Director of Sales

Property Management•Austin, TX

11d•Onsite

About The Position

This role is for a Director of Sales at the Hyatt Centric Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas. The hotel is a 246-key, 31-story lifestyle property located in downtown Austin. The Director of Sales will lead the commercial strategy, focusing on negotiated and business transient volume, supported by executive meetings, social events, and venue-driven catering. The position requires selling the hotel's unique spaces, such as the rooftop bar and penthouse venue, and targeting specific market segments like entertainment, film, and music. The role involves building and defending the negotiated account base, managing RFP season, and capitalizing on Austin's demand peaks. Collaboration with Regional Sales, Revenue Management, and Operations is key, as is leading and developing the on-property sales and events team. The Director of Sales will partner with the General Manager as a peer on the executive committee, contributing to overall hotel performance.

Requirements

Experience with direct client relationships and consultative, relationship-driven selling.
Accustomed to meeting and exceeding sales and revenue goals in a competitive urban market.
A creative, innovative, outside-the-box sales mindset.
Comfort building structure, process, and account base.
3+ years of progressive hotel sales experience, including leading a sales team or in a Director of Sales role.
Proven production in negotiated and business transient selling, including ownership of local negotiated RFP season.
Demonstrated command of STR reporting, booking pace, market segmentation, and rate strategy.
Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills.

Nice To Haves

Full-service, lifestyle, boutique, or upper-upscale hotel sales experience strongly preferred.
Catering and banquet revenue ownership preferred.
Downtown Austin or comparable urban market experience strongly preferred.
Hyatt brand experience preferred.
Bachelor's degree in Business, Hospitality, or a related field preferred.

Responsibilities

Own sales and catering revenue strategy and build the quarterly sales plan.
Build and defend the negotiated account base, focusing on downtown Austin corporate, legal, state government, university, healthcare, tech, and consulting demand.
Own the RFP season and win local negotiated agreements.
Sell unique venue spaces like the rooftop, penthouse, and full-venue buyouts.
Position the hotel for entertainment, film, music, and production business.
Build the calendar around Austin's demand peaks and price compression periods aggressively.
Aggressively grow share against the downtown comp set.
Build and convert a live prospecting pipeline through sales calls, site inspections, client entertainment, and local visibility.
Grow and maintain relationships with key clients to produce business across rooms, F&B, and catering.
Partner with Regional Sales, Revenue Management, and Operations on forecasting, budgeting, and expense management.
Lead and partner with operational departments (Front Office, F&B, Events) to ensure guest experience matches sales promises.
Champion the Hyatt Centric brand and Peachtree's reputation in the Austin market.
Cultivate relationships with local community groups, companies, and venues, and represent the hotel at events.
Direct, coach, and develop the on-property sales and events team, setting clear expectations.
Run a disciplined weekly sales meeting and pace/booking review.
Recruit, onboard, and retain sales talent.
Partner with the General Manager as a peer on the executive committee.