A sense check would be very welcomed!!
Long term would be amazing to get out of hospo and have a bit more of a life tbh. There’s things I do enjoy about it but don’t see myself going into the management game for progression and would love to just have more of a standard daytime and consistent working pattern. UK job market is not good right now, I’m already in the “just take any job” job, but I do need my next move to make sense overall.
Currently working in a 4*, just over 200 rooms, big leisure resort type place with a mix of leisure, business travel, MICE, social events and weddings. My title is Guest Relations/Duty Manager. Get good feedback from management but honestly don’t feel like I’m doing much and struggle with my confidence. Feel like I’m the last one to know a lot of things and not super involved. Been here about a year and definitely feel I’ve learned a lot and become more independent in what I’m doing. Enjoy the hotel itself and a lot of the people I work with. This role feels really fixed, I do support other areas somewhat but there’s not much depth to what I’m doing at all. The bar feels like it’s basically on the floor with what’s expected of me and I’ve exhausted what I can even think of to try and get opportunities to learn anything else (I’ve surmised that I’m basically expected to mind read and know what I don’t know, in order to directly find anything out, just oddly gatekeepy and for nothing because it all turns out to be basic AF), or just to try and get anything else to do. Few other reasons I’d want to move on but don’t want to get too close to identifying the place.
Potentially could have the opportunity to move into a 3*, 30 ish rooms, more of a focus on social events, regular business events, weddings, business travel, locals coming in to the bar/restaurant. A big benefit is it’s a lot closer to home so would significantly cut down my commute. Title would also be DM, but a bit of a wider role due to the place being smaller, including an active role in events coordination (they don’t have a dedicated role for this so it comes to the management and reception team). Also discussed more possibilities of getting involved in more of like operations management side of the business. Much smaller team and seemingly less of a bureaucracy in terms of ownership than my current place so can see me being much more actively involved and feel like my contributions could be a bit more clearly demonstrable. I have a 2nd interview coming up for this so also appreciate any suggestions for what to discuss.
Aside from the benefits of a shorter commute I would be hopeful that the broader and more operational management aspects could lead into either more opportunity in the hotel itself or be a bit more translatable in looking to move outside of hospitality. Thoughts on this very welcome…