Director of Sales and Marketing - Franchise

Hilton•Richmond, VA

45d•$120,000 - $140,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Sales & Marketing at the Hilton Richmond The Mondelle will be expected to function as the commercial architect of the hotel, building the strategy, team, relationships, reputation, and revenue foundation necessary to establish the property as one of the market’s leading luxury hotels and dining destinations. Success in this position will be measured not simply by rooms sold, but by the Director’s ability to maximize total hotel revenue, market share, profitability, restaurant visibility, client loyalty, and long-term positioning while delivering the elevated standards expected of a luxury Hilton hotel.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management, Business, Marketing, or related discipline preferred.
Minimum 7–10 years of progressive hotel sales and marketing experience, including senior leadership responsibility.
Luxury, upper-upscale, resort, or sophisticated full-service hotel experience strongly preferred.
Hilton experience strongly preferred.
Previous hotel pre-opening or major repositioning experience highly desirable.
Demonstrated success managing group, corporate, leisure, catering, and social market segments.
Strong understanding of luxury food & beverage positioning and restaurant marketing.
Proven experience building and leading high-performing sales teams.
Strong knowledge of hotel revenue management, forecasting, budgeting, and commercial strategy.
Experience developing annual sales and marketing plans and presenting results to senior executives and ownership.
Strong digital marketing, public relations, social media, and brand-positioning knowledge.
Exceptional presentation, negotiation, communication, and relationship-management skills.
Ability to develop relationships with senior corporate executives, meeting planners, community leaders, luxury partners, and high-profile clientele.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute a comprehensive pre-opening sales and marketing plan that creates awareness, establishes market positioning, and generates business prior to opening.
Develop the hotel’s overall commercial strategy in partnership with the General Manager, Revenue Management, Food & Beverage leadership, and ownership.
Conduct comprehensive market research and competitive analysis to identify opportunities across transient, corporate, group, leisure, catering, social, and restaurant segments.
Establish pre-opening revenue goals, sales production targets, account strategies, and market deployment plans.
Build the hotel’s sales pipeline and secure base business to ensure strong opening-year performance.
Identify and pursue citywide events, conventions, corporate accounts, social events, weddings, entertainment opportunities, and other significant demand generators.
Represent the hotel during pre-opening activities, industry events, community engagements, sales missions, and ownership presentations.
Recruit, develop, and lead a high-performing luxury hotel sales and marketing team.
Establish a culture of accountability, proactive selling, relationship development, and exceptional client service.
Develop individual and team sales goals with measurable production expectations.
Conduct regular sales strategy meetings, account reviews, pipeline reviews, and performance evaluations.
Establish prospecting expectations and ensure the team consistently develops new accounts and revenue opportunities.
Personally manage and develop relationships with key strategic accounts and high-value customers.
Conduct executive-level sales presentations, site inspections, entertainment, and client events.
Maintain an active presence in the local business community and relevant hospitality organizations.
Develop strategies to position the hotel as a premier destination for corporate meetings, conferences, weddings, social events, executive gatherings, and luxury celebrations.
Establish relationships with meeting planners, corporations, associations, wedding planners, destination management companies, and third-party intermediaries.
Partner with Catering and Convention Services to maximize meeting space utilization and total event revenue.
Develop strategies that consider total account value, including guestrooms, meeting room rental, catering, audiovisual, parking, restaurant spending, and ancillary revenue.
Ensure appropriate sales strategies are established for need periods and high-demand dates.
Partner with the Executive Chef, Director of Food & Beverage, restaurant leadership, and marketing resources to develop individual positioning strategies for all three restaurants.
Develop restaurant launch campaigns designed to build awareness and demand before opening.
Establish each restaurant’s unique identity, target customer, competitive positioning, and promotional strategy.
Develop strategic partnerships with local businesses, residential communities, luxury brands, event planners, tourism organizations, and community influencers.
Create programs that generate local patronage independent of hotel occupancy.
Develop marketing strategies for restaurant launch events, holiday dining, events, celebrations, chef-driven experiences and promotions.
Monitor restaurant marketing performance and adjust strategies based on revenue, covers, customer acquisition, and market response.
Establish and protect a sophisticated luxury identity consistent with Hilton brand standards and the hotel’s individual market positioning.
Develop the hotel’s annual marketing, communications, public relations, digital, social media, and promotional strategy.
Ensure all collateral, photography, digital content, advertising, and guest-facing materials reflect a polished luxury presentation.
Oversee hotel website content, digital campaigns, social media strategy, email marketing, and online merchandising.
Develop compelling storytelling around the hotel’s accommodations, culinary concepts, meetings and events, amenities, and guest experiences.
Partner with Hilton resources and external agencies as appropriate to maximize exposure and brand reach.
Develop public relations strategies surrounding the hotel opening, restaurant launches, executive appointments, culinary programming, and major events.
Partner closely with Revenue Management to establish pricing, segmentation, forecasting, and inventory strategies.
Participate actively in weekly revenue and commercial strategy meetings.
Analyze pace, production, booking windows, market trends, competitive performance, and future demand.
Develop strategies to address need periods and maximize high-demand opportunities.
Maintain accurate sales forecasts and account production reporting.
Evaluate business based on total revenue contribution and profitability, rather than guestrooms alone.
Ensure sales strategies support ADR, RevPAR, occupancy, group revenue, catering revenue, restaurant revenue, and overall hotel profitability.
Maintain strong knowledge of Hilton sales systems, commercial resources, brand standards, loyalty programs, and reporting tools.
Leverage Hilton Honors and Hilton’s global sales resources to develop incremental business.
Maintain relationships with Hilton Worldwide Sales and appropriate regional commercial leadership.
Ensure the sales and marketing organization complies with Hilton standards, operating procedures, and brand expectations.
Participate in Hilton commercial programs, training, and sales initiatives as appropriate.
Serve as the hotel’s senior commercial leader and trusted advisor to the General Manager and ownership.
Prepare and present sales and marketing results, forecasts, strategies, and action plans during ownership and executive meetings.
Develop the annual sales and marketing budget and manage expenses responsibly.
Provide clear analysis regarding market conditions, competitive activity, business opportunities, and potential risks.
Work collaboratively with Operations, Food & Beverage, Finance, Revenue Management, and Human Resources to achieve overall hotel objectives.