The posting
General Manager — By the Sea Resorts Panama City Beach, FL
The Opportunity
We're hiring a General Manager to lead a large beachfront hotel through a physical and operational turnaround. This is an active, occupied property — not a dark reopening — requiring a leader who can run day-to-day operations while simultaneously managing capital renovation work and rebuilding guest satisfaction.
The right candidate has hard operational chops in the two departments that drive guest experience and asset condition: housekeeping and engineering. This is not a role for a GM who delegates those functions and reviews reports — we need someone who can walk the property, diagnose root causes, and rebuild both departments from the ground up.
What You'll Own
Renovation & Capital Project Management
- Manage active or phased renovation work while the hotel remains operational — sequencing, contractor coordination, minimizing guest disruption and OOO inventory.
- Serve as property-side owner of the capital project punch list; report progress and issues to ownership with clear timelines.
- Prior experience leading a hotel through renovation-while-operating is strongly preferred.
Housekeeping Leadership
- Direct hands-on management of the housekeeping department: staffing model, inspection standards, deep-clean cycles, and room-condition consistency.
- Own the housekeeping component of guest satisfaction recovery — this is the single largest lever on review scores.
- Strong housekeeping management experience is strongly preferred, not just oversight of a director.
Engineering & Property Condition
- Direct hands-on management of the engineering/maintenance department: preventive maintenance program, work-order discipline, life-safety compliance, and internal physical product requirements.
- Own remediation of deferred maintenance backlog and coordinate with capital renovation scope to avoid duplicated or wasted work.
- Strong engineering/maintenance management experience is strongly preferred, not just oversight of a chief engineer.
Revenue & Financial Performance
- Strong understanding of RevPAR, ADR, occupancy, and channel mix; execute against a centralized revenue management strategy set by the Chief Commercial Officer.
- Own CPOR, labor productivity, purchasing controls, budgeting, and flow-through.
People & Culture
- Recruit, train, and retain department heads and line staff in a challenging labor market.
- Build accountability and consistency, particularly within housekeeping and engineering.
What Success Looks Like
- Measurable, sustained improvement in guest satisfaction scores and inspection results.
- Housekeeping and engineering functioning as strengths rather than liabilities.
- Renovation milestones hit without unplanned OOO expansion or guest-facing disruption.
- CPOR and labor targets held while service and condition improve.
The Ideal Candidate
- Proven Hotel GM experience, ideally in a mid-market beach or resort property.
- Direct, hands-on experience managing housekeeping departments — required.
- Direct, hands-on experience managing engineering/maintenance departments — required.
- Experience operating a hotel through active renovation — strongly preferred
- Franchise/brand standards experience (any major flag) - preferred
- Financial fluency: RevPAR, CPOR, labor %, budgeting, forecasting, P&L.
- Panama City Beach / Emerald Coast market familiarity is a plus but not required
How to Apply
Send your resume and a short note covering:
- Your hands-on experience managing housekeeping and engineering departments (not just directing managers who ran them)
- Your experience operating a hotel during active renovation
- A guest satisfaction turnaround you drove, with the numbers
