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Contents
Key Takeaways for a Hotel General Manager Resume
Why This Hotel General Manager Resume Works
How to Write a Hotel General Manager Resume
Hotel General Manager Resume Summary Examples
Hotel General Manager Work Experience Examples
Top Hotel General Manager Skills
Key Certifications and Licences for a Hotel General Manager
Hotel General Manager Salary
Common Hotel General Manager Resume Mistakes
Hotel General Manager Resume FAQs
Summary
Hotel general manager with seventeen years in luxury hospitality, the last seven running four- and five-star properties in Nice. Owns the whole hotel — the guest experience, the team, the revenue and the P&L — and is the GM an owner trusts with a flagship property or a turnaround. Lifted a hotel's guest-satisfaction ranking and RevPAR significantly while improving profit and staff retention. Sets strategy and budgets, leads heads of department, drives revenue and the guest experience, and represents the hotel to owners and the community. Polished, commercially sharp and a genuine leader of people. Looking for a general-manager or cluster role with a hotel or group that wants both a loved hotel and a profitable one.
Work Experience
Hotel General Manager
Le Méridien Côte d'Azur, Nice, France
Jan 2017 – Present
- Run the whole hotel with full P&L responsibility, owning the guest experience, the team, the revenue and the bottom line.
- Lifted the hotel's guest-satisfaction ranking and RevPAR significantly while improving profit and staff retention.
- Set strategy and budgets and lead the heads of department, building a leadership team that runs each area to a high standard.
- Drive revenue with the commercial team, balancing rate, occupancy and channels to maximise RevPAR and profit.
- Own the guest experience across every department, setting the standards that turn a stay into a reason to return.
- Represent the hotel to owners, the brand and the local community, building the relationships the business depends on.
Hotel Operations Manager
Riviera Grand Hotel, Nice, France
Aug 2009 – Dec 2016
- Led hotel operations across rooms, F&B and front office, managing departments and the guest experience day to day.
- Improved service standards, efficiency and guest scores, growing from department head into hotel-wide operations.
- Learned hotel operations, revenue and leadership on the job across more than seven years.
- Gained the revenue-management certificate and earned the promotion into a full hotel general-manager role.
Education
Master in International Hospitality Management, Hospitality Management
Glion Institute of Higher Education
Sep 2004 – Jun 2006
- Master's in international hospitality management covering operations, revenue and leadership. The programme built the commercial and operational breadth a hotel GM needs. It launched a career in luxury hotel management.
Certificate in Revenue & Hotel Asset Management, Hospitality
Cornell Hospitality (Online)
Jan 2013 – Jun 2013
- Certificate covering revenue management, hotel finance and asset management. It sharpened the commercial side of running a hotel. It supported maximising both guest experience and owner returns.
Highlights
Higher satisfaction and RevPAR
- Lifted the hotel's guest-satisfaction ranking and RevPAR significantly while improving profit and staff retention. Raising the guest experience, the revenue and the team's stability together is exactly what a great hotel GM delivers.
Loved and profitable
- Runs hotels that guests genuinely love while delivering the returns owners expect, balancing both sides of the business. A hotel that is adored but unprofitable, or profitable but cold, has failed; the art is doing both at once.
Certifications
Revenue & Hotel Asset Management Certificate
Cornell Hospitality
Jun 2013 – Present
- Certificate covering revenue management, hotel finance and asset management to a recognised standard. It sharpened the commercial side of running a hotel and supports maximising both guest experience and owner returns.
Property Repositioning
Property Repositioning
Jan 2019 – Dec 2020
- Led the repositioning of a hotel, raising service standards, reworking revenue strategy and rebuilding the team, which lifted its guest-satisfaction ranking and RevPAR significantly while improving profit and staff retention.
