Groups & Event Sales Manager

Job description / Role

Job summary

The Catering Sales Manager is responsible for contracting and closing local catering and social business and ensuring that business is turned over properly and in a timely fashion for quality service delivery. The position is responsible for achieving catering revenue goals by actively up-selling each business opportunity to maximize revenue. The incumbent implements the brand’s service strategy and applicable brand initiatives in all aspects of the sales process and drives customer loyalty by delivering service excellence throughout each customer experience.

Candidate profile

Education and experience

• High school diploma or GED and two years of experience in sales and marketing, guest services, front desk, or a related professional area; or
• Two-year degree from an accredited university in business administration, marketing, hotel and restaurant management, or a related major; no work experience required.

Core work activities

Managing sales activities

• Manages sales efforts for the hotel, including local corporate and social catering.
• Works collaboratively with off-property sales channels (e.g., sales office, area sales, EST) to ensure sales efforts are coordinated, complementary, and not duplicative.
• Responds to incoming catering opportunities for the hotel.
• Identifies, qualifies, and solicits new catering business to achieve personal and hotel revenue goals.
• Understands the overall market, including competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, economic trends, supply and demand, and knows how to sell against them.
• Closes the best opportunities for the hotel based on market conditions and hotel needs.
• Uses negotiating skills and creative selling abilities to close business and negotiate contracts.
• Designs, develops, and sells creative catered events.
• Maximizes revenue by up-selling packages and creative food and beverage offerings.
• Manages catering sales revenue and operating budgets and provides forecasting reports.
• Develops menus that drive sales.
• Executes and supports the operational aspects of booked business (e.g., generating proposals, writing contracts, and customer correspondence).
• Participates in and practices the brand’s daily service basics.
• Monitors the effective resolution of guest issues arising from the sales process by creating mechanisms to channel issues to property leadership and/or other appropriate stakeholders.
• Ensures successful performance by increasing revenues, controlling expenses, and providing a return on investment for the owner and the company.

Providing exceptional customer service

• Interacts effectively with sales, kitchen, vendors, competitors, the local community, catering associations, and other hotel departments to ensure guest satisfaction.
• Executes and supports the company’s customer service standards and the hotel’s brand standards.
• Provides exemplary customer service to drive customer satisfaction and loyalty by assisting customers and ensuring their satisfaction before and during their program or event.
• Serves customers by understanding their needs and recommending appropriate features and services that best meet their needs and exceed their expectations, while building a relationship and loyalty to the company.
• Gains an understanding of the hotel’s primary target customer and service expectations. Serves customers by understanding their business, issues, and concerns to offer better business solutions before and during the program or event.
• Develops a close working relationship with operations to ensure strategies are executed at the hotel level.

Additional responsibilities

• Performs other duties as assigned to meet business needs.

Marriott International is dedicated to being an equal opportunity employer, welcoming all and providing access to opportunity. The company actively fosters an environment where the unique backgrounds of associates are valued and celebrated. Its greatest strength lies in the rich blend of culture, talent, and experiences of its associates. Marriott International is committed to non-discrimination on any protected basis, including disability, veteran status, or other basis protected by applicable law.

At Aloft, we aren’t your typical hotel—but we aren’t too cool for school either. We’re here to be our guests’ launching and landing pad. Whether they’re taking their dog for a walk and coming back for a drink, wrapping up a day of meetings with coworkers, or in town to see family, friends, or their favorite band, we offer a hub for connection with others and the surrounding area, with modern design and personality to boot. We’re looking for confident self-expressers who aren’t afraid to draw outside the lines. If you get excited about the possibilities of connecting with others, Aloft Hotels is the place for you. By joining Aloft Hotels, you join a portfolio of brands with Marriott International. Be where you can do your best work, begin your purpose, belong to an amazing global team, and become the best version of you.

About the Company

Marriott International is the worlds largest hotel company based in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, with more than 6,000 properties in 122 countries and reported revenues of nearly $14 billion in fiscal year 2015. Its heritage can be traced to a root beer stand opened in Washington, D.C., in 1927 by J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott.

The company operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts under 30 brands. Marriott International has more than 500,000 people working worldwide at managed or franchised properties, as well as at corporate offices. The company has been consistently recognized as a top employer and for its superior business ethics.

Marriott International is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive culture. Marriott International does not discriminate on the basis of disability, veteran status or any other basis protected under federal, state or local laws.