Director of Rooms

Job description

Company Description We are seeking an exceptional Director of Rooms to join the pre-opening team of Delano London. Reporting to the General Manager, you’ll be responsible for the overall management of our front office, housekeeping, guest experience and engineering teams, ultimately ensuring our guests are having a great and unique experience with us. Set to open its doors in 2026, Delano London will fuse historic charm with contemporary luxury, reflecting a reimagined experience that pays homage to the original visionary concept. The 67-key luxury retreat will blend soft minimalist design, generous living spaces and park views, creating a distinctive lifestyle destination where design, dining, nightlife and wellbeing seamlessly converge. Job Description What you’ll do… To take overall responsibility for the management of the housekeeping, front office, guest experience and engineering teams, ensuring guests are well cared for and guest expectations are exceeded. Lead the rooms division through the pre-opening phase, including recruitment, onboarding, SOP development, training plans, room readiness, operating supplies, mock stays, engineering handover requirements and opening checklists. Develop and own the end-to-end rooms guest journey, ensuring arrival, departure, housekeeping, in-room experience, guest recognition and recovery moments feel seamless, personal and appropriate for a luxury lifestyle hotel. Ensure the Engineering team is fully integrated into the rooms operation, with clear communication around room readiness, defects, guest-impacting maintenance, preventative maintenance and service recovery. To ensure that all hotel standard operating procedures are trained and adhered to across front office, housekeeping, guest experience and engineering. To own the rooms P&L, contributing to annual budget planning and ensuring expenses, labour, productivity, maintenance costs and operating supplies are kept in line. To partner with the Chief Engineer to ensure effective PPM schedules, statutory compliance, health and safety, contractor management and engineering records are maintained to the required standard. To own all quality evaluation processes and strive to improve all qualitative metrics. To take ownership of problem solving and ensure guest satisfaction levels are the highest possible. To pro-actively identify opportunities to improve and enhance processes and procedures across housekeeping, front office, guest experience and engineering, particularly where maintenance or room condition impacts the guest journey. Responsible for the accurate completion of all people documentation including payroll, recruitment, disciplinary and grievance and appraisal documentation. To coach and develop the team, ensuring that they are well motivated and informed. To set stretching yet realistic objectives for the team, monitoring these and providing regular feedback. To be ultimately accountable for delivering projects that involve housekeeping, front office, guest experience and engineering teams, including room readiness, defect resolution, snagging, OS&E readiness and guest-impacting maintenance matters. To pro-actively project manage any changes in policies and procedures for housekeeping, front office, guest experience and engineering. To achieve and maintain the highest possible levels of customer service to both external and internal customers, forging long-term relationships with suppliers, contractors and service partners. To ensure all health and safety procedures and policies are adhered to at all times. To be a member of the hotel crisis and fire teams and to be fully conversant in all related procedures. Support a culture of luxury service, discretion, warmth and attention to detail, ensuring Delano London feels distinctive and not simply process-led. Qualifications What we’re looking for… You are an experienced Head of or Director of Rooms and have prior experience in a similar role, ideally within luxury, lifestyle or high-touch boutique hotels. You have experience leading multi-disciplinary rooms teams and are comfortable with Engineering/Maintenance forming part of your overall divisional scope. Previous pre-opening, repositioning or luxury hotel opening experience would be a strong advantage. You understand what it takes to create a refined rooms experience, from immaculate housekeeping standards to intuitive arrival, guest recognition, room condition and service recovery. You are confident working with technical teams and can balance guest experience priorities with operational, safety, compliance and maintenance requirements. A natural at leading and managing others, you lead by example and create an environment where your team can be their best self. A balance between a methodical, process and results driven approach and flexibility and creativity when it comes to juggling multiple priorities, meeting deadlines and finding solutions. You are comfortable with the strategic as well as day to day detail. You are commercially aware and confident managing budgets, labour, productivity, quality scores, guest satisfaction and maintenance-related costs. You are an excellent relationship builder, confident in working with other teams, leaders and ownership; you’re passionate about what we can achieve together. Culturally aware and globally minded, able to inspire teams in diverse, international environments. Additional Information What’s in it for you… The opportunity to launch a visionary hospitality brand in London and have a real impact on its success. Join an innovative, fast-growing, international group that’s committed to not just building new hotels but building a global brand. The chance to challenge the norm and work in an environment that is both creative and rewarding. Become part of a team that’s very passionate about creating great hospitality experiences and building a portfolio of brands. A competitive package and plenty of opportunity for development.