Return to manage hotel for a period (5)
I believe the answer is:
epoch
'period' is the definition.
(epoch is a kind of period)
'return to manage hotel' is the wordplay.
'return' is a reversal indicator.
'to manage' becomes 'cope' (manage can mean to cope or do well).
'hotel' becomes 'h' (phonetic alphabet).
'cope' reversed gives 'epoc'.
'epoc'+'h'='EPOCH'
'for a' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for epoch that I've seen before include "Geological time period" , "A particular period of history" , "remarkable time" , "Division of a geological period" , "Point in time fixed by some great event" .)