House Director
The Alpine House
Job Details
Job Location
Based out of the Alpine House, Jackson, WY
Arbus Hospitality Portfolio, travel required
Position Summary
The House Director is the on-property leader and brand steward for the relaunched Alpine House in Jackson, Wyoming. This role exists for one primary reason: to ensure that every guest leaves Alpine House feeling personally known, cared for, and eager to return. This role is the leader of a highly curated, intimate property designed to feel like a modern ‘home’ environment—where guests are encouraged (but not pushed) to mingle and connect through signature daily activation points (e.g., elevated breakfast, wellness moments, salon-style gatherings, and an afternoon “wine-down” social hour).
The House Director has full authority to make real-time guest experience decisions—financial, operational, and service recovery—without delay. The House Director is accountable for guest experience excellence, financial performance (P&L ownership), team leadership, and local marketing/promotions. This leader must be equal parts operator and host: highly visible, socially confident, detail-obsessed, commercially minded, and capable of building a culture of warm, anticipatory service.
Reporting Relationship
- Reports to: Ownership / Regional Operations Leadership (Arbus Hospitality)
- Direct Reports: ‘House Hosts’ – combination of Front Office Leads / Breakfast Attendants / Guest Experience/Concierge.
- Leads and coordinates a small, senior on-property leadership group spanning housekeeping, culinary/breakfast, facilities, and guest experience.
Core Objectives
- Deliver a standout guest experience consistent with an upper-scale luxury independent positioning.
- Build a team culture defined by hospitality, polish, warmth, and accountability.
- Own and optimize property financial performance (budgeting, forecasting, labor management, profitability).
- Ensure that programming should feel optional, intimate, and organic, never scheduled for its own sake. Silence, privacy, and restraint are considered amenities.
- Drive local demand and community relevance through marketing, partnerships, and programming.
- Create and execute signature “house” activations that increase guest satisfaction, ancillary spend and repeat visitation.
Key Responsibilities
1) Guest Experience & “House Host” Leadership
- This is a floor-led role, not just a back-office role. The House Director is expected to spend the majority of their time in guest-facing spaces.
- Serve as the visible, engaging “face of the house,” regularly present during peak touchpoints (breakfast, arrivals, afternoon wine-down, key gatherings).
- Build rapport with guests through warm, natural conversation; proactively identify preferences and personalize experiences.
- Set the service standard for the property—tone, language, presentation, and recovery—training the team in consistent guest-facing communication.
- Own guest feedback channels (in-person, online reviews, post-stay surveys) and implement continuous improvements.
- Lead service recovery with speed, empathy, and authority; turn issues into loyalty moments.
2) Operations Management (End-to-End)
- Oversee day-to-day operations across front office, housekeeping, breakfast/food service (as applicable), wellness/activities, and facilities.
- Ensure consistent execution of brand standards, SOPs, and safety protocols.
- Manage scheduling and staffing plans aligned to occupancy patterns and service expectations.
- Maintain a seamless arrival/departure experience (pre-arrival outreach, curated welcome, effortless check-in/out).
- Manage vendor relationships and service providers; ensure quality, responsiveness, and cost control.
- Maintain compliance with local/state regulations, health & safety standards, and HR policies.
3) Financial Performance & P&L Ownership
- Own the property P&L: revenue performance, cost control, labor productivity, and flow-through.
- Prepare annual budgets and rolling forecasts; analyze variances and create corrective action plans.
- Manage labor to service standards—optimize productivity while protecting guest experience.
- Partner with revenue management and ownership to support pricing strategy, packages, and stay patterns.
- Track and report key performance indicators (KPIs), including:
- ADR, occupancy, RevPAR
- GOP, labor % of revenue
- Guest satisfaction / NPS
- Review scores and response times
- Upsell/ancillary revenue and conversion
- Repeat guest and referral rates
4) Aesthetic & Experiential Stewardship
- Arbus properties live or die by taste—language, pacing, music, scent, lighting, food presentation.
- The House Director is responsible for tone, rhythm, and sensory quality of the house (sound, scent, lighting, pacing).
- Ensures all guest-facing language—spoken, written, digital—reflects Alpine House’s voice.
- Acts as final arbiter of what “belongs” in the house and what does not.
5) Sales, Marketing, Promotions & Partnerships
- Create and execute a quarterly promotional and programming calendar aligned to seasonality in Jackson. To be executed with the ‘Connector and Curator’ for the Jackson Campus.
- Build local partnerships (guides, outfitters, wellness practitioners, restaurants, galleries, community organizations) that strengthen the “in-the-know” Alpine House positioning.