Languages
- French — Native or Bilingual Proficiency
- English (UK) — Full Professional Proficiency
- Italian — Professional Working Proficiency
Professional Skills
- Hotel P&L Management
- Revenue Management
- Guest Experience
- Team & HOD Leadership
- Hotel Operations
- Budgeting & Forecasting
- Owner & Brand Relations
- Sales & Marketing
- Staff Retention
- Rooms & F&B
Personal Skills
- Leadership
- Guest Focus
- Commercial Awareness
- Composure
- Communication
Activities & Interests
- Gymnastic
- Gardening
- Play Piano
- Rugby
- Football
Key Takeaways for a Hotel General Manager Resume
Owners and asset managers read GM resumes commercially before they read them operationally. Here is what decides the shortlist:
- Lead with the property, not the duties. Keys, star rating, F&B outlets, meeting space, annual rooms revenue and headcount belong in the first two lines of every role.
- Own a P&L number. GOP, GOP margin, flow-through and EBITDA conversion are the figures an owner scans for. A GM resume without one reads as a deputy's resume.
- Pair commercial and guest metrics. RevPAR index against the competitive set alongside the guest satisfaction score is the pairing that proves you did not buy occupancy by discounting the rate.
- Show the brand relationship. Brand standard audit scores, franchise compliance, a successful conversion or a rebrand tell a franchisor you are safe with their flag.
- Name the heads of department you built. Recruiting, developing and retaining a HOD team, plus turnover percentage, is the leadership evidence that separates a GM from an operations manager.
- Put capital projects in. Refurbishments, room renovations and PIP delivery with budget and disruption managed show you can run the asset, not just the business trading inside it.
Why This Hotel General Manager Resume Works
The example above belongs to a GM running four and five star properties in Nice after seven years in operations. These are the choices worth copying:
- The opening line commits to a segment and a market. Luxury, four and five star, Nice. Owner-side recruiters filter hard on segment, and a GM who does not name theirs gets read as generic.
- Seventeen years total with seven in the top job is a deliberate split. It answers the first question every hiring owner asks, which is how long this person has actually held final responsibility.
- Full P&L responsibility appears in the first experience bullet rather than being implied by the job title. Plenty of people called GM never held the P&L, so the resume says it outright.
- Guest satisfaction and RevPAR are lifted together in the same achievement, which is the pairing that shows the score was not bought with rate cuts. {TIP}
- The progression from Hotel Operations Manager to General Manager is left to speak for itself through the titles and dates, with the revenue certificate marking the moment the commercial skill was formalised.
- Owner, brand and community relations get their own bullet. That is the part of the GM job a departmental manager never touches, and it is the clearest signal of top-of-house seniority on the page.
- The Cornell revenue and asset management certificate is the right credential for the claim. It backs the commercial half of the role rather than the operational half everyone already assumes.
How to Write a Hotel General Manager Resume
You are writing for two readers who want different things: an owner or asset manager reading for return, and a brand or group operations director reading for risk. Cover both:
How do you describe a property so an owner recognises it?
Put a one line property descriptor under each job title before any bullets. Something like 187 keys, five star, two restaurants and a spa, 900 square metres of meeting space, 12 million euro annual revenue, 140 staff. That single line lets an owner size your experience in two seconds and decides whether the rest gets read. A GM who ran 60 rooms and one bar is a different hire from one who ran 400 rooms and a banqueting operation, and only the descriptor tells them apart.
Which numbers belong on a GM resume?
Six carry the most weight: GOP and GOP margin, flow-through on incremental revenue, RevPAR index or RGI against the comp set, guest satisfaction score with its source named, brand standard audit percentage, and employee turnover. Two or three per role is enough. Give the movement rather than the level, so RGI from 94 to 112 over two years beats RGI of 112, because the second one might have been there before you arrived.
How do you show you can handle owners and the brand?
Write the relationships as work you did, not people you reported to. Presented monthly to the owning company and defended a 2.4 million euro refurbishment case. Renegotiated the management agreement's performance test. Hosted the franchise quality audit and closed 31 findings inside 60 days. Owners hire GMs partly to be spared surprises, so evidence of a clean brand relationship and honest reporting is worth as much as a revenue number.
