Director of Operations

Description

Situated in the heart of downtown, overlooking Travis Park, the AAA Four Diamond, St. Anthony Hotel offers easy access to the trendy restaurants and historical landmarks in San Antonio, Texas. St. Anthony, a Luxury Collection Hotel San Antonio, opened in 1909 and has been designated a national historic site. Our luxury hotel in San Antonio embodies old-world splendor with touches like Italian marble and Corinthian columns. Come make history with this luxury San Antonio hotel.

The Director of Operations is a key member of the hotel’s Executive Leadership Team and is responsible for providing strategic and hands‑on operational leadership across the property, with a primary focus on Food & Beverage and Culinary operations. This position will play a critical role in driving operational excellence, financial performance, guest satisfaction, and leadership accountability while supporting the hotel through a significant period of operational transition and growth.

The Director of Operations will partner closely with the Director of Culinary, General Manager, outlet leaders, and ownership to provide structure, operational expertise, and consistent execution across Food & Beverage. This role requires a highly visible and experienced hotel operator who can quickly assess operational needs, establish priorities, drive productivity, and translate strategic initiatives into executable operating plans.

While Culinary and Food & Beverage will be the primary areas of focus, the Director of Operations will also provide leadership and operational support to Rooms, Housekeeping, and other hotel departments as business needs require.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Food & Beverage and Culinary Leadership

• Provide strategic and hands‑on leadership for the hotel’s Food & Beverage and Culinary operations, ensuring consistent execution of service, quality, financial, and operational standards.
• Partner closely with the Director of Culinary to align culinary strategy with overall hotel operations, financial expectations, guest experience, and ownership priorities.
• Provide operational guidance and support to Culinary leadership, particularly in the areas of hotel operations, labor management, productivity, financial performance, scheduling, forecasting, and departmental accountability.
• Support the assessment of Culinary operations, including staffing models, productivity, workflow, kitchen structure, labor utilization, and operational efficiencies.
• Help lead the complexing, consolidation, and integration of kitchen operations, ensuring appropriate planning, communication, staffing, workflow, and execution throughout the transition.
• Partner with Culinary and F&B leaders to identify opportunities to improve productivity while maintaining appropriate service, quality, safety, and luxury standards.
• Maintain a strong presence in restaurants, bars, banquets, kitchens, and other F&B areas to evaluate execution, identify operational gaps, and support leaders in real time.
• Ensure outlet and culinary leaders establish clear expectations and consistently hold teams accountable for performance, service, productivity, and workplace standards.

F&B Activations and Programming

• Lead the operational planning and execution of new Food & Beverage activations, programming, concepts, and guest experiences.
• Translate activation concepts into detailed operating plans, including staffing, labor, service flow, culinary requirements, training, equipment, supplies, communication, and execution standards.
• Coordinate closely with Culinary, outlet leadership, Sales & Marketing, and other hotel departments to ensure activations are operationally ready prior to launch.
• Establish timelines, ownership, deliverables, and measures of success for new initiatives.
• Remain actively involved through launch and post‑launch stabilization to ensure activations are sustainable, operationally effective, and aligned with the intended guest experience.
• Evaluate activation performance and make operational adjustments based on guest feedback, financial performance, team feedback, and business demand.
• Ensure new programming is incorporated into the ongoing operating rhythm of the hotel rather than treated solely as a launch initiative.

Financial Performance and Productivity

• Drive departmental productivity through effective labor planning, scheduling, forecasting, staffing models, and operational efficiencies.
• Partner with the General Manager, Director of Culinary, Finance, and department leaders to establish and monitor labor and productivity expectations.
• Review financial and operational performance regularly and develop action plans to address unfavorable trends.
• Monitor labor costs, cost of sales, operating expenses, revenue opportunities, and departmental profitability.
• Assist leaders in understanding the operational drivers behind financial performance and establishing appropriate corrective action when expectations are not achieved.
• Balance financial discipline with the service levels and operating standards expected within a luxury hotel environment.

Guest Experience and Quality

• Maintain a highly visible presence throughout guest‑facing areas, particularly Food & Beverage outlets.
• Monitor guest satisfaction results, including GSS, OpenTable, and other applicable guest feedback platforms, and partner with leaders to address trends or opportunities.
• Ensure guest concerns and service failures are addressed promptly, professionally, and with appropriate follow‑through.
• Identify recurring service or operational issues and implement sustainable solutions rather than isolated corrections.
• Reinforce a culture of anticipatory service, attention to detail, accountability, and genuine hospitality.
• Ensure operational transitions do not negatively impact established guest service and quality standards.

