Summary:
The Director of Group Strategy plays a pivotal role in optimizing revenue and profitability for Austin market hotels. This leader will oversee group revenue optimization functions for multiple hotels and lead strategic group initiatives and drive financial performance. Partnering with Sales, Catering and Operations, the leader will increase business value through the identification of pricing, demand and pattern to support advanced outcomes. As a member of the Revenue Management commercial Team reporting to the Director of Market Strategy, the role will focus on five major areas: Commercial Strategy, System Optimization, Reporting/Analysis, Distribution Management, and Team Leadership and Collaboration.
Responsibilities
•Develop and lead the execution of group revenue strategies to maximize room revenue and profitability with the ultimate goal to grow RevPAR, total revenue, profit and RGI for the market.
•This position will develop, implement and consistently maintain Group Pricing and inventory strategies in
•Ensure sales systems reflect proper strategies and settings to elicit valid responses to business evaluations.
•Lead group business evaluation efforts, Group ToBe forecasting and facilitation of lead dissemination to ensure the best fit within the Austin market hotels to optimize revenue and insulate our hotels over the competition.
•Develop and maintain group crossover goals in order to capitalize on future booking opportunities. Implement to be's for current year 4 in convention hotels and current year 1 in the others.
•Attend group scrub meetings to facilitate accurate strategies and optimize revenue.
•Attend weekly Revenue Generation Meeting to communicate strategies, updates and results relative to the maximization of revenue in the group segment.
•Work closely with the Director of Revenue Management to ensure cohesive strategy is in place for group and transient to maximize together as an overall total hotel strategy. Communicate major swings in performance in a timely manner to ensure adjustments to transient strategy are in place at all times.
•Work with the Events and Group Housing team to ensure Passkey is loaded with primary inventory, upsell opportunities and promo cube offers for all groups as appropriate.
•Work with the Events and Group Housing teams to ensure block management and cutoff dates are effectively managed. Participate in discussions and approve changes to both as needed.
•Collaborate with the Operations, Finance and Sales and Catering teams to ensure the group strategies are communicated and gain alignment.
•Lead and provide development and mentorship to the hotel team Managers so they can execute group revenue strategies to maximize profitable room, banquets and catering and ancillary revenue to drive market share.
•Analyze market trends, competitive sets, and demand patterns to make informed pricing decisions while ensuring pricing is optimal for all hotels in the market in the group segment.
•Proactively identify opportunities for continuous improvement and make data-driven recommendations.
•Generate and analyze reports to evaluate the effectiveness of group strategies. Communicate results to hotel teams.
•Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) such as RevPAR, ADR, and occupancy.
•Analyze and act accordingly with marketplace reports such STAR, Hummingbird, Demand360 and other market intelligence reports.
•Partner with Revenue Management and Sales counterparts to generate long range forecasts with accuracy at /- 3%.
•Assist with the preparation of the annual rooms' revenue budget and business plans.
•Foster a collaborative and innovative culture within the department and across disciplines.
•Ensure all revenue management practices and decisions are made in compliance with White Lodging Way to ensure consistent expectations and deliverables.
•Assist in developing the hotel managers to become proficient with revenue management within their respective discipline.
•Work with the hotels to ensure coding and tracking is performed correctly.
•Perform various other duties as assigned to meet business objectives.
Other Information
SKILLS
•Detailed oriented and focused on driving top and bottom-line results through long term planning and revenue generation.
•Multi-unit/corporate management.
•Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
•Excellent organizational and time management skills.
•Active team player and self-starter.
•Ability to identify and solve problems through data driven decision making.
•Excellent MS Office skills.
EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE
•Bachelor's degree required or equivalent experience.
•5 years' experience in Revenue Management/Optimization/Strategy.
•Deep understanding of revenue management systems and business intelligence tools used to optimize revenue and profit.
•Previous experience with hotel brands: Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt.
•Exposure to convention hotel business a plus.
Location Code: 2558