Director, Residential Openings

About Four Seasons:

Four Seasons is powered by our people. We are a collective of individuals who crave to become better, to push ourselves to new heights and to treat each other as we wish to be treated in return. Our team members around the world create amazing experiences for our guests, residents, and partners through a commitment to luxury with genuine heart. We know that the best way to enable our people to deliver these exceptional guest experiences is through a world-class employee experience and company culture.

At Four Seasons, we believe in recognizing a familiar face, welcoming a new one and treating everyone we meet the way we would want to be treated ourselves. Whether you work with us, stay with us, live with us or discover with us, we believe our purpose is to create impressions that will stay with you for a lifetime. It comes from our belief that life is richer when we truly connect to the people and the world around us.

About the location: Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is a global, luxury hotel management company. We manage over 120 hotels and resorts and 50 private residences in 47 countries around the world and growing. Central to Four Seasons employee experience and social impact programming is the company’s commitment to supporting cancer research, and the advancement of diversity, inclusion, equality and belonging at Four Seasons corporate offices and properties worldwide. At Four Seasons, we are powered by people and our culture enables everything we do.

Director, Residential Openings

The Director, Residential Openings is responsible for providing operational expertise and support for all new Residential openings globally primarily focusing on pre-opening activities. They are responsible to ensure proper support is provided to pre-opening teams to guarantee the efficient and effective setup of the residential operations and delivery of the high-touch service to meet resident expectations from day one.

This position supports our newly opening Residential standalone and mixed-use properties by providing project knowledge, set up assistance, tools and materials, and guidance on operational matters to assist with the successful opening of the branded residences.

This position additionally is responsible for supporting the residential regional teams in delivering standard operational guidance and requirements for projects in the design and build phase. They will also work on gathering learnings and findings though post-opening reviews and working with corporate functions to enhance and refine our opening experience and processes for all residential properties,

What You’ll Be Doing:

Design & Build Phase (10%)

• Develop tools for the Residential Regional teams to better support / provide guidance on operational elements within this phase
• Support the Residential regional teams with operational expertise on adhoc needs eg. floor plan review, operating plans, labour plan review, OS&E review post regional submission; collateral or employee fashion best practices, etc.

Pre–Opening Phase (60%)

• Review and develop new materials and supporting documentation to assist all relevant stakeholders (developer, property teams, new onboarding members etc.) to better understand the pre-opening activities.
• Organize and prepare onboarding material for Residential regional teams to execution for the handover of project knowledge/information to the new local team.
• Review current roles and responsibilities during pre-opening for all stakeholders (FS corporate teams, developer, developer sales teams, various consultants etc.) to document for alignment and efficiencies.
• Review current pre-opening project plan and Hotel critical path templates to ensure all residential opening considerations are included and extend through post-opening
• Review current pre-opening tools to develop and/or adjust providing the Residential regional teams and local pre-opening teams with tools to better manage pre-opening activities eg. assessment tool
• Review and refine training requirements; establishing trainer requirements and assist with sourcing to support the on-site residential team on leadership, service, products, systems, task force requirements, etc.
• Monitor the status of each opening to assess any operational risk factors of opening, and assist the Residential regional teams and Residential Leader with establishing the relevant next steps; escalating as needed
• Harvest and document best practices from prior opening to improve efficiency and reduce potential challenges and re-occurring.
• Develop and manage content of pre-opening section on Residential Operations SharePoint site
• Provide hands on guidance to the local teams as required during pre-opening to assist with the set up the operation in the following areas: service (basic and a la carte), homeowner communication, resident recognition and engagement, safety and emergency plans, maintenance programs for common areas, residential systems set up, training, etc.
• Liaise with Residential regional teams to help ensure minimal to no delays in opening timeline
• Execute pre-opening readiness assessment to determine and document any outstanding matters requiring attention prior to opening.

Open & Operating Phase Opening Transition (24 months post initial closing / Developer Managed) (20%)

• Support Residential regional teams with post-open assessment to ensure daily operations are stable and identify any key areas requiring further attention. Ensure close out or set-up of all key workstreams.
• Work with Regional and/or local team, providing support to resolve any remaining post-opening issues
• Assist with any issues while developing solutions to post-open matters regarding products, service, quality, etc.
• Liaise regularly with the on-site team to obtain status updates and pending issues to help ensure minimal impact to the operation and the resident experience.

Other (10%)

• Assist senior Residential Operations leadership with ad hoc projects as necessary

Travel

• 25%

What You Bring:

• University degree – major in hospitality / business / real estate / property management preferred. MBA or Post Graduate Degree beneficial.
• 15 years of experience in Operations within Residential and/or Hotel (both on property and corporate ideal)
• 3-5 years of experience of opening hotels and/or residential properties is required
• Solid/advance level of understanding of Residential Operations and Hotel Operations
• Solid understanding of the opening process for hotels and residentials properties
• Good understanding of property management, business/financial management
• Operations
• Solid understanding of technology systems used property.
• Advance user of Excel, Word, PPT, SharePoint, etc.

Key Skills:

• Ability to adapt and work effectively in a variety of situations.
• Is able to work effectively in rapidly changing or ambiguous situations in which there are no policies procedures or guidelines.
• Is open minded and receptive to new and different ways of doing things and provides valuable input to change efforts.
• Ability to translate complex and difficult information into communication that are easy to understand.
• Excellent focus on detail and accuracy
• Advance level of management skills for full execution/implementation
• Summarize, analyze, and organize various information to provide meaningful insights.
• Communicate clearly, comfortably, and confidently to all levels of stakeholders.
• Ability to work under pressure and manage multiple work streams under minimal supervision.
• Strong problem solving, decision making, conflict resolution and strategic thinking skills.

This role will be a Hybrid working model, which will require 3 days per week in the Four Seasons Corporate Office located at 1165 Leslie Street, Toronto, Ontario #LI-Hybrid

Four Seasons is committed to providing employment accommodation in accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. If contacted for an employment opportunity, please advise Human Resources if you require accommodation.