Ownership and Executive Leadership Partnership

• Develop and maintain a strong working relationship with ownership, the General Manager, and hotel leadership.
• Communicate regularly and transparently regarding operational performance, challenges, priorities, and progress.
• Operate effectively in a highly visible, hands‑on ownership environment and respond professionally and constructively to feedback.
• Anticipate operational questions and concerns and maintain a strong command of current business conditions, departmental performance, and action plans.
• Serve as a trusted operational partner who can provide thoughtful recommendations while remaining adaptable to changing priorities.
• Represent the hotel professionally in interactions with ownership, corporate leadership, guests, associates, and external partners.

Leadership and Team Development

• Quickly establish credibility and productive working relationships with department leaders and associates.
• Provide stability, structure, and clear direction during periods of organizational or operational change.
• Establish clear performance expectations and ensure consistent follow‑through and accountability.
• Coach and develop leaders to strengthen operational knowledge, decision‑making, communication, and leadership effectiveness.
• Foster collaboration between Culinary, Food & Beverage, Rooms, Housekeeping, and other departments.
• Promote an environment of professional communication, mutual respect, accountability, and solution‑oriented leadership.
• Support succession planning and the development of internal leadership talent.
• Partner with People & Culture on performance management, staffing, organizational structure, associate relations, and leadership development as appropriate.

Rooms and Hotel Operations

• Provide operational support and oversight to Rooms and Housekeeping as business needs require.
• Partner with Rooms leadership to maintain guest satisfaction, cleanliness, productivity, staffing, and service standards.
• Support cross‑functional hotel operations during periods of high occupancy, special events, leadership vacancies, or other operational needs.
• Serve as a senior operational leader capable of making sound hotel‑wide decisions in the absence of the General Manager or other executive leaders.
• Promote strong communication and coordination between Rooms, Food & Beverage, Culinary, Engineering, Security, and other operating departments.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

• Significant progressive hotel operations leadership experience, with substantial Food & Beverage leadership responsibility required.
• Previous Director of Operations, Director of Food & Beverage, Assistant General Manager, Hotel Manager, or comparable senior hotel leadership experience strongly preferred.
• Luxury, upper‑upscale, full‑service, or complex hotel experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience leading multi‑outlet Food & Beverage operations, including restaurants, bars, banquets, and culinary operations.
• Strong understanding of hotel financial management, labor productivity, forecasting, budgeting, scheduling, and departmental profitability.
• Experience supporting operational restructuring, integration, consolidation, or significant organizational change preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to launch and operationalize new F&B concepts, activations, or programming.
• Strong understanding of guest satisfaction metrics and reputation platforms, including GSS and OpenTable or comparable systems.
• Ability to operate successfully in a highly visible environment with regular ownership involvement.
• Proven ability to build credibility quickly, lead through change, and hold leaders accountable while maintaining productive working relationships.
• Strong communication, organizational, analytical, and problem‑solving skills.
• Ability to balance strategic planning with hands‑on operational involvement.
• Ability to work a flexible schedule based on hotel business demands, including evenings, weekends, holidays, and special events as necessary.

Leadership Profile

The successful candidate will be:

• Operationally strong: Comfortable moving between strategic planning and hands‑on execution.
• F&B focused: Brings significant Food & Beverage experience and understands the relationship between Culinary, service, labor, productivity, and profitability.
• Confident: Able to make decisions, establish expectations, and provide direction during periods of ambiguity or change.
• Highly visible: Leads from the operation and maintains an active presence with leaders, associates, guests, and ownership.
• Collaborative: Able to build a strong partnership with the Director of Culinary while bringing complementary hotel operations expertise.
• Financially disciplined: Understands how staffing, scheduling, productivity, purchasing, and operating decisions affect departmental and hotel performance.
• Adaptable: Comfortable navigating evolving organizational structures, priorities, and business needs.
• Accountable: Establishes clear expectations, follows through, and addresses performance gaps promptly.
• Receptive to feedback: Works effectively in an environment with engaged ownership and frequent executive‑level communication.
• Execution oriented: Able to take concepts and initiatives from planning through launch, stabilization, and sustained operation.

Key Measures of Success

Success in this position will be demonstrated through strong and stable Food & Beverage operations; effective partnership between Culinary and F&B leadership; improved labor productivity and operational efficiency; successful integration and consolidation of kitchen operations; timely and effective execution of new F&B activations; sustained guest satisfaction and OpenTable performance; strong leadership accountability and team engagement; effective communication with ownership and the General Manager; and consistent execution of luxury hotel operating standards across the property.

We are committed to providing you with:

• Highly competitive wages
• An exceptional benefit plan for eligible associates & your family members
• 401K matching program for eligible associates
• Flexible scheduling to allow you to focus on what is important to you
• Discounts with our Crescent managed properties in North America for you & your family members

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws.For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.

Source: Crescent Hotels & Resorts