Hotel Operations & Standards

Oversee daily operations across reception/front of house, housekeeping, food & beverage, leisure facilities and maintenanceensuring excellent communication between departments.

Maintain consistently high standards of cleanliness, presentation and service through daily checks and a strong eye for detail.

Own the guest journey on shiftanticipating needs, resolving issues quickly and ensuring a warm, welcoming atmosphere.

Ensure compliance with all health & safety, food safety, licensing and statutory requirements.

Work closely with maintenance and housekeeping to plan preventative maintenance and keep the hotel looking its best.

Commercial, Food & Beverage Performance

Deliver revenue, gross profit and cost control targets, with a strong focus on bar and restaurant performance.

Manage stock control, ordering, wastage and invoicing processes to protect margin and reduce loss.

Drive sales through great service, upselling, product knowledge and well-executed promotions and events.

Monitor performance using simple KPIs (labour, GP, average spend, guest feedback) and take action to improve results.

Work with the board and rooms revenue team to maximise occupancy, guest spend and repeat business.

Guest Experience

Be a visible presence on the floorgreeting guests, supporting the team and ensuring service feels personal and consistent.

Handle guest feedback proactively, resolving issues with professionalism, pace and care.

Use feedback and observations to improve standards, training and the overall guest experience.

Strategic Development

Drive continuous improvement in service standards, training and operating procedures across the hotel.

Support the owners with ideas and plans to grow food & beverage and strengthen the overall offer.

Build strong relationships with local suppliers, businesses and partners to enhance guest experience and commercial opportunities.

Skills & Experience

Essential:

Strong background in food & beverage, with previous responsibility for managing bars and/or restaurants.

Proven hands-on operational leadership within a hotel, pub, restaurant or hospitality venue where standards and guest experience are key.

Commercial acumen, with experience managing KPIs such as gross profit, labour, stock control and sales performance.

Confident people manager with a track record of training, coaching and developing an enthusiastic, relatively junior team.

Working knowledge of H&S, food safety and licensing requirements.

Desirable:

Experience in hotel rooms revenue management.

Experience improving bar/restaurant offers through menus, promotions, events and service standards.

Previous experience within family-friendly or leisure hotels.

Familiarity with coastal/tourism markets.

Local market knowledge of Lytham St Annes and the Fylde Coast.

Personal Qualities

Hands-on, visible leader with a strong eye for detail and pride in high standards.

Warm, approachable and confident dealing with guests and leading by example.

Commercially aware and comfortable making day-to-day decisions that improve performance.

Patient coach who enjoys developing people and building a positive, enthusiastic culture.

Calm under pressure, organised and solutions-focused.

Package

• £48000 per annum
• Performance related quarterly bonuses up to 10% of salary
• On-site accommodation may be available if required during the first 3 months.
• Opportunity to lead and grow one of Lytham St Annes best-loved hotels.

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