Area Account Director, Leisure Sales

Highgate Hotels•Honolulu, HI

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Area Account Director – Leisure Sales is responsible for developing, managing, and growing strategic leisure business across the Highgate Hawaii portfolio of hotels. This position serves as a key relationship leader for assigned wholesale, consortia, and retail travel advisor accounts, with a primary focus on strengthening partnerships, increasing market share, and driving profitable room night and revenue production to participating Highgate Hawaii hotels. The Area Account Director will take ownership of an assigned portfolio of accounts and develop a clear, customized strategy for each account and each applicable hotel, recognizing that every property has unique positioning, business needs, competitive considerations, and revenue objectives. A critical component of the role is building meaningful, long-term relationships with key account partners, including account leadership, product teams, travel advisors, marketing teams, and other decision-makers who influence Hawaii business. The Area Account Director will work closely with hotel Revenue Management, Sales, Marketing, and property leadership to identify opportunities, develop promotions and tactical initiatives, improve hotel positioning, educate partners, and grow incremental business. Success in this position requires a proactive sales approach, strong account ownership, strategic thinking, consistent follow-through, and the ability to effectively represent multiple hotels while maintaining an individualized strategy for each property.

Requirements

Minimum of 2 years of progressive hotel, hospitality, or leisure sales experience, preferably with experience in wholesale, leisure travel, consortia, travel advisor, or multi-property sales.
Four-year college degree and at least 3 years of related experience; or two-year college degree and at least 5 years of related experience; equivalent hospitality sales experience may also be considered.
Hawaii hotel, destination, wholesale, or leisure travel sales experience strongly preferred.
Multi-property or area sales experience preferred.
Demonstrated experience developing and managing strategic accounts and achieving measurable revenue or production goals.
Strong understanding of hotel revenue strategy, distribution, wholesale partnerships, travel advisor channels, and leisure travel sales.
Must possess a valid driver's license as required for the position.
Strong relationship-building and account management skills.
Strategic and analytical approach to account development.
Proven ability to develop account-specific sales strategies and translate them into measurable action plans.
Strong sales, presentation, negotiation, and communication skills.
Ability to represent multiple hotels while maintaining distinct strategies and priorities for each property.
Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple accounts, properties, projects, and deadlines simultaneously.
Self-motivated and proactive with a strong sense of account ownership and accountability.
Ability to analyze production data and translate findings into actionable sales strategies.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Strong attention to detail and consistent follow-through.
Ability to work collaboratively across Sales, Revenue Management, Marketing, Operations, and hotel leadership.
Proficiency in Microsoft Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and company-approved sales and reporting systems.
Ability and willingness to travel as required for account meetings, trade shows, sales missions, conferences, familiarization trips, and hotel visits.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary sales relationship manager for assigned wholesale, consortia, and retail travel advisor accounts on behalf of the Highgate Hawaii portfolio.
Develop and maintain strong relationships with key account contacts, decision-makers, product teams, travel advisors, marketing teams, and other stakeholders who influence Hawaii business.
Establish a regular cadence of communication and sales engagement with assigned accounts to ensure Highgate Hawaii hotels remain visible, relevant, and top of mind.
Develop a thorough understanding of each partner's business model, customer demographics, distribution channels, booking patterns, marketing opportunities, and competitive landscape.
Proactively identify opportunities to strengthen partnerships and increase production across the portfolio.
Represent Highgate Hawaii and its individual hotels professionally and effectively during account meetings, sales calls, presentations, trade shows, conferences, familiarization trips, site inspections, and industry events.
Develop and maintain a strategic account plan for each assigned account, outlining opportunities, challenges, production goals, marketing initiatives, sales activities, and strategies for growing business.
Develop an individualized strategy for each Highgate Hawaii hotel within an account rather than applying a single portfolio-wide approach.
Understand the positioning, target customer, competitive set, rate strategy, need periods, and business objectives of each hotel represented.
Identify opportunities to increase room nights, revenue, market share, length of stay, and overall account contribution.
Prospect for new leisure accounts and business opportunities that align with the needs and positioning of the Highgate Hawaii portfolio.
