The full example
Everything below is fictional. The venues are described rather than named, and the achievements are the kind of thing a real hotel manager does — written the way they should appear on a CV, not inflated.
Hotel manager CV — example
Header
[Full Name] [Town, UK] · [phone] · [email]
Professional summary
Hotel manager with eleven years in rooms and operations, currently general manager of a 110-bedroom branded hotel with a restaurant, bar and four meeting rooms. Accountable for the full P&L, brand standards, the guest score and a team of 58 across five departments. Opera PMS and SiteMinder user. Looking for a larger property or a cluster role within a group.
Core skills
Full hotel P&L and GOP accountability · Budgeting and monthly forecasting Rate strategy and OTA channel mix · RevPAR, occupancy and ADR tracking Brand standards and quality audits · Guest review score ownership Heads of department leadership · Recruitment, appraisals and retention Rooms division and housekeeping standards · F&B and conference oversight Fire safety and statutory compliance · Opera PMS · SiteMinder · STR reports
Experience
General Manager — 110-bedroom branded hotel, York Apr 2022 – present
· Hold the full P&L for a hotel with a 70-cover restaurant, a bar and four
meeting rooms, reporting monthly to the owning company and the brand.
· Set the rate strategy with the revenue manager each week, reviewing STR
figures against a competitive set of six hotels and adjusting the OTA mix.
· Lead five heads of department, with a weekly operations meeting and
quarterly appraisals for each.
· Took the hotel through its annual brand quality audit and two fire risk
assessment reviews, closing every action within the agreed timescale.
· Reduced front office and housekeeping turnover over two years through a
structured induction, a 90-day review and a supervisor development path.
Deputy General Manager — 160-bedroom conference hotel, Harrogate
Jun 2019 – Mar 2022
· Ran the day-to-day operation of rooms, housekeeping and front office,
holding the duty manager rota and covering the GM on leave.
· Owned the guest review response process and the weekly guest score review
with heads of department.
· Managed the rooms refurbishment of 40 bedrooms over 14 weeks, scheduling
floors out of inventory around conference bookings.
Front Office Manager — 90-bedroom city-centre hotel, Newcastle
Feb 2016 – May 2019
· Managed a reception, nights and reservations team of 12 on Opera PMS.
· Wrote the department rota against forecast occupancy and the wage budget.
· Handled group arrivals, VIP stays and the overnight escalation phone.Education and certifications
Personal Licence (APLH Level 2) — 2017 IOSH Managing Safely — 2020 Level 3 Award in Health and Safety in the Workplace — 2020 Fire Safety for Managers — 2022 First Aid at Work (3-day) — 2023 Level 3 Award in Supervising Food Safety in Catering — 2021 BA (Hons) Hospitality Management — 2015
Additional
Systems: Opera PMS, SiteMinder (channel manager), Fourth (rotas and payroll), STR benchmarking, brand quality audit portal Languages: English (native), French (working)
Templates that suit this example
- Executive — Competency groups and a strong header suit a CV that is read by an owner or an area director.
- Editorial — A masthead header and generous spacing for a senior CV that will be read in full rather than scanned.
- Classic Formal — Each property in its own card, which suits a career that has moved between brands and owners.
Want this structure with your own experience in it?
Build your hotel manager CVWhy each section is written that way
Professional summary
- Why it matters.
- An owner or an area director reads a hotel manager CV against a trading property. Bedrooms, outlets, team size and what sits on your P&L are the first four things they need, and they should not have to hunt for them.
- A strong version.
- Property size and type, the departments under you, what you are accountable for — P&L, brand audit, guest score — and the move you want. Four sentences at most.
- Common mistake.
- Leading with a leadership philosophy. "Passionate about creating memorable guest experiences" is the opening line of hundreds of hotel manager CVs, and it delays the figures.
Core skills
- Why it matters.
- Hotel management has its own commercial vocabulary — RevPAR, ADR, GOP, channel mix, competitive set — and using it correctly tells a reader which level you have operated at.
- A strong version.
- The commercial measures you own, the compliance you are responsible for, the departments you have led and the systems you have actually used. Name the PMS.
