Question 1

What's typically included in a hospitality recruiting agency's fee?

Accepted Answer

Most hospitality recruiting fees follow a contingency model at 20-25% of first-year base salary for director-level placements, rising to 25-30% for general managers and multi-property vice presidents. Retained searches for flagship property GMs or regional directors typically run one-third of annual compensation, paid in installments. Fees cover candidate sourcing, confidential outreach to sitting operators, credential verification and often a 90-day replacement guarantee. Some firms include post-placement check-ins during the critical first season to ensure cultural fit at your property.

Question 2

What types of hospitality roles do these recruiting agencies typically fill?

Accepted Answer

The 196 agencies on this page concentrate on leadership and guest-facing management: general managers who oversee full property P&L, rooms division directors, front office managers, guest services leaders, food and beverage directors, executive chefs, catering managers and revenue managers. Many also place regional vice presidents and multi-unit directors of operations for hotel groups and restaurant chains. A smaller subset recruits for specialized roles including sommelier managers, spa directors and club managers at luxury resorts. Corporate positions—marketing directors, finance controllers and sales leaders—appear frequently when tied to hospitality operations rather than pure back-office functions.

Question 3

Which hospitality credentials carry the most weight with these agencies?

Accepted Answer

Leading agencies prioritize CHRB (Certified Hotel Revenue Manager) and CHA (Certified Hotel Administrator) for revenue-focused roles, alongside Cornell's hospitality management credentials. For F&B directors, sommelier certifications (Court of Master Sommeliers, WSET Diploma) and CIA culinary degrees command attention. Front-office leadership searches favor Forbes Travel Guide training and AHLA certifications. Brand-specific credentials from Marriott, Hilton or Four Seasons signal operational readiness. However, agencies consistently rank multi-property P&L experience and guest satisfaction metrics above certificates when screening senior candidates. Recent digital hospitality management certifications are gaining traction for tech-forward properties.

Question 4

What questions should I ask a hospitality recruiter before signing a contract?

Accepted Answer

Ask whether they specialize in placing roles at your property tier—luxury resort, select-service or extended-stay operations require different networks. Confirm their average time-to-fill for GM and director-level searches. Request examples of candidates they've placed with P&L responsibility matching your revenue range. Inquire about their reference-checking protocols for verifying guest-satisfaction scores and ADR performance at previous properties. Understand their fee structure, typically 20 to 25 percent of first-year compensation for hospitality leadership roles, and whether replacement guarantees cover performance issues beyond culture fit.

Question 5

Is it worth hiring a specialist hospitality recruiter over a general staffing agency?

Accepted Answer

Specialist hospitality recruiters maintain direct relationships with passive candidates already working in branded properties, understand compensation structures across hotel tiers and can assess whether a candidate has genuinely delivered occupancy gains or REVPAR growth versus simply held the title. General agencies lack the network to reach sitting GMs and F&B directors who aren't actively job-hunting, and their interviewers typically can't evaluate hospitality-specific competencies like yield management systems, franchise standards compliance or multi-property oversight. Given placement fees are identical—commonly 20 to 30 percent of first-year salary—the specialist's deeper candidate pool and vetting rigor justify the choice for leadership roles.

Question 6

How do hospitality recruiters verify a candidate's experience with major PMS systems like Opera or Maestro?

Accepted Answer

Leading hospitality recruiters conduct live screen-shares where candidates navigate Opera or Maestro interfaces, demonstrating room assignments, rate management and end-of-day reconciliation workflows. They verify tenure claims by requesting access to property training certificates or contacting front-office managers at listed employers. Some firms administer timed scenario tests—processing group blocks, managing overbooking or generating revenue reports—to separate basic familiarity from daily operational fluency. References are probed specifically about system proficiency, not just job performance, since resumes often conflate brief exposure with genuine expertise.

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