Senior Regional Director, Extended Stay Franchise Performance

Senior Regional Director, Extended Stay

Who are we looking for?

Choice Hotels, one of the world’s largest lodging franchisors, has an exciting new opportunity as our Senior Regional Director, Extended Stay in the Franchise Performance division. The Extended Stay, Franchise Performance division is the team that drives the performance of a portfolio of hotels across our four extended stay brands, led by a team of Regional and/or Area Directors. As a key member of our Extended Stay, Franchise Performance team, you will execute the strategies and tactics set forth by the Regional Vice President in the areas of guest experience, performance and profitability, brand compliance, and owner and management company satisfaction.

Are you a business-savvy leader with an exceptional ability to drive continuous improvement and deliver recommendations to maximize results and achieve optimal experience levels? We invite you to apply today for our Senior Regional Director, Extended Stay role today and #MakeItYourChoice.

Your Responsibilities

Leadership and Oversight of Team

• Provide input on Best Practices to leverage across the Brand portfolio for all four extended stay brands and support implementation through team.
• Identify and proactively communicate potential portfolio retention risks.
• Build relationships and ensure effective partnership with extended stay global sales, revenue management, and marketing teams.
• Conduct property visits or portfolio reviews with Regional and/or Area Directors throughout the year to assess effectiveness of engagement and ability to drive results as measured by individual financial performance, guest experience, associate engagement, service execution and Extended Stay brand compliance.
• Maintain effective franchisee relationships as a key Choice franchisee contact, focusing on owner engagement and retention strategies including delivering additional support and engagement tactics for prominent clients.
• Remain currently informed and ensure team member awareness of all Choice programs, franchise requirements, operating practices, market trends, and industry conditions to provide necessary information and support to franchisees.
• Ensure team members possess knowledge and expertise with all Choice proprietary systems and industry related support technologies.
• Ensure team understands and utilizes appropriate tools, checklists, and resources for applicable service delivery models to ensure effective and consistent On-Site and Virtual consultation services.
• Effectively interpret performance data through all internal and external sources to measure team performance.

Key Portfolio Leadership for Assigned Properties

• Support and manage Portfolio Review Process for Management Company and Owner Operators to ensure performance alignment and accountability.
• Monitor hotel revenue and yield performance indices, hotel P&L data, GIS and related guest satisfaction scores, brand ranking, Performance Zones compliance, QAR scores, and other metrics to identify greatest opportunities.
• Influence top-line revenues at assigned portfolio hotels through comprehensive analysis and ongoing consultation with owner/operator and/or management company representatives.  
• Support adoption of Choice ES support and revenue generation tools and programs.
• Ensure high level of consumer (guest) satisfaction through interactive consultation to analyze GIS and related guest satisfaction metrics, third party site reviews, and prescription of appropriate resources for addressing guest satisfaction need areas.
• Develop priority-focused consultation agendas in advance of consultations.  Ensure that property ownership and/or designated owner representatives or management company representatives are given ample opportunity to schedule themselves to attend all consultations.
• Review Zone Compliance standing and Quality Assurance scores.  Initiate franchisee ownership and/or GM contact as required to ensure understanding of the status and to facilitate necessary curative activities. 
• Generate required post-consultation follow-up correspondence to ownership, designated property representatives, management company representatives, and/or on-site General Manager.  Maintain effective property and ownership documentation notes within Choice’s proprietary contact management technology systems.  Regularly update contact management records, including General Manager, department head, and/or ownership changes within required time frames.
• Leverage and implement skills as a hotel-level performance driver to convince hotel stakeholders to act on solid recommendations for incremental revenue, operations proficiency, and profitability at hotels.

Operationalization and Execution

• Monitor and improve consultation effectiveness through RVP, Extended Stay Franchise Performance, feedback, periodic RD/AD service surveys, and hotel stakeholder adoption of recommended action steps to ensure the highest quality of tailored services is being delivered.
• Provide material feedback to RVP, Extended Stay Franchise Performance, to communicate unusual property performance trends, ownership engagement issues, competitive intelligence, or other information that might prompt the consideration of joint intervention strategies. 
• Support best practices for system entry support and ramp-up success in conjunction with Opening Services and other relevant Departments.
• Understand and support Choice Hotels and Extended Stay training and educational programs and resources.  Engage franchisees and GMs to support Choice University on-line, local, regional, and national training opportunities that address their needs.  Ensure property level certifications are in place, including Choice’s requirement that General Managers be certified, plus any other required segment or enterprise training courses.
• Identify areas of needed training and develop plan with RD and RVP; Provide feedback to assigned ADs and recap findings to the RVP.
• Self-identify and engage RVP and others to analyze performance strengths, and to address opportunities for addressing personal development and that of assigned RDs/ADs.
• Support Choice Hotels franchise sales growth through engagement of franchise sales directors and ongoing interaction to ensure identification of franchise opportunities and development of leads.
• Actively participate in franchise association activities and communications, including current corporate initiatives, as directed by the RVP.
• Seek and share industry and market intelligence and best practices with peers, franchisees, and corporate staff; become the eyes and ears, recognizing trends, threats and opportunities that can be exploited by franchisees and Choice. 