- Collaborate with corporate/ownership marketing resources on:
- Social content themes and storytelling
- Local influencer/PR hosting
- Seasonal packages and experience bundles
- Community events and co-marketing initiatives
- Ensure property presence is accurate and compelling across channels (website content inputs, OTAs, Google, email promotions, local listings).
- Actively cultivate repeat business through relationship-building, personalized follow-ups, and referral generation.
6) Programming & Community “House” Activations
- Curate signature moments that drive connection and delight, such as:
- Elevated communal breakfast touchpoints
- Wellness micro-programming (stretching, breathwork, yoga, guided walks)
- Rotating “salon” gatherings (local storytellers, artists, tastings, fireside chats)
- Afternoon “wine-down” happy hour with light bites and hosted introductions
- Set the weekly rhythm of experiences; ensure they are consistently staffed, well-executed, and aligned with the property’s tone (sophisticated, warm, not forced).
- Use guest insights to tailor activations (couples vs. solo travelers, skiers vs. summer adventurers, etc.).
6) People Leadership & Culture Building
- Hire, train, and develop a high-performing team; set clear expectations and coaching rhythms.
- Lead daily stand-ups and weekly operational reviews; reinforce standards, celebrate wins, and address gaps.
- Create a culture of accountability with genuine care—clear feedback, recognition, growth pathways.
- Ensure consistent training on hospitality language, guest engagement, and service recovery.
- Manage performance concerns promptly and professionally; partner with HR and leadership on corrective actions.
7) Facilities, Asset Care & Standards
- Partner with maintenance and vendors to ensure the property is immaculate, safe, and fully functional.
- Maintain preventive maintenance plans; ensure rapid response to guest-impacting issues.
- Uphold visual standards across public spaces and guest rooms—lighting, scent, sound, cleanliness, presentation.
- Manage supplies, inventories, and par levels to protect service quality and budget.
Success Profile (What “Great” Looks Like)
- Guests describe the Alpine House as warm, social, and effortlessly elevated.
- The House Director is consistently cited in reviews for personal attention and leadership presence.
- The team is stable, proud, and aligned—low drama, high standards, clear communication.
- Within the first 90 days, guests feel the house is ‘fully alive,’ even if not everything is finished.
- Programming feels authentic and “Jackson”—distinctive without being gimmicky.
- Financial performance is disciplined: healthy labor management, strong GOP, and smart promotions that protect rate.
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years of progressive hospitality leadership experience (boutique hotel, luxury independent, or high-touch lifestyle property preferred).
- Demonstrated capability owning or strongly influencing a P&L, budgeting, forecasting, and labor management.
- Proven guest service excellence with strong service recovery instincts.
- Marketing and promotions competence: creating local partnerships, building programming calendars, contributing to social/PR initiatives.
- Strong communication and interpersonal presence—confident host, culturally aware, emotionally intelligent.
- Working knowledge of hotel systems (PMS, channel manager/OTA extranets, basic revenue concepts) and standard office tools.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with soft openings, relaunches, or post-renovation repositioning.
- Comfort operating without full historical data, SOP perfection, or stabilized staffing.
- Experience leading small, high-touch properties (sub-30 keys) where the candidate was General Manager or senior level leadership position in a highly guest-facing capacity.
- Local knowledge of Jackson Hole market, seasons, and community partners.
- Experience launching/relaunching properties, building SOPs, and hiring/training new teams.
Competencies & Behavioral Expectations
- Hospitable leadership: sets tone through warmth, precision, and calm authority.
- Social fluency: naturally engages guests, makes introductions, creates connection.
- Emotional attunement: reads rooms, guests, and staff instinctively; adjusts tone and response in real time.
- Commercial acumen: understands how decisions affect profitability and demand.
- Operational discipline: systems thinker; consistent execution; proactive planning.
- Taste and polish: understands luxury cues—language, presentation, ambiance, detail.
- Ownership mindset: anticipates issues, solves without excuses, protects the brand.
Work Environment & Schedule
- Full-time, on-site role in Jackson, Wyoming.
- Peak presence expectations include breakfast, arrivals, and afternoon/evening social hours.
- Schedule includes weekends and holidays; presence required during key guest activation periods and high-occupancy times.
- Occasional travel for training or Arbus Hospitality leadership meetings as needed.
Compensation & Benefits
- Competitive base salary + performance bonus tied to KPIs (guest satisfaction, GOP, revenue growth, review scores, retention).
- Benefits package (health, PTO, retirement, employee stay privileges as applicable).
- Potential relocation support