General Business Manager

Job Opportunity – Business Manager / General Manager Position – Zanzibar 

Summer Hospitality is seeking a strong, hands-on Business Manager / General Manager to lead the day-to-day management and performance of its luxury villa portfolio in Paje, Zanzibar. This is a senior on-site role combining operations leadership, team management, guest experience oversight, owner relations, commercial performance, and revenue optimization. The successful candidate will be expected to run the business as an operating asset, not simply supervise hospitality delivery.

This role is suited to a commercially minded operator who can improve performance across occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, cost control, standards, reporting, and execution, while working effectively in a lean, owner-led environment.

CORE PURPOSE

To take full responsibility for the smooth, profitable, standards-driven management of the villa portfolio, ensuring strong guest experience, disciplined team execution, reliable owner

communication, sound operational control, and continuous improvement in revenue and business performance.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

OPERATIONAL LEADERSHIP

• Lead the day-to-day operation of the managed villa portfolio in Zanzibar.

• Oversee all property management & Facility management functions including; housekeeping, maintenance coordination, guest services, stock control, site readiness, and general daily operations.

• Act as the senior on-site escalation point for operational, guest, staff, and urgent property issues.

COMMERCIAL PERFORMANCE AND REVENUE OPTIMISATION

• Drive performance across occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, booking pace, stay patterns, and channel mix.

• Review pricing, tourism statistics, booking trends, competitor positioning, minimum-stay controls, and conversion performance, and recommend adjustments to maximise revenue.

• Work with the Operations Director on promotions, targeted campaigns, tactical pricing actions, and special offers.

• Add new villas to approved booking channels such as Booking.com, Airbnb and VRBO as the portfolio grows, including listing setup, content loading, rate and availability mapping, amenity configuration, and go-live coordination to ensure each property is launched accurately, consistently, and on time.

• Monitor listing quality, content presentation, and platform competitiveness to improve visibility and conversion.

• Maintain rate integrity, inventory controls, and consistency across approved channels and systems.

• Support onboarding of new villas, including pricing setup, listing readiness, and go-live planning.

• Track key commercial KPIs and identify revenue leakage, system gaps, and process inefficiencies.

OWNER RELATIONS AND REPORTING

• Act as the primary on-site operational contact for owners.

• Prepare clear weekly and monthly updates covering operations, performance, issues, actions, and priorities.

• Prepare or oversee owner statement packs, revenue summaries, and performance commentary.

• Manage owner expectations professionally and confidently in an owner-led environment.

TEAM LEADERSHIP

• Lead, supervise, coach, and hold accountable the on-site team across operations and support functions.

• Manage rosters, attendance, productivity, discipline, and service standards.

• Support recruitment, onboarding, training, SOP implementation, and performance management.

GUEST EXPERIENCE AND STANDARDS

• Ensure a high-quality guest journey from pre-arrival to departure.

• Oversee guest issue handling and service recovery.

• Maintain luxury presentation, responsiveness, and attention to detail.

CONTROLS, SYSTEMS, AND COMPLIANCE

• Maintain operating procedures, checklists, service standards, and reporting discipline.

• Ensure PMS, channel manager, and portfolio data are accurate and usable.

• Support data cleanup, process improvement, and operational system discipline.

• Monitor cleanliness, maintenance standards, safety, asset protection, and general site

presentation.