Director of Sales & Marketing Kigali Marriott Hotel

Marriott International have selected to mark its entry into the Rwandan market by adding 5-Star hotel facility to the country's growing hospitality industry to be operated under the company signature brand Marriott Hotels and Resorts. The hotel is due to open its 254 rooms by November 2012. Rwanda is on its way to becoming a service, transportation and logistics hub for the Central African region; in the recent years, Rwanda has successfully established itself as an international conference destination and its tea, coffee, fruit and flowers industries have become highly-regarded exports. Its wealth of wildlife, flora and fauna and especially its gorilla population are giving rise to its well deserved eco-tourism industry." With Marriott coming to the country, there will be a lot of cooperation and positive influence on both business and community.

Requirements

JOB SUMMARY 

The Director, Sales and Marketing functions as the leader of the hotel's sales department for properties with bookings over 300 peak rooms and significant local catering revenue. The incumbent is responsible for the property's reactive and proactive sales efforts. The position provides day to day leadership to sales associates to achieve hotel sales objectives with overall responsibility for achieving booking goals and property revenues. The incumbent implements the brand's service strategy and applicable brand initiatives in all aspects of the sales process and focuses on building long-term, value-based customer relationships that enable achievement of the hotel's' sales objectives. The position evaluates the hotel's participation in the various sales channels (e.g., Area Sales, Sales Office, electronic lead channels, etc.) and develops strong working relationships to proactively position and market the property. The incumbent manage the marketing budget to enable development of hotel specific campaigns, promotions and collateral to drive revenue and meet property objectives. The Director, Sales and Marketing also interfaces with regional marketing communications for regional and national promotions pull through. As a member of the Executive Committee, the incumbent develops and implements hotel-wide strategies that deliver products and services to meet or exceed the needs and expectations of the brand's target customer profile and property associates and provides a return on investment to the owner and Marriott International.



CANDIDATE PROFILE 

Education and Experience

Required:

2-year degree from an accredited university in Business Administration, Marketing, Hotel and Restaurant Management, or related major; 4 years experience in the sales and marketing or related professional area.

OR

4-year bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Hotel and Restaurant Management, or related major; 2 years experience in the sales and marketing or related professional area.

Preferred:

4 year college degree.

Demonstrated skills in supervising a team.

Lodging sales experience.

Hotel industry work experience, demonstrating progressive career growth and a pattern of exceptional performance.

CORE WORK ACTIVITIES 

The Director, Sales and Marketing has overall responsibility to lead the on-property sales and marketing effort to achieve and/or exceed hotel revenue goals. Overall, the position is accountable for the following:

Sales and Marketing Leadership 

Develop sales goals and strategies and ensure alignment with the brand business strategy.

Execute the sales strategy and ensure individual booking goals are met for both self and staff.

Coach leaders of revenue generating departments in developing effective revenue strategies and setting aggressive goals that will drive the property's financial performance.

Ensure the development of a strategic account plan for the demand generators in the market.

Ensure Sales team understands and is leveraging MI demand engines to full potential.

Ensure focus is on proactive selling as well as reactive selling.

Determine and develop marketing communication activities, in conjunction with Regional Marketing Communications.

Provide customer intelligence in evaluating the market and economic trends that may lead to changes in sales strategy to meet or exceed customer expectations.

Develop strong partnerships with local organizations to further increase brand/product awareness.

Review the STAR report, competitive shopping reports and uses other resources to maintain an awareness of the hotel's market position.

Research competitor's sales team strategies to identify ways to grow occupancy and RevPAR and increase market share.

Attend sales strategy meetings to provide input on weekly and overall sales strategy.

Suggest innovative marketing ideas and proactively develop deployment strategies to continue to grow market share.

Evaluate and support Area Sales and Sales Office participation and account deployment.

Develop and manage internal key stakeholder relationships.

Serve as the sales contact for the General Manager, property leadership team, Sales Office and Area Sales leaders.

Serve as the sales contact for customers; serve as the customer advocate.

Serve as the property sales liaison with Area Sales, Sales Office, Revenue Management, Event Management, Regional Marketing Communications and other hotel departments as appropriate.

Serve as hotel authority on sales processes and sales contracts.

Develop strong community and public relations by ensuring property participation in local, regional and national tradeshows and client events.

Participate in sales calls with members of the Sales and Marketing team to acquire new business and/or close on business.

Identify public relations opportunities and coordinate activities to augment the overall marketing communication strategy.

Support the General Manager by coordinating crisis communications.

Work with Human Resources, Engineering and Loss Prevention to ensure compliance with local, state and federal regulations and/or union requirements.

Execute and support Marriott's Customer Service Standards and hotel's Brand Standards.

Execute and support the operational aspects of business booked (e.g., generating proposal, writing contract, customer correspondence).

Participate in and practice daily service basics of the brand (i.e., MHR Spirit to Serve Daily Basics, RHR Savvy Service Basics, Courtyard, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inn Basics of the Day, Residence Inn Daily Huddle, or TownePlace Suites Morning Meeting).

Execute exemplary customer service to drive customer satisfaction and loyalty by assisting the customer and ensuring their satisfaction before and during their program/event.

Serve the customer by understanding their needs and recommending the appropriate features and services that best meet their needs and exceed their expectations, while building a relationship and loyalty to Marriott.

Gain understanding of the hotel's primary target customer and service expectations; serve the customer by understanding their business, business issues and concerns, to offer better business solution both prior to, and during the program/event.

Perform other duties, as assigned, to meet business needs.

Hotel Performance

Ensure that the property implements a seamless turnover from sales to operations and back to sales while consistently delivering high level of service.

Monitor the effective resolution of guest issues that arise as a result of the sales process by creating mechanisms to channel issues to property leadership and/or other appropriate stakeholders.

Ensure successful performance by increasing revenues, controlling expenses and providing a return on investment for the owner and Marriott International.

Talent Management

Partner with Human Resources to attract, develop and retain the right people in order to support the strategic priorities of the market. Ensure effective structures, processes, jobs and performance management systems are in place. Set goals and expectations for direct reports using the LPP, align performance and rewards, appropriately address performance issues and hold staff accountable for successful results.

Forecast talent needs and manage talent acquisition strategy with HR to minimize lost time due to turnover.

Keep an active list of the competition's best sales people and execute a recruitment and acquisition plan with HR.

Support tools and training resources to educate sales associates on winning catering solutions. Champion leadership development and workforce planning priorities by assessing, selecting, retaining and developing diverse, high-caliber talent that can lead the organization today and strengthen the leadership bench for the future; continue to upgrade the sales & marketing talent; work with HR to anticipate future talent needs based on business growth plans.

Identify, train and mentor group sales associates. Utilizes all available on the job training tools for associates.

Transfer functional knowledge and develop group sales skills of other discipline managers Marriott International is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive culture.

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