Business Travel Sales Manager at Raines Co. in York, SC

Job description

• Position Summary: The Business Travel Sales Manager is a multi-property sales position responsible to develop and foster business through pro-active direct sales, marketing, and solicitation for local, regional and national accounts. This position serves as the primary point of contact for business travel accounts for three properties and works closely with General Managers and the revenue management team at each location to maximize occupancy, ADR room revenue, market share and profitability.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary Business Travel Sales Manager for a portfolio of three hotel properties and provide consistent, equitable sales attention to each hotel.
• Develop a thorough understanding of the positioning, room types, amenities, competitive advantages, rate strategies, target accounts, and need periods of all three properties.
• Meet or exceed budgeted corporate transient, negotiated, extended stay, occupancy, ADR, room revenue, and market share goals for the three-property portfolio and for each individual hotel.
• Actively participate in annual business planning and develop a business travel sales plan with property-specific goals, target accounts, strategies, and action steps for each of the three hotels.
• Identify, solicit, and secure new business from corporate transient, local negotiated, extended stay, healthcare, government, construction, project, university, airline, relocation, and other applicable business travel segments.
• Maintain and grow existing key accounts while identifying opportunities to capture additional share across one or more of the three properties.
• Position of the most appropriate hotel based on client location, stay pattern, price point, amenities, length of stay, and traveler needs while protecting the overall interests of the three-property portfolio.
• Cross-sell all three properties during client conversations and introduce alternate portfolio options when the client’s needs are better served by another assigned hotel.
• Conduct proactive prospecting, outside sales appointments, telephone outreach, virtual meetings, networking, client entertainment, community involvement, and referral development.
• Maintain a strong and active sales pipeline and accurately document sales activities, account notes, decision makers, opportunities, production, traces, and follow-up in company-approved systems.
• Conduct property tours, client presentations, rate reviews, account reviews, and quarterly or annual business reviews as appropriate.
• Negotiate corporate rates and agreements alignment with each property’s revenue strategy, account value, production potential, and profitability goals.
• Prepare and manage corporate RFP submissions, local negotiated rate agreements, and account renewals for the applicable property or properties.
• Set up, load, audit and maintain negotiated account rates, promotional rates and special rate plans in applicable PMS, CRM, RFP and third-party systems to ensure accuracy and ability to book.
• Analyze account production by property, day of week, season, rate, length of stay, and booking channel to identify opportunities and address underperformance.
• Monitor booking pace, market demand, competitive activity, special projects, company relocations, office openings, construction activity, and other business travel demand indicators.
• Participate in revenue strategy meetings for each of the three properties and provide account-level intelligence, prospecting updates, production trends, and recommended actions.
• Read and interpret STR results and applicable business intelligence reports to identify corporate transient and extended stay market share opportunities.
• Understand the SWOT, competitive set, target segments, and unique value proposition of each property and communicate market intelligence that supports short-term and long-term decisions.
• Perform account-level rate and value analysis as needed, considering volume, stay pattern, seasonality, amenities, commissions, and total revenue contribution.
• Develop relationships with local businesses, major employers, hospitals, universities, government agencies, travel managers, travel management companies, relocation providers, and project leaders.
• Attend chamber events, trade shows, networking functions, community events, and industry meetings that support business development for the three hotels.
• Create and maintain a qualified prospect database with clear priorities, next steps, and expected revenue potential.
• Produce timely and accurate weekly activity reports, monthly production summaries, pipeline updates, account reviews, forecasts, and action plans for the portfolio and by property.
• Maintain an organized outside sales cadence that balances account maintenance, new business development, and follow-up across all three properties.
• Communicate negotiated rates, key account details, traveler preferences, arrival patterns, and service expectations to hotel leadership and front office teams.
• Work closely with the General Manager, Revenue Management, Operations, Front Office, and regional or corporate sales leadership supporting each property.
• Ensure all brand standards, company standards, account commitments, and system requirements are maintained at all times.
• Demonstrate commitment to superior guest and client service through timely response, effective problem resolution, and proactive account communication.
• Use company-wide tools, systems, and applications without exception.
• Support special projects, hotel transitions, openings, and company initiatives as assigned.
• Perform any and all other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Three to five years of progressive hotel sales experience, preferably focused on corporate transient, local negotiated rate, extended stay, or business travel sales.
• Experience managing multiple accounts, maintaining an active sales pipeline, and converting prospecting activity into measurable room revenue.
• Experience with Delphi FDC or a comparable sales CRM system and proficiency in Microsoft 365.
• Experience with hotel PMS platforms, brand sales applications, revenue tools, reporting platforms, and online RFP systems.
• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Hospitality Management, Marketing, or a related field preferred.
• Prior multi-property hotel sales experience, with demonstrated ability to position and sell multiple hotels based on individual client needs.
• Strong understanding of transient sales strategy, account production analysis, market segmentation, revenue management principles, and competitive set analysis.
• Experience with national accounts, travel management companies, healthcare, government, construction, project-based, airline, university, relocation, and extended stay business.
• Experience with brand national sales platforms, corporate sourcing programs, online RFP tools, and third-party business travel channels.

Skills

Required

• Progressive hotel sales experience
• Experience managing multiple accounts
• Maintaining an active sales pipeline
• Proficiency in Microsoft 365
• Experience with hotel PMS platforms
• Experience with brand sales applications
• Experience with revenue tools
• Experience with reporting platforms
• Experience with online RFP systems
• Account production analysis
• Market segmentation
• Revenue management principles

Benefits

• We offer comprehensive Medical/Dental/Vision benefits, 401K, a generous PTO program, and the opportunity to join a winning culture recognized for rewarding our best with opportunities to advance their career within the company.