At this level a resume is a commercial document and one weak paragraph costs you the introduction. If you want it argued rather than listed, our professional resume writing service works with hospitality executives on exactly this.
How do you prove leadership beyond the org chart?
Name the HOD team you assembled and what happened to it. Recruited a new director of F&B and executive chef, then took the outlets from a 340,000 euro loss to breakeven in one season. Cut management turnover from 41 percent to 14 percent. Promoted three department heads into GM or cluster roles. Groups take succession seriously, and a GM who has grown other people's careers is treated as a safer bet with a bigger asset.
What do you do with capital projects and refurbishments?
Give them their own bullets, with budget, scope, timeline and trading impact. Delivered a 6.5 million euro guestroom refurbishment across 210 rooms in phases, holding occupancy above 68 percent throughout. PIP delivery, brand conversions, kitchen rebuilds and system replacements all count. A GM who has run a property through construction while it was still open has proven something no set of trading figures can show on its own.
How should the resume be structured at GM level?
Two pages, with a five or six line summary, a short block of headline metrics, then experience in reverse order with the property descriptor under each title. Anything before your first head of department role gets a single line. Put the hospitality degree or Cornell certificates near the end unless you are early in your GM career, since after ten years the properties matter more than the school.
Hotel General Manager Resume Summary Examples
Three summaries covering different property types and different reasons an owner would hire you. Each one commits to a segment in its opening clause:
Mid-level resume summary example
Hotel general manager with nine years in branded select service, currently running a 156 key Hilton Garden Inn with 48 staff and 6.2 million dollars of annual revenue. Holds full P&L responsibility and delivered GOP margin of 41 percent last year against a budget of 37, with flow-through on incremental revenue at 58 percent. Moved RevPAR index from 96 to 114 against a six hotel competitive set in two years by rebuilding the corporate account base and shifting mix away from OTA. Guest satisfaction score up 0.6 points and brand quality audit passed at 96 percent for three consecutive cycles. Seeking a first full service general manager role with a group that is growing its footprint in secondary markets.
Senior-level resume summary example
General manager with fourteen years in full service and resort hotels, the last five at a 320 key four star property with three F&B outlets, a spa and 1,100 square metres of conference space in the Lake District. Delivered 4.1 million pounds of GOP on 11.8 million pounds of revenue, the strongest result in the property's history, while lifting TripAdvisor ranking from eleventh to second in the destination. Rebuilt the head of department team after a change of ownership and cut management turnover from 44 percent to 12 percent. Delivered a 5.8 million pound bedroom refurbishment in phases without closing the hotel. Looking for a larger single asset or a cluster role with a group that values both trading performance and asset stewardship.
Senior-level resume summary example
Luxury hotel general manager and turnaround specialist with eighteen years across independent and soft branded five star properties in Europe and the Gulf. Has taken two loss making hotels to positive GOP inside eighteen months, most recently converting a 240 key independent to a soft brand affiliation that lifted RevPAR index by 22 points in the first full year. Comfortable in front of ownership boards and asset managers, having presented quarterly to a private equity owner through a full hold period and exit. Built and retained leadership teams in markets with severe labour shortage, holding line turnover below 25 percent. Open to a flagship property, a repositioning mandate or a regional operations role.
Hotel General Manager Work Experience Examples
Written the way an owner reads them, with the commercial result attached to the operational move. Three sets by property type:
Branded select service GM
- Held full P&L responsibility for a 156 key branded hotel turning 6.2 million dollars, lifting GOP margin from 37 to 41 percent in one year while holding flow-through on incremental revenue at 58 percent across the period.
- Moved RevPAR index from 96 to 114 against a six hotel competitive set in two years, rebuilding the corporate account base and cutting OTA share of roomnights from 34 percent to 19 percent without discounting rate.
- Passed the brand quality assurance audit at 96 percent for three consecutive cycles, closing every prior year finding within 45 days and removing the property from the franchisor's watch list ahead of licence renewal.
- Recruited and developed a five person leadership team covering rooms, sales, F&B, maintenance and finance, cutting management turnover from 38 percent to 15 percent and promoting two supervisors into department head roles.
