While the rest of the hotel tends to the guests that are in-house today, the sales and marketing department focuses their energy on capturing the guests of tomorrow.
Often, the sales and marketing department will be head by a Director of Marketing, or a Director of Sales and Marketing. Their job is to position the hotel in the marketplace utilizing marketing, direct solicitation and public relation channels. They will also assist in setting rates and creating promotions that are competitive in the market place and achieve hotel budget goals. In recent years, monitoring social media and e-commerce has played an increasingly large role in their responsibilities.
Reporting to the Director of Marketing will be hotel sales managers. The number of sales managers a hotel may have is dictated by the size of the hotel and the type of business the hotel attracts. A boutique hotel may just have one or two, whereas a large casino resort may have 20 sales managers. Typically, sales managers will handle a specific segment of business being either group business, corporate business or leisure business, and often that segment of business will be divided by a geographic territory.
These roles will typically be supported by an administrative assistant who helps with phone calls, putting together proposals and other administrative duties. Although this position is entry level, the knowledge that is gained while supporting the sales department sets the assistant up well for advancing into a sales career of their own.
Don't miss out on the job you want! Join CruiseJobFinder
Each hotel has specific type of guest they look to attract. For example, a city hotel will aim to attract corporate business travelers, leisure travelers and convention business. In contrast, a resort destination, will aim to attract individual leisure travelers, as well as incentive groups. As each business segment is unique, sales managers will typically specialize in a specific segment.
To find out more about careers in hotel sales, continue reading on in our Member's Section.