Develop tactical sales initiatives in partnership with Revenue Management and hotel leadership to address need periods and capitalize on market opportunities.
Continuously evaluate account performance and adjust strategies based on production, market conditions, airlift, competitive activity, booking trends, and hotel priorities.
Meet or exceed established room night, revenue, account production, and sales activity goals.
Manage assigned wholesale and tour operator relationships with a focus on increasing production and improving the positioning of Highgate Hawaii hotels.
Work collaboratively with Revenue Management to evaluate and develop promotions, tactical offers, value-adds, and other opportunities that support each hotel's revenue strategy.
Ensure partners have accurate and current information regarding hotel products, promotions, renovations, amenities, policies, and selling features.
Identify opportunities for enhanced placement, preferred positioning, packaging, marketing participation, and other initiatives that can generate incremental business.
Monitor competitive activity within wholesale channels and communicate relevant market intelligence to hotel leadership.
Build and maintain relationships with key travel advisors, agency owners, consortia partners, and leisure travel networks.
Conduct travel advisor training, webinars, sales presentations, destination education, and hotel product updates to increase advisor knowledge and confidence in selling Highgate Hawaii hotels.
Develop strategies to increase travel advisor engagement and generate incremental bookings.
Support familiarization trips, site inspections, advisor events, trade shows, sales missions, and other opportunities that provide meaningful exposure for the hotels.
Serve as a knowledgeable resource for travel advisors seeking guidance on selecting and positioning Highgate Hawaii hotels for their clients.
Identify and evaluate account-specific marketing opportunities that can increase visibility and generate measurable production.
Collaborate with internal Marketing, Revenue Management, and hotel leadership to develop and execute partner campaigns.
Evaluate marketing opportunities based on audience, reach, timing, hotel need periods, investment, and anticipated return.
Ensure participating hotels receive appropriate exposure and that marketing commitments are executed as agreed.
Track results and provide post-campaign analysis when applicable.
Monitor production for assigned accounts and individual hotels, including room nights, revenue, booking pace, trends, and year-over-year performance.
Analyze account performance to identify growth opportunities, areas of concern, and changes in booking behavior.
Maintain accurate account records, sales activities, contacts, and production information within required company systems and reporting tools.
Complete monthly, quarterly, and annual account reporting accurately and within established deadlines.
Provide hotel leadership with meaningful account and market intelligence rather than reporting production alone.
Monitor Hawaii leisure market conditions, competitive hotel activity, airlift, destination trends, pricing, promotions, and other factors that may impact account production.
Communicate relevant market feedback and recommendations to leadership and participating hotels.
Maintain comprehensive knowledge of all Highgate Hawaii hotels represented, including accommodations, amenities, dining, resort experiences, location, renovations, selling features, target customers, and competitive positioning.
Understand the individual business objectives and revenue strategies of each participating hotel.
Maintain awareness of current rates, offers, promotions, policies, and need periods.
Effectively articulate the unique selling proposition of each hotel and recommend the appropriate property based on the partner, advisor, and customer opportunity.
Conduct professional and engaging hotel presentations and site inspections that highlight each property's key selling features and competitive advantages.
Develop strong working relationships with hotel Revenue Management, Sales, Marketing, General Managers, and other property leadership.
Communicate account opportunities, challenges, partner feedback, competitive intelligence, and production trends in a timely manner.
Partner with Revenue Management to ensure sales initiatives support each hotel's overall revenue strategy.
Maintain clear communication regarding deadlines, promotions, partner requests, marketing opportunities, and account deliverables.
Ensure commitments made to partners and hotels are documented, communicated, and followed through to completion.
Consistently represent Highgate and the Highgate Hawaii portfolio in a professional, polished, and hospitality-focused manner.
Build trusted relationships with internal and external partners through responsiveness, credibility, follow-through, and a solution-oriented approach.
Effectively prioritize responsibilities and meet established deadlines.
Demonstrate sound business judgment and the ability to anticipate challenges, identify opportunities, and recommend solutions.
Maintain confidentiality of company, hotel, partner, and financial information.
Maintain regular attendance and flexibility based on business and travel requirements.
Comply with Highgate standards, policies, procedures, and applicable regulations.
Maximize productivity and proactively identify opportunities to improve processes and account performance.
Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned by management.