Director of Travel Industry Sales - W Prague

JOB SUMMARY

Provides account management support for luxury travel agencies focused on luxury leisure individual and group business, located in top source markets that buy locally within the market. Develops strategic relationships with key segment buyers with the purpose of penetrating and growing local market share and driving revenue to hotel. 

CORE WORK ACTIVITIES

Managing Luxury Leisure Sales Activities

• Focuses on luxury leisure opportunities from luxury travel agencies.
• Partners with Global Account Executives that manage Luxury travel agencies (Signature, Internova,etc.)
• Works with Marketing teams on market-level and property-specific strategies and initiatives.  Pulls-through existing national and regional promotions with travel agency customers. 
• Partners with regional team to help implement the market’s luxury leisure strategy at key buying locations.  Verifies local market strategy is in alignment with the overall account goals.
• Gains expertise in resort amenities (e.g. Spa), ‘new package offerings’ and market promotions; promotes offerings with local buyers. 
• Develops complete understanding of Marriott’s value proposition to the travel agency market and all associated programs and services.
• Partners with), Travel Industry Wholesale to pull through business within launch market and sustain selling solutions at the property level.
• Understands competitive market set and economic environment in order to position hotels appropriately during sales process. 
• Attends appropriate trade shows, travel agency shows, and retail agency events. 
• Assists with business for other source markets on behalf of travel agency customers, as a value-added service. 
• Focuses on luxury leisure transient and group opportunities from retail travel agencies.

Managing Sales Activities

• Manages of all retail, and travel management accounts, including accounts based in source markets that produce sales into the local area.
• Works with the Director of Sales to establish understanding of sales strategy and effective implementation of this strategy for the hotel in these segments.
• Manages and directs the on-property multi-segment sales effort to achieve hotel revenue goals by proactively targeting current and new high value accounts in the market and implementing effective sales deployment strategies to grow market share. 
• Achieves pre-defined group, retail, premium retail sales goals by actively up-selling each business opportunity to maximize revenue opportunity.
• Contracts and closes individual premium retail, retail, groups business resulting from strategic selling, negotiating skills and pull-through tactics.
• Retains, expands and grows account revenue through account growth, margin management and implementation of sales and marketing initiatives in the key buying locations.
• Partners with key Sales teams (i.e. Global Sales Organization (GSO)) to verify the pull through of intermediary segment strategies and tools in the market.
• Achieves local account revenue and sales goals as defined by Market leadership. Develops and achieves operating budgets and manages controllable expenses.

Building Successful Relationships

• Serves as account’s “local service guarantee” by verifying that outstanding service delivery is maintained at every customer touch point, issues are resolved timely and to the customers’ 100% satisfaction.
• Creates strong partnerships between field and corporate by maintaining a productive dialogue and exchange of ideas.
• Acts as the customer advocate through understanding the account needs and opportunities. 
• Identifies emerging business opportunities and risks in the market to determine strategic Sales and Marketing implications and provides feedback to key stakeholders; partners with key stakeholders in account planning and determining strategy execution approaches for the market. 
• Manages relationships with the key buyers that drive business to the market to optimize account reach and share for the segment.
• Develops working relationships with Property staff and provides coaching on specific booking needs to establish pull-through of opportunities of the wholesale segment.
• Develops and manages relationships with key buyers that drive business to the local market, optimize share and grow the luxury leisure segment.