Hotel General Manager – Full-Service Hotel & Regional Conference Center | Mankato, MN

Country Inn & Suites by Radisson – Mankato, Minnesota
Full-Service Hotel | Regional Conference Center | Legends Bar & Grill | Banquets & Events

We are looking for an experienced Hotel General Manager to lead a full-service hotel, regional conference and banquet operation, and Legends Bar & Grill in Mankato, Minnesota.

Located near Minnesota State University, Mankato, this is much more than a rooms-focused hotel GM position. The property serves business travelers, university visitors, sports teams, weddings, corporate meetings, conferences, community events, and local restaurant guests.

The General Manager will have responsibility for the entire property and every major revenue stream—hotel rooms, group business, conferences, banquets, catering, and food & beverage.

We need a leader who understands how to run a successful full-service hotel while also seeing the larger opportunity: grow the property into one of southern Minnesota's preferred destinations for conferences, meetings, banquets, weddings, group travel, and dining.

Why This Opportunity Stands Out

This role offers considerably more operating complexity and opportunity than a traditional select-service hotel GM position.

You will lead:

• A full-service hotel operation
• A regional conference and event center
• Banquet, catering, wedding, meeting, and group business
• Legends Bar & Grill, an established on-site restaurant and bar
• Sales and revenue strategy across multiple revenue streams
• A multi-department leadership and operations team
• The property's presence in the Mankato and southern Minnesota business community

The opportunity is to build revenue—not simply maintain the operation.

What You'll Own

Success will be measured across the total business, including:

• RevPAR, ADR, occupancy, and market share
• Group room revenue and booking pace
• Conference and meeting space utilization
• Banquet, wedding, catering, and event revenue
• Legends Bar & Grill revenue and profitability
• Total hotel revenue and GOP
• Labor and operating expense management
• Guest satisfaction and online reputation
• Employee engagement, accountability, and retention
• Community and corporate relationships

Full-Service Hotel Leadership

Provide hands-on leadership across all hotel operations, including:

• Front Office
• Housekeeping
• Maintenance and Engineering
• Sales
• Revenue Management
• Food & Beverage
• Banquets and Catering
• Conference and Event Operations

Establish clear expectations for department leaders, monitor performance, and ensure consistent execution throughout the property.

Maintain brand standards while continually identifying opportunities to improve service, productivity, revenue, and profitability.

Conference Center, Banquets & Events

A major priority of this position is maximizing the property's conference, banquet, meeting, wedding, and group-event potential.

The General Manager will:

• Build conference and meeting business throughout southern Minnesota and the Upper Midwest
• Increase utilization of meeting and event space
• Develop corporate, association, university, sports, wedding, and community business
• Monitor group pace, leads, conversion, pricing, and future bookings
• Ensure banquet and catering events are both well executed and profitable
• Work closely with Sales and Food & Beverage leadership to increase revenue per event
• Build repeat business with meeting planners, organizations, companies, and community partners

You should be comfortable asking: What business are we missing, why are we missing it, and what are we going to do to win it?

Legends Bar & Grill

Legends Bar & Grill is an important part of the property's full-service experience and a revenue opportunity in its own right.

The General Manager will work closely with restaurant leadership to:

• Grow restaurant and bar traffic
• Strengthen the Legends brand in the Mankato market
• Improve food & beverage revenue and profitability
• Build connections between Legends, hotel guests, conferences, banquets, and local events
• Develop promotions and events that create additional traffic
• Maintain strong standards for food quality, service, cleanliness, and hospitality
• Ensure appropriate labor, food-cost, beverage-cost, and inventory controls

We want Legends to be a destination for local guests as well as hotel guests.

Sales, Revenue & Market Growth

This GM needs to understand the commercial side of hospitality.

Responsibilities include:

• Lead the property's overall revenue strategy
• Drive transient, corporate, group, conference, banquet, and restaurant revenue
• Partner with Revenue Management on rates, inventory, forecasting, and demand strategy
• Monitor competitive hotel performance and market conditions
• Build relationships with local employers, organizations, meeting planners, sports groups, and community leaders
• Capitalize on demand generated by Minnesota State University, Mankato
• Identify opportunities throughout Mankato, southern Minnesota, and the broader Midwest
• Actively participate in sales strategy rather than treating sales as a separate department

Financial & P& L Leadership

The General Manager has responsibility for the financial performance of the entire operation.

You will:

• Own the hotel P& L, operating budget, and forecasts
• Review financial performance and act quickly when results miss expectations
• Manage labor productivity and departmental staffing
• Control operating expenses without sacrificing guest experience
• Evaluate profitability across rooms, restaurant, banquet, catering, and conference operations
• Establish accountability with department leaders
• Protect company assets and maintain strong financial and operational controls

Build and Lead the Team

Strong results require strong department leaders.

The General Manager will recruit, develop, coach, and retain leaders who can run their areas of the business while remaining accountable for results.

We are looking for someone who:

• Is visible and engaged throughout the property
• Sets clear expectations
• Follows through
• Develops managers instead of trying to do everything personally
• Addresses performance issues promptly
• Recognizes strong performance
• Creates consistency across departments
• Builds a culture centered on hospitality, accountability, teamwork, and execution

Guest Experience & Community Presence

The GM should be a visible leader both inside the hotel and throughout the Mankato community.

You will build relationships with guests, corporate clients, event planners, local businesses, community organizations, university-related groups, and other sources of hotel and event business.

The goal is straightforward: create an operation people want to stay at, dine at, meet at, celebrate at, and return to.

What We're Looking For

Our strongest candidates will bring:

• Hotel General Manager, Assistant General Manager, Director of Operations, or comparable hotel leadership experience
• Full-service hotel experience strongly preferred
• Experience with banquets, conferences, meetings, catering, weddings, or significant group business
• Food & beverage or restaurant operational experience
• Demonstrated ability to grow hotel revenue
• Knowledge of RevPAR, ADR, occupancy, group pace, forecasting, and revenue management
• Strong P& L, budgeting, labor-management, and cost-control skills
• Experience leading multiple hotel departments
• Strong sales and business-development instincts
• Ability to develop department leaders and hold teams accountable
• A hands-on leadership style and genuine understanding of hospitality

Experience leading a hotel with substantial meeting space, conference operations, banquet facilities, and an on-site restaurant would be particularly valuable.

Compensation

Salary: $90, 000–$100, 000 annually, based on experience and qualifications.

Relocation assistance is available.

Benefits & Total Rewards

Our comprehensive benefits package includes:

• Medical insurance with employee-only coverage available at approximately $50 per month
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Company-paid life insurance
• Short-term disability
• Long-term disability
• Voluntary life and AD& D coverage
• FSA and HSA options
• Generous PTO
• 401(k) with company participation
• Financial advisory services
• Wellness and employee support programs

Build the Next Chapter of a Full-Service Mankato Destination

This is an opportunity for a hospitality leader who enjoys running the whole business.

Rooms matter. So do conferences. Banquets matter. So do weddings, group business, food & beverage, Legends Bar & Grill, university demand, community relationships, and the financial performance tying everything together.

If you have successfully led a full-service hotel, conference hotel, convention hotel, banquet property, resort, or complex hospitality operation and want the opportunity to grow multiple revenue streams, we want to hear from you.

Location: Mankato, Minnesota
Property: Country Inn & Suites by Radisson – Mankato
Restaurant: Legends Bar & Grill
Position: Hotel General Manager
Salary: $90, 000–$100, 000 + relocation assistance

Equal Opportunity Employer
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