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' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'to manage' becomes 'cope' (manage can mean to cope or do well).
'hotel' becomes 'h' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'cope' backwards is 'epoc'.
'epoc'+'h'='EPOCH'
'for a' is the 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" .)