Business Travel Sales Manager

Reporting to the Director of Sales and Marketing; the Corporate Sales & Business Travel Manager is responsible for managing a select group of B2B and Local accounts for The Sonesta Chicago O’Hare. The Corp. Sales Manager will serve as a trusted advisor for internal and external clients to optimize fair share delivery to Sonesta Hotels in addition to the following key responsibilities:

*Handle BT responsibilities for hotel and be point of contact for all BT accounts (local and national), wholesale/FIT, consortia, and government markets.

*Responsible for all related BT duties/task (Rate & System maintenance/VIP coordination, exception processing, B2B and end user customer service)

*Will represent hotel(s) for any tradeshow, market solicitation activities.

*On-site market sales activity required

*Manages the Distressed Airline accounts

As key enablement tools, the candidate will successfully embed Corporate and Business Travel sales initiatives and strategies that will increase Sonesta’s visibility and improve year over year share of Corporate & Business Travel business to Sonesta Hotels. The position requires a proactive approach and carefully crafted account plans to achieve desired results. The Corporate Sales Account Manager will also be measured on successful collaboration with varying stakeholders to include property leaders, Sonesta corporate leadership team including Global Sales, and key third party intermediators.

Operational/Functional:

· Effectively promote the Sonesta brand to group and meeting decision makers

· Be fully capable of utilizing primary online tools for RFP solicitation and negotiations including C-vent, Meeting Broker, Delphi.fdc

· Manage a limited number of GSO accounts for Sonesta’s full service domestic portfolio. Assigned Accounts, seller will be responsible for achieving account growth targets, solicitation, maintenance and all sales related activities .

· Be able to analyze market conditions and account specific data to determine current account status and alter individual account strategies, as needed.

· Meet or exceed weekly, quarterly and annual sales goals, KPI’s, solicitation goals and initiatives.

· Develop, actively solicit, and map group business accounts per defined territory.

· Participate in daily business review meeting, pre-convention meetings, training and other sales-related meetings as required.

· Adhere to all mandatory standards of operations, policies and procedures, manuals, memos, oral instructions, etc., all of which go to make up the essential functions of the job.

· Maintain a complete database of accounts in defined territories.

· Identify and qualify potential prospects through participating in telemarketing, tradeshows, sales blitzes and other sales initiatives.

· Prepare correspondence to customers, internal booking reports and file maintenance.

· Maximize outcome of all sales initiatives by following up on leads, following up with clients in-house to identify additional business opportunities and aggressively managing accounts.

· Leads on-site inspections by customers, performs outside sale calls to develop leads.

· Manages and negotiates account details and contracts so that all pertinent aspects of solicitation and closing are complete and documented. Manages and update Delphi.fdc daily.

· Formulates and submits formal and informal sales proposals to prospective customers in the field, at the hotel, and over the phone.

· Follow company direction, process, and expectations of assigned hotels.

· Partner with operations departments to ensure full participation in servicing accounts.

· Ensure all due dates/deadlines are met and other duties as assigned.

· Attend trade shows, community events and industry meetings as directed.

Strategy and Planning:

· Analyze sales statistics with Leadership, to determine sales potential, inventory requirements, and sales goals.

· Awareness of competition, top accounts, rates and sales strategies on an ongoing basis. Stays abreast of trends in the market.

· Ability to coordinate and participate in Sales Blitzes and completes follow up in a timely manner with potential corporate clients.

· Develop a sales plan that addresses new business development, product management from a sales and marketing perspective, strategic sales alliances, and partnerships with companies.

· Development of quarterly SMART plans.

· Ability to set up and lead customer business reviews on a quarterly basis; collaborating with other Sales and Operations teams as appropriate.

· Having a deep knowledge of group and meetings industry, decision making and booking processes.

· Develop strong working relationships with Sonesta International Hotel DOSMs and regional team to ensure collaborative management approach and seamless interactions with customers.

Financial Management:

· Manage and optimize annual revenue goal and to achieve YOY key account revenue growth (room nights, ADR and revenue).

· Ability to work with Revenue Management and provide detailed business analysis of group opportunities.

Interact with outside contacts:

· Oversee designated portfolio of managed accounts, strategic relationships in the B2B space and represent Sonesta in key industry associations

· Acquire new accounts that fit the hotel portfolio and drive incremental impact

· Promote and reposition the Sonesta brand to decision makers by analyzing needs, mapping business opportunities, creating strategies and measuring growth realized at Sonesta.

· Promoting and repositioning the Sonesta brand to group and meeting decision makers by analyzing needs, mapping business opportunities, creating strategies and measuring growth realized at Sonesta International relative to account level results.

· Customize and effectively socialize Sonesta’s value proposition to meet the needs of meeting planners.

· Ensuring client and hotel satisfaction by facilitating positive, long-term relationships with both customers and Sonesta Hotels International.

· Network at key industry events and trade shows.

Accountability:

· Responsible for individual performance and incremental contribution to Sonesta hotels.

· Responsibly collaborate with hotel teams to activate shared account events and activities.

· Responsible for effectively managing time commitments.

· Responsible for meeting and/or exceeding revenue and room night targets.

· Candidate is expected to learn and understand roles, responsibilities and business of the clients with whom we partner with.

· Responsible for using the appropriate account management tools to effectively track activities, opportunities and follow up.

· Responsible for achieving the desired ROI on tradeshow and industry events.

Leading with Passion

· Function as the Voice of the Customer to represent customer insights to key corporate personnel and Sonesta senior leadership.

· Utilize and collaborate with resources across different departments within the corporate office as appropriate.

· Lead by example and operate with integrity and respect.

· Work to achieve goals while overcoming competitive obstacles and planning alternate ways to win.

· Show strong passion and commitment about reaching targets.

· Celebrate individual and team success.

· Maintain a positive, “can do” attitude and a versatile approach to change.