Lodge Manager / General Manager
Visa sponsorship
Hospitality · Invercargill, New Zealand · Full-Time · Discussed at interview · Visa: Employer sponsored
Kabayan, if you have led a top-end hotel or resort and still love caring for guests yourself, here is an opening worth a careful look. A boutique luxury lodge beside a national park, in the far south of New Zealand's South Island, needs a Lodge Manager / General Manager.
Freshly restored, it welcomes guests again from 1 December 2026 with ten suites, two log cabins and a four-bedroom home that one family or group rents at a time. Nine more suites are added in October 2027, and the property stretches across about 32 hectares.
The owners want a warm, steady leader who greets each guest personally, shares a drink by the fireplace and keeps everyone calm during dinner, and who also handles the numbers, the staff schedule and the land with the same care. You will have room to decide and a direct line to the owners.
Everyone is welcome to apply, whether you are in New Zealand, Australia or elsewhere, and the owners will consider visa sponsorship for the right candidate.
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Key Responsibilities
- You will greet every guest warmly and make time for them during their stay
- You will look after each visit from the first booking details to meals, guided trips, the exclusive-use house and a heartfelt goodbye
- You will set how good service should be, keep it steady and join your team wherever the day needs you
- You will grow a caring culture so every guest feels at home from arrival to departure
- You will open nine new suites and settle them into daily life at the lodge as it grows from 12 keys to 21
- You will work with the Lodge Head Chef on what the kitchen and bar serve
- You will lead about eighteen multi-skilled teammates at reopening and guide the Lodge Host, Housekeeping Manager, Assistant Lodge Manager, Executive Chef and Maintenance & Grounds Supervisor
- You will hire, train, schedule and mentor people who deliver in every season
- You will care for the gardens, native bush, vehicles, driveways, staff quarters, cabins, the exclusive-use house, the lodge itself and its infrastructure
- You will keep the maintenance and grounds team on a yearly plan for the estate, covering preventive upkeep, presentation and compliance
- You will own the yearly operating plan and profit, grow bookings, rate, guest spending and repeat and direct guests with reservations and finance, and review results weekly before reporting monthly to the directors
Requirements & Eligibility
- Experience leading in luxury hospitality, ideally as Lodge Manager, General Manager or at a senior operations level
- Strong leadership with guests and a heartfelt love of personal service
- Proven financial and business management with budgets, forecasts and operating profit, plus experience leading people from several hospitality areas
- Clear communication in writing and in conversation
- Good judgement to lead on your own at a remote lodge, even when the road is cut off or the weather changes
- A Manager's Certificate, or eligibility to obtain one before certificated duties, and a clean, full driver licence
- Highly regarded: having run a luxury lodge, boutique hotel or exclusive-use property; having worked on a hotel opening, refurbishment or major development; knowing New Zealand's luxury tourism market; and caring for grounds, facilities and infrastructure at a remote property
- You must hold, or be able to obtain, the legal right to work in New Zealand
Apply: Apply by email · WhatsApp
Visa guide: AEWV Guide for Filipino Workers