Busy season is coming.
For hotels, resorts, restaurants, spas, wellness destinations, and other hospitality businesses, the final months of the year can bring increased demand, fuller properties, more events, and higher guest expectations. It’s also one of the worst times to discover that a critical leadership position has been sitting open for too long.
An unfilled position isn’t simply a line on an organizational chart. When a GM, Executive Chef, Director of Operations, F&B Director, Spa Director, HR leader, or other key executive role remains vacant, the impact can ripple throughout the entire business.
The Work Doesn’t Disappear
When a leadership position is open, someone else inevitably picks up the slack. Responsibilities get divided among already-busy executives, managers stretch beyond their own roles, and important projects get pushed aside to handle the immediate needs of the operation.
That may work temporarily. Over time, it can lead to burnout, slower decision-making, inconsistent leadership, and valuable employees questioning how long they can—or want to—keep doing two jobs.
And heading into peak season, there is very little room for those cracks to grow.
Your Guests Can Feel It
Hospitality is ultimately about the guest experience, and strong leadership is what keeps that experience consistent.
When a key role is vacant, details can get missed. Teams may lack direction. Service standards can slip. Problems may take longer to resolve. And during busy periods, even small operational issues can quickly become much bigger ones.
The right leader does more than fill a position. They create accountability, develop their team, solve problems, drive revenue, maintain standards, and help ensure that what guests see on the surface is supported by a strong operation behind the scenes.
Waiting Can Cost More Than Hiring
It can be tempting to leave a position open while waiting for the “perfect” candidate—or simply because everyone is too busy to focus on recruiting.
But there is a cost to waiting.
Consider the revenue opportunities that may be missed without the right sales leader. The overtime and burnout created when managers are covering an open position. The impact of operating without an experienced chef, GM, HR leader, or department head. Or the cost of losing another strong employee because the team has been stretched too thin for too long.
Sometimes the most expensive hire is the one you don’t make.
This Is Where Hutchinson Comes In
For more than 25 years, Hutchinson has specialized in executive recruiting for hospitality, food & beverage, spa, health, and wellness organizations.
And there is an important distinction in how we recruit: our recruiters come from the industries we serve.
Our team brings decades of hands-on experience in hospitality operations, human resources, talent acquisition, hotels and resorts, food & beverage, spa, and wellness. We understand the positions we recruit for because we understand the businesses behind them.
That experience is backed by a proprietary database of more than 25,000 candidates, along with decades of personal relationships and confidential industry connections.
Our reach extends across a broad spectrum of leadership roles—from CEOs, COOs, hotel GMs and Directors of Operations to Executive Chefs, F&B leaders, sales and marketing executives, HR and finance leaders, Spa and Wellness Directors, and healthcare professionals.
Just as importantly, we don’t believe in sending a stack of résumés and hoping one sticks. Our goal is to understand what a client truly needs and present relevant candidates who have the experience, leadership style, and fit to succeed within that specific organization.
You Don’t Pay Until We Deliver
Hutchinson operates on a non-retained, contingent basis. That means there is no upfront recruiting fee—you pay us when we successfully place your candidate.
Our placements are also backed by a 90-day replacement guarantee, helping reduce the risk that can come with making a critical hire.
Busy Season Won’t Wait. Neither Should You.
If there is a key position on your team that you’ve been meaning to fill, now is the time to act.
Give your new leader time to join the organization, learn the operation, build relationships with the team, and be ready to perform when business is at its busiest.
Have an open position? Let Hutchinson help you find the right person—before you need them most.