- Raised the brand guest satisfaction score by 0.6 points to sit second of 42 hotels in the region, driven by a daily service huddle and a same day response routine on every guest comment scoring below eight.
Full service or resort GM
- Ran a 320 key four star resort with three restaurants, a spa and 1,100 square metres of conference space, delivering 4.1 million pounds of GOP on 11.8 million pounds of revenue, the best trading year in the property's history.
- Turned the F&B division from a 340,000 pound annual loss to breakeven in one season by replacing the executive chef, cutting the menu by a third and repositioning the main restaurant toward the local resident market.
- Lifted the property from eleventh to second in its destination on TripAdvisor over 20 months, working the guest journey department by department and holding a weekly review of every review scored three or below.
- Delivered a 5.8 million pound phased bedroom refurbishment across 210 rooms while trading, holding occupancy above 68 percent throughout and finishing the programme three weeks ahead of the agreed handover date.
- Presented monthly trading and capital performance to the owning company and its asset manager, defending the refurbishment business case and agreeing a revised performance test in the management agreement.
Luxury, independent or turnaround GM
- Took a loss making 240 key independent five star hotel to 1.9 million euro of GOP within eighteen months, restructuring the leadership team, exiting two underperforming outlets and repricing the rooms product upward.
- Led the conversion of the property to a soft brand affiliation, managing the property improvement plan, brand onboarding and system migration, which lifted RevPAR index by 22 points in the first full year after opening.
- Reported quarterly to a private equity owner through a full hold period and the eventual sale, supplying trading packs and forecast reforecasts that supported the asset's valuation during commercial due diligence.
- Rebuilt the labour model across rooms and F&B in a market with acute staffing shortage, introducing a housing and transport package that held line level turnover below 25 percent through two peak seasons.
- Recruited a nine person executive committee including a director of finance and a director of sales and marketing, then promoted three of them into general manager or cluster roles elsewhere in the group.
Top Hotel General Manager Skills
At GM level the skills block should read like an owner's checklist rather than an operations list. These are the ones that belong on the page:
Hard skills
- Full property P&L ownership
- Annual budgeting and reforecasting
- GOP and flow-through management
- Revenue management and rate strategy
- RevPAR index and comp set analysis
- Owner and asset manager relations
- Brand standard and franchise compliance
- Quality assurance audit management
- Capital expenditure and PIP delivery
- Refurbishment project management
- Head of department recruitment and development
- Rooms division operations
- Food and beverage profitability
- Sales and marketing oversight
- Labour model and productivity planning
- Guest satisfaction programme management
- Health, safety and fire compliance
- PMS and RMS systems (Opera, IDeaS, Duetto)
- Pre-opening and hotel conversion
Soft skills:
- Commercial judgement
- Composure under pressure
- Boardroom presence
- Developing leaders
- Decisiveness
- Cultural fluency across markets
Key Certifications and Licences for a Hotel General Manager
None of these substitute for a trading record, but the right two signal that your commercial thinking is formal rather than instinctive:
-
CHA
— American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute The recognised general manager credential. Requires GM or above experience, so it doubles as proof of seniority.
-
CRME
— HSMAI Optional, and the strongest signal that a GM can hold their own with the commercial team on rate and mix strategy.
-
CHIA
— AHLEI and STR Covers STR reporting, comp set benchmarking and hotel performance data. Useful when your resume quotes RGI and index movement.
-
Hotel Real Estate Investments and Asset Management certificate
— Cornell University Optional. Speaks directly to owners and asset managers, and is the natural credential for GMs targeting flagship or ownership-side roles.
-
Personal Licence and food safety management certification
— National licensing authority Frequently required rather than optional. Alcohol licensing and food safety qualifications vary by country, so list the specific one you hold.
