Director of Sales- Travel Industry Sales

IHCL and its subsidiaries bring together a group of brands and businesses that offer a fusion of warm Indian hospitality and world-class service. These include Taj – the iconic brand for the most discerning travellers, and ranked as ‘World’s Strongest Hotel Brand’ and ‘India’s Strongest Brand’ across sectors as per Brand Finance Hotels 50 and India 100 reports 2024 respectively; SeleQtions, a named collection of handpicked, storied hotels; Vivanta, a chain of contemporary upscale hotels that celebrate joie de vivre; Ginger, a brand that is revolutionizing the lean-luxe segment, and amã Stays & Trails, a charming portfolio of private bungalows and villas set in picturesque locales.

Job Objective

This position exists to develop and grow business from the identified market/portfolio.

Area(s) of Responsibility

The DOS-TIS assists the Area Director in,

• Developing strategic sales plans for the identified region/portfolio.

• Exploring New Business Development Opportunities

• For the sales and marketing activity in the assigned Domestic territory, encompassing key regions within the country for the development of the Inbound Leisure Market to ensure sales of hotel rooms and other facilities like food & beverage within IHCL.

• Ensuring growth of business from existing accounts and generating new business to ensure that segmental revenues meet or exceed budgets in order to maximize profits.

Essential Job Tasks

Strategy deployment

• Develop and work as per the annual strategic plan for designated Inbound Leisure portfolio of Agents to maximise Inbound leisure revenues for IHCL (India and International hotels)

• Assist the Area Director in developing the Sales and Marketing Inbound strategy to ensure profitable relationships with DMCs, TAs, and FTOs.

• Handle Strategic accounts

• Explore new account development.

Sales/Functional review

• Monitor the productivity of Travel agents at various hotels within the assigned portfolio and evaluate trends

• Handle Top accounts.

• Represent IHCL at key travel trade events in India and internationally.

• Look at opportunities to conduct special events- FAMs, Trade Shows, Roadshows, site inspections, and off-site webinars and presentations for existing and potential customers.

• Submit Sales reports to capture key trends to guide strategic decisions in the future. Competition scan and analysis in terms of initiatives, pricing, and renovation.

• Organize familiarization trips for key operators in the portfolio to expose our hotels to key owners, senior management personnel, and key decision-makers.

• Relationship Management/Business Development/Liaison

• Build and maintain relationships with all agents in the portfolio, generate repeat bookings, and gain positive referrals to cross-sell existing and new hotels.

• Engagement activities to be devised and tailored for key accounts.

• Increase brand awareness & product knowledge among the entire portfolio

Hotel Synergies

• Interacting with DOSs and facilitating Sales Blitz

• Assisting hotels with timely intervention to handle potential loss of business or conflict-related issues.

• Sharing feedback from operators & Customers with hotels and senior management to ensure corrective action is taken

Key Interfaces

Internal: Hotel DOS, Hotel Revenue Management teams, Reservations Teams, Taj Assist

External: Portfolio of DMCs, FTOs, TAs

Required Qualifications

Graduation with hotel Sales Experience or experience in Sales with a luxury brand or hospitality industry

Work Experience

5-8 Years

Behavioural Competencies

• Self-Starter - ability to take initiative, execute, and implement change or effectively adapt to changes. Work comfortably in a fast-paced, metrics-driven, and changing environment, being proficient in time management with the skill to organize and manage multiple priorities.

• Passion – for the company’s mission. Understands how to develop and implement business strategies with the clear display of negotiation, problem-solving, analytical and collaboration skills.

• Critical Thinking – strategic and highly analytical. With computer proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook and intermediate math skills which help him interpret and create spreadsheets with ease.

• Interpersonal/Communication Skills – an innate ability to channel different points of view; Able to establish and maintain excellent relationships and credibility quickly; Create team atmosphere with internal staff while achieving key objectives; Excellent consulting skills as well as technical writing and public speaking.

• Maturity – provide a good balance of risk taking and judgment; Is aggressive and confident; Able to operate independently of a large staff

• Professional – unquestionable integrity, credibility, and character; Who has demonstrated high moral and ethical behavior.

• Presentation - Maintains a professional appearance, demonstrating a high level of grooming, punctuality, and confidence to positively represent the organization.

Functional/Technical Competencies

• Market maker: Works closely with the Associate Vice President of Sales and others to craft and communicate the company’s global vision and then transform that vision into a long-term strategy for pioneering new markets and opportunities in the region.

• Business acumen: As a business leader first, regularly measures and analyzes productivity and effectiveness, form strategic product road maps, creates market positioning and competitive advantages, and determines budget trade-offs with a goal of continually improving and developing sustainable results

• Data-driven / metrics-driven: Creates a culture of accountability by setting the right metrics and tying company performance, compensation and promotions to tangible results

• Results-oriented: Assumes a long-term, integrated perspective while also striving to drive quarterly revenue results – commits to short-term results, forecasts future revenue, and takes accountability for both short-term success and longer-term strategy