Director of Sales & Distribution

JOB SUMMARYFunctions as the leader of the property’s sales department for properties with bookings over 300 peak rooms and significant local catering revenue. Manages the property's reactive and proactive sales efforts. Provides day to day leadership to sales associates to achieve property sales objectives with overall responsibility for achieving booking goals and property revenues. Implements the brand’s service strategy and applicable brand initiatives in all aspects of the sales process and focuses on building long-term, value-based customer relationships that enable achievement of the hotel’s sales objectives. Evaluates the property’s participation in the various sales channels (e.g., Area Sales, Group Sales within the Sales Office, electronic lead channels, etc.) and develops strong working relationships to proactively position and market the property. Manages the marketing budget to enable development of property specific campaigns, promotions and collateral to drive revenue and meet property objectives. Interfaces with regional marketing communications for regional and national promotions pull through. Develops and implements property-wide strategies that deliver products and services to meet or exceed the needs and expectations of the brand’s target customer profile and property associates and provides a return on investment to the owner and Marriott International.CANDIDATE PROFILEEducation and Experience:Minimum 8–10 years in hospitality commercial roles, with 5+ years in UAE 5-star luxury hotels.Proven 3 consecutive years of achieving/exceeding revenue targets in distribution and corporate sales.Strong corporate background managing UAE/GCC multinationals, TMCs, and global travel partnerships.Expertise in distribution channels (brand.com, GDS, OTA/IDS, metasearch), rate parity, and content optimization.Skilled in negotiation, dynamic pricing, and RFP management for corporate accounts.Deep knowledge of UAE market trends, seasonality, and compliance with VAT, PDPL, and tourism regulations.Strong leadership, team coaching, and cross‑functional collaboration abilities.Excellent communication skills: English fluency required. Arabic language is an advantage.CORE WORK ACTIVITIESManaging Sales ActivitiesManages the development of a strategic account plan for the demand generators in the market.Manages the property's reactive and proactive sales efforts.Determines and develops marketing communication activities, in conjunction with Regional Marketing Communications.Provides customer intelligence in evaluating the market and economic trends that may lead to changes in sales strategy to meet or exceed customer expectations.Reviews the Strategic Alignment Review (STAR) report, competitive shopping reports and uses other resources to maintain an awareness of the hotel’s market position.Researches competitor’s sales team strategies to identify ways to grow occupancy and RevPAR and increase market share.Attends sales strategy meetings to provide input on weekly and overall sales strategy.Suggests innovative marketing ideas and develops deployment strategies to continue to grow market share.Evaluates and supports participation and account deployment with Area Sales and Group Sales within the Sales Office.Serves as the sales contact for the General Manager, property leadership team, Group Sales and Area Sales leaders.Serves as the sales contact for customers; serves as the customer advocate.Serves as hotel authority on sales processes and sales contracts.Serves as the property sales liaison with Area Sales, Group Sales, Revenue Management, Event Management, Regional Marketing Communications and other hotel departments as appropriate.Participates in sales calls with members of the Sales and Marketing team to acquire new business and/or close on business.Identifies public relations opportunities and coordinates activities to augment the overall marketing communication strategy.Supports the General Manager by coordinating crisis communications.Executes and supports Marriott’s Customer Service Standards and hotel’s Brand Standards.Executes and supports the operational aspects of business booked (e.g., generating proposal, writing contract, customer correspondence).Participates in and practices daily service basics of the brand (MHR Spirit to Serve Daily Basics, RHR Savvy Service Basics, Courtyard, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inn Basics of the Day, Residence Inn Daily Huddle, TownePlace Suites Morning Meeting).Implements a seamless turnover from sales to operations and back to sales while consistently delivering high level of service.Monitors the effective resolution of guest issues that arise as a result of the sales process by creating mechanisms to channel issues to property leadership and/or other appropriate stakeholders.Maintains successful performance by increasing revenues, controlling expenses and providing a return on investment for the owner and Marriott International.Implements the brand’s service strateg