Hotel General Manager Salary
GM pay tracks property size and segment far more than years of service, and most packages add a bonus of 15 to 40 percent of base tied to GOP and guest scores. US figures below:
USD 60,000 – USD 90,000 · Select service or limited service GM · US
The federal wage survey puts the median for lodging managers overall at roughly $65,360, a figure that spans all property types including small independents.
USD 95,000 – USD 150,000 · Full service GM · US
Sits in the upper decile of the occupation. Bonus is typically 20 to 30 percent of base against GOP and guest satisfaction targets.
USD 150,000 – USD 250,000 · Luxury or flagship GM · US
Above the range the occupational survey captures. Packages at this level are negotiated individually and often include housing or a car.
Common Hotel General Manager Resume Mistakes
The errors below are what push an experienced GM into the maybe pile, and every one of them is fixable in an afternoon:
- Writing a duty list instead of a trading record. Responsible for all departments, budgets and guest satisfaction describes the job title. An owner already knows what a GM does and is reading for what you produced.
- Leaving the property unsized. Without keys, star rating, outlets, meeting space, revenue and headcount under each title, a reader cannot tell a 60 room roadside hotel from a 400 room convention property.
- Quoting occupancy alone. Occupancy is the easiest number in the business to manufacture with rate. Give RevPAR, index against the comp set or ADR alongside it, or the figure gets discounted entirely.
- Omitting the owner and brand relationship. A GM resume that never mentions ownership reporting, asset managers or franchise audits reads like a hotel manager's resume, and it will be shortlisted as one.
- Burying the P&L. If full profit and loss responsibility is not explicit in your first bullet, some readers will assume you carried operations under someone else who held the number.
- Listing every departmental task you once did. Rota writing, shift cover and duty management belong to the roles where you did them, not to a GM position. They pull the resume down a level.
- Skipping the capital projects. Refurbishments, PIPs and conversions are what prove you can look after the asset, and GMs leave them off surprisingly often because they feel like distractions from trading.
Hotel General Manager Resume FAQs
The questions hospitality executives ask most often before applying for a GM position:
A general manager resume is written from the top of the property down, a hotel manager resume from the operation up. The GM version leads with full P&L ownership, GOP and flow-through, owner and franchisor relationships, brand audit outcomes and the heads of department who reported to you. A hotel manager resume leads with departmental delivery, rooms and F&B standards, rota and labour control, and duty management. If your resume is full of shift level detail, an owner reads it as a deputy's document no matter what your job title says.
Put the property descriptor, the P&L result and the guest metric on every role. Keys, star rating, outlets, revenue and headcount size the job, GOP or GOP margin proves you held the number, and RevPAR index plus guest satisfaction proves you did it without damaging the product. Then add brand audit scores, HOD team building and any capital project you delivered.
Two pages. GM careers involve several properties, and a single page forces you to strip out the property descriptors and trading numbers that do the persuading. Give full treatment to your two or three most recent GM roles, compress everything before your first head of department position into one line each, and never run to three pages.
Full property P&L management, budgeting and forecasting, revenue and rate strategy, owner and brand relations, brand standard compliance, capital project delivery, and building a head of department team. Health and safety, fire and licensing compliance sit underneath as non-negotiables. Systems knowledge such as Opera, IDeaS or Duetto belongs on the page too, since groups screen for it.
No, and plenty of successful GMs came up through rooms division or F&B without one. A hospitality degree from a school like Glion, Les Roches, EHL or Cornell shortens the route and matters most in luxury and international groups. Beyond about ten years, the properties you have run outweigh where you studied, so keep education short and near the end.
Rewrite your current role around the parts that touch the whole property. Any budget you owned, any department outside your own that you covered, any brand audit you led, any capital work you ran, any GM cover you provided during absence. Add a revenue or asset management certificate to close the commercial gap, and state plainly in the summary that you are moving to a first GM appointment.
Yes, and name the source. TripAdvisor ranking, brand guest satisfaction index, Medallia or Revinate scores all carry weight, but only when you give the movement and the timeframe. Second of 42 hotels in the region, up from eleventh in 20 months, is evidence. A high score with no starting point and no source is treated as decoration.
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