Director of Sales & Marketing - Sofitel Riyadh

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We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Director of Sales & Marketing at Sofitel Riyadh. You will work closely with the General Manager, Director of Revenue Management and heads of department to establish business plans to drive sales, brand marketing, communications, eCommerce & Digital targeting all existing segments, channels and geographical markets with full accountability for achievement of annual revenue budget.

 Main Responsibilities:

• Actively participates in strategic planning, sales and marketing plan and budgeting processes, challenging the strategy with the General Manager & Director of Revenue Management.
• Develops an effective Sales & Marketing plan, with clear objectives and sales goals per each business segment, towards the achievement of total operating budgeted revenue.
• Ensures all brand standards are maintained at all times within the Hotel and that any deviations from brand marketing guidelines are recorded and approved upon by the Corporate Office.
• Oversees and approves the advertising and communications plan for the Hotel, defined by the Marketing department.
• Ensures a robust eCommerce & Digital Marketing plan is delivered by Marketing department with an ‘always on’ approach to campaigns with investment optimized driving ROI/ROAS.
• Directs and approves the overall travel plans of the S&M team to maximize coverage and revenue potential for the Hotel.
• Takes a lead position in the Hotel’s weekly / monthly forecasting meetings, working closely with the Director of Revenue Management deciding strategies to achieve goals/targets.
• Is conversant with revenue management and channel / distribution management, using tools to effectively to support the Director of Revenue Management in defining strategy.
• Works closely with Director of Revenue Management fostering a positive culture of collaboration, challenging thought processes and strategies to drive topline performance across all channels and segments. 
• Establishes and reviews USALI compliant marketing and sales budgets and allocated expenditures to ensure most effective use of funds available to support business objectives.
• Regularly conducts and reviews the business performance and productivity with each team member.
• Leads daily departmental meeting, ensuring all Heartists are fully briefed on business OTB, guest arrival report VIPs, key events and meetings and daily sales activity.
• Maximise and leverage support from the Accor Global Sales and Luxury & Lifestyle Sales in pursuing business from key segments; Leisure, Group and Corporate.
• Drives sales and marketing initiatives and activities to optimise synergy amongst sister hotels on cross-selling. Such activities include joint sales calls, co-partnership, trade shows, exhibitions, client events, cluster or group-wide promotions etc.
• Pro-actively share market intelligence with General Manager and Executive team, to better guide business decisions, short, medium and long term.
• Works closely with Director of Food and Beverage to ensure F&B marketing support for promotional events and for the co-ordination of local advertising.
• Develops and maintains close working relationships with all Division Heads and is an active part of the senior management team.
• Actively participates in and leads recruitment and talent development for the Division / Department, to meet both current and future needs.

Personal Competencies:

• Communicates with impact, clearly and consistently to ensure understanding (in English and Arabic languages).
• Seeks opportunities to self-develop and is detail minded, highly organized and time efficient to ensure commercial objectives are achieved.
• Monitors market trends and understands their impact on sales and marketing strategies of the business.
• Identifies opportunities for improvement developing change initiatives.
• Understands financial data and the operations of all commercial departments.
• Coordinates, directs, coaches and monitors team resources and activities to achieve goals

• Minimum of five years’ experience in similar role in the luxury hotel industry.
• High degree of commercial awareness and hotel management.
• Proficiency in MS Office, PMS & CMS systems.
• Fluency in English & Arabic written and spoken, other languages would be a plus.
• Composed and confident in dealing with luxury clientele.
• Strong media, presentation and computer skills.
• Strong influencing, negotiating and interpersonal skills.
• Business planning skills and budget management skills.
• Graduate degree / Postgraduate qualification.
• Demonstrate strong communication skills both verbally and in writing.
• Team leader, with the ability to inspire and create a successful culture.