Collaborative Leadership and Accountability

• Leads and effectively communicates corporate priorities, strategic change initiatives and organizational impacts. 
• Develops and maintains departmental budgets as directed and within company policy.
• Provide timely and accurate documentation of all business expenses through an online expense reporting system.  Manage business expense decisions, corporate credit card usage, and overall expense management within assigned budgetary guidelines.
• Builds the talent pipeline through networking.
• Leads, coaches, develops team with an aggressive focus on individual hotel success plans that reflect performance gains, enhanced guest satisfaction and increased brand compliance across each brand.
• Sets reasonable stretch performance goals, provides constructive, balanced, regular performance feedback, and collaborates with associates to help build and support their individual career development plans.
• Drives associate engagement including recognizing and rewarding performance excellence.
• Supports the hiring process, conducts interviews, and ensures the successful onboarding of new associates.
• Foster a collaborative and supportive working environment by effectively coordinating with cross-functional teams, including marketing, finance, operations, and human resources.

Your Experience, Skills & Competencies

• Bachelor’s Degree from a four-year college or university in Hotel Management, Business Management, Marketing, or a relevant field of study preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years’ progressive experience within the hospitality industry, with a focus on franchise performance. Management company and extended stay segment operations experience strongly preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years’ leadership experience, including setting strategic direction and managing teams.
• Strong understanding of franchise business models, operations, and performance metrics.
• Strong track record of success in driving execution and delivering business results through teams.
• Motivated self-starter that is highly results oriented.
• Excellent leadership skills with a proven ability to develop relationships with associates at all levels of the organization and drives results in a team-oriented environment.
• Excellent business-savvy with a consultative approach and holistic business view; ability to influence and collaborate with leaders across organizational lines.
• Excellent ability to manage ambiguity combined with an ability to leverage data and create a foundation of data-supported decision making.
• Excellent analytical and forecasting skills; previous experience with successful budget management.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to communicate across all stakeholder groups including small and large group settings, both internal and external. Can build rapport with franchisees and stay “on message” with media.
• Flexibility in creating and making changes or re-directing initiatives to continuously improve the strategy and organization, showing comfort with change management, and working in a matrix-based organization.
• Advanced use of Microsoft suite including Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Willingness to travel as needed to visit franchise locations and attend meetings.

Your Team

This is a leadership role that will report to the RVP, Extended Stay Franchise Performance in the Extended Stay performance division and has a team consisting of Regional and/or Area Directors, Extended Stay Franchise Performance.

Your Work Location

As our Senior Regional Director, Extended Stay you will be based in our beautiful, state-of-the-art worldwide corporate headquarters in North Bethesda, MD. Less than 15 miles from Washington, DC, we’re located one block away from the North Bethesda Metro station, with service on the Red Line and the MARC Brunswick line, easy access to I-270, and plenty of free parking provided by Choice Hotels.

Salary Range

The salary range for this position is $121,000 to $160,000 annually. In addition to the annual salary, this role is eligible for an annual bonus based on the terms of Choice's Management Incentive Plan (MIP).

The pay range listed is for this position and is what Choice Hotels reasonably expects to pay. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future. An employee’s pay position within the pay range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, shift, travel requirements, sales or revenue-based metrics, and business or organizational needs.

Choice prioritizes our associate wellbeing by offering a comprehensive benefits program that is both competitive and flexible to help you achieve your wellbeing goals - here are just a few:

• Competitive compensation and benefits, including medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Leave and paid time-off for holidays, vacation, personal, family, volunteer, sick, jury duty, bereavement, military, and religious observance
• Financial benefits for retirement and health savings
• Employee recognition programs
• Discounts at Choice hotels worldwide

About Choice

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the largest lodging franchisors in the world. With nearly 7,500 hotels, representing nearly 630,000 rooms, in 46 countries and territories, with a range of high-quality lodging options from limited service to full-service hotels in the upper upscale, upper mid-scale, midscale, extended-stay, and economy segments. We’re the hotel company for those who choose to bet on themselves – the underdog, the dreamer, the entrepreneur – because that’s who we are, too.

At Choice, we are united by the simple belief that tomorrow will be even better than today – for associates, our company, and our franchisees. At our worldwide corporate headquarters in North Bethesda, MD and St. Louis Park, MN as well as our technology center in Scottsdale, AZ, and through our associates around the globe, every voice is heard, and every idea is listened to, no matter what area of the company they come from. We are united in supporting the entrepreneurial dreams of our more than 18,000 franchise owners, which propels us forward – giving our work at Choice a purpose larger than our business.

About Choice Hotels Financial Performance

Please click here to review the highlights of our latest financial results.

*** PLEASE NOTE: This role is not eligible for sponsorship ***

Ability to model Choice’s Cultural Values: Welcome and Respect Everyone, Be Bold, Be Quick, Listen, Be Curious and Show Integrity.