Assistant Director of Sales and Marketing

Donohoe Hospitality Services•College Park, MD

11h

About The Position

The Assistant Director of Sales and Marketing is a hands-on leadership role at The Hotel at the University of Maryland, an independent, full-service hotel with 297 guest rooms and approximately 40,000 square feet of meeting and event space. Managed by Donohoe Hospitality Services, the hotel serves corporate travelers, university partners, associations, government organizations, athletic teams, and social events. The role partners with the Director of Sales and Marketing to direct, execute, and evaluate the hotel's sales initiatives. The Assistant Director leads and develops the group sales team while maintaining a personal sales portfolio and contributing directly to revenue production. The position combines business development, account management, complex sales negotiation, revenue analysis, forecasting, sales administration, customer relationship management, and cross-departmental coordination. The successful candidate will build business across the College Park, Prince George's County, and Washington, DC metropolitan markets; evaluate group opportunities for overall hotel profitability; support departmental strategy and budgets; and represent the hotel professionally in the business community. The role requires schedule flexibility, including evenings, weekends, holidays, and major events when business needs require, as well as periodic travel.

Requirements

At least four years of demonstrated hotel sales experience, including meaningful group sales and business development experience; stated as non-negotiable.
Prior experience supervising, coaching, mentoring, or leading sales professionals.
Demonstrated success achieving or exceeding sales and revenue production goals.
Experience negotiating group agreements and managing complex customer relationships.
Working knowledge of full-service hotel sales operations, forecasting, and revenue management principles.
High school diploma or equivalent.
Ability to travel periodically and work a flexible schedule based on business needs.
Proven capability in hotel group sales, business development, account management, contract negotiation, and revenue production.
Strong leadership and coaching skills, with the ability to motivate and hold sales professionals accountable while fostering an inclusive, supportive team environment.
Strong understanding of hotel revenue management, forecasting, budgeting, profitability, ADR, RevPAR, STR reporting, and group displacement analysis.
Ability to interpret market intelligence, identify growth opportunities, develop action plans, and translate data into measurable results.
Exceptional written, verbal, presentation, interpersonal, and negotiation skills; strong organization, time management, prioritization, and attention to detail.
Proficiency with Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and CRM systems.
Ability to use LinkedIn, AI-assisted research tools, digital prospecting resources, and sales analytics responsibly.
Sound judgment, discretion, adaptability, executive presence, and composure under pressure.
Thorough understanding of full-service hotel operations, group rooms, catering, conference services, food and beverage, and meeting space management.

Nice To Haves

Five to seven years of progressive hotel sales experience, preferably at an upscale, full-service, convention, conference, or large meeting-oriented property.
Prior experience as an Assistant Director of Sales, Senior Sales Manager, Director of Group Sales, or in a comparable hotel sales leadership position.
Experience selling for a hotel with 250 or more guest rooms and significant meeting and event facilities.
Bachelor's degree in Hospitality Management, Business Administration, Marketing, Communications, or a related field.
Established relationships within the Washington, DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia hospitality and business communities.
Experience with association, corporate, government, university, and convention-related business.
Experience with independent or AAA Four Diamond hotels.
Demonstrated ability to develop business plans, coach sales teams, and contribute to departmental budgets and forecasts.
Experience with Amadeus Delphi; familiarity with hotel PMS, revenue management systems, and business intelligence tools.

Responsibilities

Assist the Director of Sales and Marketing with daily leadership, direction, accountability, and support for the group sales team; act as department leader in the DOSM's absence.
Coach, mentor, recruit, onboard, train, evaluate, and develop sales professionals; establish activity standards, conduct pipeline reviews, and support succession planning.
Maintain an active personal sales portfolio and pursue group room and meeting business through prospecting, qualification, solicitation, negotiation, and account development.
Develop relationships with corporate accounts, associations, government agencies, university departments, research institutions, technology companies, athletic organizations, meeting planners, and other decision-makers.
Conduct sales appointments, client entertainment, presentations, property tours, targeted prospecting campaigns, sales blitzes, and account outreach; represent the hotel at industry and community events and travel periodically for business development.
Achieve assigned revenue production goals and support the sales team's overall performance.
Evaluate group business and pricing with the DOSM, Area Director of Revenue Management, and Director of Catering and Conference Services, considering demand, rates, room nights, displacement, meeting space, food and beverage, and profitability.
Participate in Daily Business Review meetings; monitor group pace, pickup, cancellations, lost business, conversion, market share, ADR, RevPAR, occupancy, and competitive performance.
Assist with selling guidelines for peak, shoulder, and need periods and collaborate on strategies for group mix, booking windows, length of stay, and revenue contribution.
Assist in developing and executing the annual Sales and Marketing Business Plan; participate in budgeting, forecasting, business reviews, variance analysis, and performance reporting.
Prepare production reports, pipeline updates, account summaries, and revenue projections; recommend corrective action when pace or production falls below targets.
Collaborate with Marketing on promotions, campaigns, digital initiatives, and customer engagement; assess the effectiveness and return on investment of sales activities.
Negotiate room rates, meeting space, food and beverage commitments, and concessions within hotel guidelines; review agreements as authorized and escalate nonstandard terms and financial risks.
Maintain accurate account, lead, booking, activity, correspondence, and business intelligence records in Amadeus Delphi or the designated sales and catering platform; reinforce sales SOPs and contract standards.
Coordinate timely communication across Sales, Catering, Conference Services, Revenue Management, Reservations, Finance, and hotel operations; protect confidential customer, pricing, contractual, and financial information.
Maintain long-term customer and community relationships, handle significant customer concerns and complex negotiations, participate in relevant site inspections and events, and support customer retention and repeat business.
Collaborate with hotel departments to ensure sales commitments can be delivered; participate in leadership meetings, revenue strategy, operational planning, and special projects; support the General Manager and DOSM's property-wide priorities.
Work evenings, weekends, holidays, and major events as business needs require, and perform additional duties as directed by the DOSM or hotel leadership.