Director of Sales

The Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa is actively seeking a Director of Sales.

The Sheraton Grand Hotel and Spa is ideally located in the heart of Edinburgh’s financial and tourist area and is one of Scotland’s leading 5 star hotels. As the largest 5 star hotel in the city with 269 bedrooms, we also have the biggest banqueting and meeting facilities with a capacity of up to 500 and the award winning One Square Restaurant. Additionally the hotel operates the award winning One Spa™, one of Europe’s premier advanced city spas. We are currently looking for a Director of Sales to join our Sales team.

Role:

• As a member of the senior team and leader of both the sales & resort sales team you must develop and implement property wide strategies that deliver products and services to meet or exceed the needs and expectations of the guests and staff members while providing ROI.
• Total responsibility to initiate, plan, direct and manage the implementation of the hotel’s sales strategy to ensure that the hotel’s bedrooms and C&B business is maximized to achieve budgeted revenues. Direct and supervise the day to day activities of the whole team, ensuring that the activities of all team members are aligned with hotel strategy.

Essential Functions

• Responsible for leadership of direct reports and their teams - recruitment and selection, performance management, employee development and motivation, counselling and disciplinary issues

• Responsible for control and delivery of Sales P&L -payroll costs, travel expenses and department expenses
• Total responsibility for setting the overall C&B budget and maintaining profit margins.
• Train and develop all group & event planners and sellers in all aspects of revenue reporting, including budgeting and forecasting on a monthly basis for group rooms and C&B revenues.
• Maintain close liaison with Marketing Manager to create innovative marketing and promotional activities for MICE market globally.
• Proactively manage a pre-determined number of key accounts, key prospects and other active accounts to ensure maximum yield in line with budgetary objectives.
• Maintain close liaison with other department heads to ensure that the operational departments work effectively as one team to provide a seamless service across the operation. Institute a clear communication strategy within the hotel and supporting teams to ensure effective sharing and updating of information throughout the property, including a structured and active meetings and briefings process. Seeking opportunities to encourage teamwork in order to share resources and best practice between departments.
• To conduct or chair regular communication meetings with team and actively participate in relevant business meetings to facilitate effective communication.
• Staying up-to-date with financial results (budget versus actual) in sales and cost areas and ensure that sales and profit are maximised, attend monthly P&L meetings.
• Together with the senior team, take a leading role in positively representing the company with guests, reinforcing a customer focused approach to hotel operations at all times – and harnessing post-event surveys to measure success
• Set annual revenue targets, in line with budget, for all direct sales people, ensuring that they are clear on their revenue target and have a planned strategy to achieve their goals.

Requirements:

We are looking for someone who is energetic, passionate, self-motivated and who is ready to take the next step on their career path. Essentially, you will have at least 5 years’ experience within a similar sales environment, with exceptional management of a team & leadership skills experience required. We are looking for candidates who have a flexible approach to working hours and a desire to continually improve our product.

• Excellent written and verbal communication
• Must be able to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups to managers, clients, customers, and ownership.

• Must be able to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
• 4/5 Star experience in an International hospitality company in a senior management position.
• 5+ years of sales experience
• Experience and knowledge of global MICE market
• High degree of analytical skills required & Budget setting and forecasting skills mandatory
• Travel Industry experience
• Leadership skills required