- Common mistake.
- Listing every hotel department as a skill. "Housekeeping, front office, F&B, maintenance" is a description of a hotel, not evidence of what you did in it.
Experience
- Why it matters.
- A 40-bedroom independent and a 200-bedroom branded conference hotel are both run by a "hotel manager". The bedroom count, the outlets, the brand and the owner relationship are what let the reader place you.
- A strong version.
- Bedrooms, outlets, team size, who you reported to, and the measures you moved. Where a figure was a target you worked to, say so — it reads as more credible than a bare percentage.
- Common mistake.
- Unanchored percentages: "increased RevPAR by 18%". Without the starting point, the market and the period, a reader will discount the number.
Compliance and certifications
- Why it matters.
- A hotel manager is usually the responsible person for fire safety, the premises licence holder and the person whose name is on the health and safety policy. The certifications show you understand that.
- A strong version.
- Personal Licence, a health and safety qualification at IOSH or Level 3, fire safety for managers, first aid and food safety if you oversee F&B — each with a year.
- Common mistake.
- Leaving off fire safety and health and safety because they feel like background. For an owner with a statutory duty, they are among the first things checked.
Additional
- Why it matters.
- A group with a PMS migration planned, or an owner with a specific channel manager, wants to know what you can use without training. Languages matter in properties with international guests.
- A strong version.
- Named systems in the order they matter — PMS first — plus languages and anything about mobility, such as willingness to relocate for a cluster role.
- Common mistake.
- Writing "proficient in Microsoft Office". At general manager level it is assumed, and it uses space the PMS should have.
If your experience looks different
Most people are not the candidate in the example. Three common situations, and what to change for each.
First general manager role — moving up from deputy or operations manager
Your summary. Name the step: "Deputy general manager with four years running the operation of a 160-bedroom hotel, looking for a first general manager role." A reader will assess you on the P&L lines and departments you already hold.
What to emphasise. Covering the GM, departments that reported to you, any budget line that was yours, brand audits you led, refurbishments or projects you ran, and heads of department you developed.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Covered the general manager for [X] weeks, including the monthly owner review and the P&L commentary.
- ·Held the rooms and housekeeping payroll budget of [X], reviewed weekly against forecast occupancy.
- ·Led the annual brand quality audit, closing [X] actions ahead of the follow-up visit.
Certifications. IOSH Managing Safely, fire safety for managers and a Personal Licence. They match the responsible-person duties a general manager holds from the first day.
Experienced general manager — going for a larger property or a cluster
Your summary. Move the emphasis from running a hotel to running a business unit. Lead with GOP, owner relationships, capital projects and the general managers or deputies you have developed.
What to emphasise. GOP conversion, owner and brand reporting, capital expenditure projects, renovations run while trading, rebrands or openings, and anyone you promoted into management.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Delivered a [X]-bedroom refurbishment over [X] weeks while trading, keeping occupancy within [X] points of forecast.
- ·Presented the annual budget and quarterly reforecasts to the owning company, with GOP held to the agreed target.
- ·Developed two deputy managers into general manager roles elsewhere in the group.
Certifications. An ILM Level 5 or a revenue management qualification carries weight here, as does a NEBOSH General Certificate for a cluster with several responsible-person duties.
Moving into hotel management from restaurants, retail or another sector
Your summary. Lead with the commercial and people spine — P&L, team size, compliance — and be honest about which hotel disciplines are new. A multi-site restaurant manager or a large-format retail manager is closer than either job title suggests.
What to emphasise. Budget and P&L accountability, team size, health and safety duties you held, customer satisfaction measures you owned, and any rooms, front office or hospitality exposure you have had.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Managed a [X]-cover restaurant and bar within a hotel, reporting to the general manager on labour and GP.
- ·Held full P&L accountability for a retail unit with a team of [X] and an annual turnover of [X].
- ·Completed IOSH Managing Safely and fire safety for managers ahead of moving into hotel operations.
Certifications. IOSH Managing Safely, fire safety for managers and a Personal Licence. Then a rooms division or front office course if you have never worked in rooms.
Next steps
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