A hospitality group opening eight properties a year was losing general managers faster than it could grow them. We rebuilt the talent system — progression, pay mechanics, and the GM role itself — and the attrition curve bent within two quarters.
GM attrition had reached 28% annually, and every departure took a property's performance down with it for a year. Exit data told a consistent story the organization hadn't acted on: the role had quietly absorbed three jobs — operator, developer-liaison, and brand ambassador — while pay progression still assumed the first. High performers could see the math and left for competitors who split the role.
We redesigned the GM role around the operator core, moving development liaison to a regional function, then rebuilt progression as a named pipeline: every property leadership seat with an identified successor and a real date. Compensation mechanics were reworked with the CFO so that staying and growing beat leaving and returning — which the old system had accidentally rewarded.
“We had been buying general managers at a premium and training them for our competitors. Now the pipeline is the moat.”
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