Director of Guest Experience

Description

Nine Orchard is a 113-room hotel in the restored 1912 bank building at the corner of Canal and Orchard on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Our guests come from every walk of life and every corner of the world, and they choose the Lower East Side for a reason. They notice everything.

The Director of Guest Experience is responsible for ensuring that every interaction with Nine Orchard reflects the hotel's distinctive character, warmth, and commitment to exceptional service. This is a guest-centric leadership role focused on creating a consistent, memorable experience from pre-arrival through departure — and ensuring that our service standards are not simply established but lived every day.

You will own the hotel's guest experience strategy, service culture, and guest satisfaction results. You will be highly visible throughout the property, working directly with department leaders and frontline teams to identify opportunities, coach in the moment, resolve service challenges, and continuously elevate the Nine Orchard experience.

We are looking for a passionate hospitality leader who understands that exceptional service is created through details, accountability, training, and genuine care for the guest. Reports to the hotel's

• Own the overall guest experience strategy across the hotel, ensuring every touchpoint reflects the Nine Orchard standard
• Take ownership of guest satisfaction scores, online reviews, service metrics, and guest feedback, using reporting, data and trends to identify opportunities for improvement
• Establish clear service standards and ensure consistent execution across all guest-facing departments
• Develop and maintain a culture of genuine hospitality, anticipation, recognition, and personalized service
• Lead guest recovery efforts and ensure service issues are addressed quickly, thoughtfully, and with appropriate follow-through
• Curate and continuously evolve the Nine Orchard guest experience, identifying opportunities to create memorable and unexpected moments
• Develop strategies for VIPs, repeat guests, special occasions, and high-profile clientele with a focus on discretion, personalization, and attention to detail
• Establish and manage a vendor concierge program that rigorously vets new establishments for brand fit, while cultivating and maintaining exclusive relationships with sought-after, hard-to-access restaurants, clubs, and venues to secure priority access and amenities for guests

• Own the hotel's ongoing service training program and ensure guest-facing teams receive consistent, meaningful, and practical training
• Create and facilitate service training focused on luxury hospitality, guest engagement, communication, recovery, and personalization
• Coach leaders and frontline associates in real time and reinforce expectations through daily interactions
• Partner with department heads to identify service gaps and develop targeted training and development plans
• Establish accountability around service standards and ensure training translates into measurable improvements in guest satisfaction
• Build a culture where every associate understands their role in creating the Nine Orchard experience

• Map and continuously evaluate the guest journey from pre-arrival through departure and post-stay engagement
• Identify friction points and implement solutions that improve the overall guest experience
• Partner with Front Office and Reservations to ensure pre-arrival communication, special requests, VIP preparation, and guest recognition are executed flawlessly
• Collaborate with Housekeeping, F&B, Engineering, and other operational leaders to ensure seamless service handoffs
• Monitor guest feedback platforms and ensure timely, personalized responses and follow-up
• Develop and implement initiatives that differentiate Nine Orchard within the luxury and lifestyle hotel market

• 5+ years of luxury, lifestyle, or high-end hospitality experience, with demonstrated leadership responsibility
• Proven experience leading guest experience, service excellence, quality assurance, front office, or hotel operations
• A demonstrated track record of improving guest satisfaction scores and service performance
• Strong understanding of luxury hospitality standards and the ability to translate those standards into practical behaviors
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to connect naturally with guests and associates at every level
• A…