Director, Franchise Opening Support

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The Director of Franchise Opening Support serves as a strategic leader for Marriott International's pre-opening franchised hotels in the APEC region. This role provides expertise, strategic guidance, and operational oversight to meet key milestones and operational disciplines during the pre-opening phase.

Working closely with disciple experts, the Director organizes, develops, and implements pre-opening processes for hotels, delivering essential support to key stakeholders. They provide the expertise needed to successfully implement brand service strategies and initiatives, ensuring a smooth transition into full operations post-opening.

With a focus on overall operational excellence across various hotel disciplines, the position is vital for building and maintaining strong relationships with franchisees. The role will also oversee preparation and coordination of a pre-opening workshop that with the aim of ensuring the Franchise operator is well positioned to open the hotel on-brand and on-strategy. Additionally, the Director acts as a key liaison with the Regional Team and discipline teams above the property level during the opening phase.

This role serves as the initial primary point of contact for questions about Operations, Brand Standards, Loyalty Programs, Brand Audits, Guest Voice, Brand Initiatives, and Quality Assurance.

**Core Responsibilities**
- **Owner & Stakeholder Relations**: Build and maintain strong relationships with hotel owners, franchisees, and other key stakeholders, serving as the main point of contact for the operational leadership team.
- **Operational Leadership**: Guide the collective operational performance across the portfolio, ensuring compliance with brand standards, and supporting the leadership teams in operational excellence.
- **Training & Development**: Support training, recommendations, and conduct customized workshops as needed to ensure operational teams meet performance standards and brand expectations.
- **Resource Sharing & Collaboration**: Engage in resource development and sharing to support the franchise teams in roll-out initiatives, brand programs, and processes.
- **Compliance & Quality Assurance**: Ensure compliance with MI programs and assist in the roll-out of brand initiatives, audits, and quality assurance measures to guarantee operational excellence across the portfolio.
- **Operational Excellence**: Oversee and support all areas of operations, including Rooms Operations, Food & Beverage, Event Management, and related services, ensuring seamless execution in alignment with brand standards.
- **Expansion & Scalability**: Assist in the development of tools, resources, programs, and processes to support the growth of the franchise division, with a focus on scalability and sustainability.
- **Handover**:Provide a meaningful**post opening handover and introduction to regional operations teams to take over support for the properties.

**EXPECTED CONTRIBUTIONS**

Pre-Opening Leadership & Support:

- Serve as the central point of contact for all pre-opening activities, acting as a liaison between Owners, Regional Teams, Hotel Teams, and Corporate/Continent support teams.
- Partner with stakeholders—including Owners, Property Teams, and Regional Leadership—in the planning and execution of all pre-opening tasks.
- Guide General Managers and their teams through the pre-opening process, including onboarding, critical path planning, sign-ups, and training coordination.
- Provide support, tools, and templates for pre-opening budgets, manning guides, operating supply estimates (5SU/OS&E), and other essential resources in alignment with brand standards.
- Coordinate and support Owner Kick-Off and Pre-Opening Countdown meetings, including content preparation and stakeholder engagement.
- Monitor progress of pre-opening milestones, escalate issues as necessary, and support resolution of any conflicts between stakeholders.
- Ensure operational readiness by overseeing compliance with local regulatory requirements, licenses, insurance, financial set-up, and statutory obligations.
- Align with stakeholders on confirmed opening dates and ensure all financial and operational requirements are met prior to launch.
- Support knowledge transfer and best practices through post-opening reviews and ongoing communication with hotel teams.

**Franchise Operations Oversight**:

- Act as the primary contact for on-property Franchise operations teams, fostering strong, consistent working relationships with General Managers and leadership teams.
- Drive operational performance across all property departments, using key metrics such as GuestVoice, loyalty program engagement, mobile services usage, and quality assurance scores.
- Promote adoption of brand initiatives and ensure mandatory programs are executed successfully. Communicate optional initiatives and encourage engagement where appropriate.
- Conduct on-property diagnostics, performance reviews, and customized training worksh