Pros
Meeting other hotels and employees.
Cons
Commonwealth Hotels was once a culture-driven company under its original founders—limited capital, but an outstanding place to grow along with a great culture. Since the sale of the company and the promotion of Jennifer Porter from VP to COO to President (Glassdoor still lists the prior president), that culture has eroded. Leadership is now highly centralized and pressure-driven, with constant urgency applied uniformly—everything is framed as both important and critical, which ultimately makes prioritization meaningless and execution exhausting. The Presidents GM-style mindset is applied at the executive level: fewer employees, increased expectations, zero tolerance for mistakes, frequent write-ups of senior staff, and limited collaboration. Mistakes are not treated as learning opportunities but are often scrutinized to the point that leaders become hesitant to make decisions at all, creating paralysis until direction comes from the top—leaving leadership inadvertently absorbing responsibilities that should be owned and executed by others. It is unusual for a president to write up senior-level employees, and this leadership approach feels more suited to a regional VP role than to setting strategy and empowering teams. Many long-tenured employees remain from the COVID era, yet Jennifer is the only person to have been promoted—twice—during that time, while discussions about advancement or future growth are often viewed as disloyalty. Despite teams working through COVID with no meaningful advancement opportunities, promotion pathways largely disappeared, and leadership has openly communicated that those seeking growth or dissatisfied with the status quo should leave—removing any clear incentive or “carrot” for long-term commitment and serving as a clear indicator of the prevailing leadership style. Despite the president having broad autonomy for years, decisions remain highly granular, and when outcomes fall short, accountability is framed as execution failure rather than leadership design. I share this as someone who was genuinely invested in the company and felt let down by how leadership evolved and ultimately led to my exit, as it has for others. There are talented people and a solid portfolio, but success here depends on tolerance for micromanagement, ambiguity, and limited growth.