Director, Wholesale Sales (Aqua-Aston Hospitality)

About Aqua Aston

Headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, Aqua-Aston Hospitality (AAH) has a legacy stretching back to 1948. The company manages full-service resorts, stylish boutique hotels, select service properties, and condominium resorts. In addition to its proprietary brands, Aqua Hotels & Resorts and Aston Hotels & Resorts, the company is an approved, third-party operator of global hospitality brands by Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide, and IHG.

Aqua-Aston Hospitality is an operating business of Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation, a leading global vacation company that offers vacation ownership, exchange, rental, and resort and property management, along with related businesses, products, and services. MVW supports Aqua-Aston with certain corporate resources including, but not limited to, finance and accounting, legal, human resources, information technology, and procurement.

Job Summary

The Director, Wholesale Sales will be responsible for maintaining and further penetrating existing accounts and generating new business within the FIT & Wholesale segment. The central goal of the role is to aid in the growth of top line revenue by way of increased awareness, conversion, and loyalty within the predefined segment.  The role may also at times be deployed towards additional market segments as business demands change & evolve.

Core Responsibilities

• Responsible for ensuring that a strategy is in place to identify business opportunities and maximize sales potential.
• Essential to have demonstrated expertise & full working knowledge of the FIT & Wholesale segment and how the segment conducts business across a variety of channels.
• Highly proficient understanding of the contracting process.
• Highly proficient understanding the complexity of the distribution channels and systems. 
• Must have expertise in identifying competitive set and recommendations on sales/pricing strategies and service/product improvements to stay competitive.
• Essential to have business relationships in place with key accounts including business development, contracting & senior leadership with each account, and must be able to develop new business.
• Must have effective management skills and closely monitor existing relationships with clients.
• Must have strong interpersonal and communication skills, good networking ability, strong negotiating skills and be target and detail oriented.
• Responsible for developing a larger presence for brand and/or properties resulting in increased revenue.
• Consistently review and analyze sources of business and market segments and ensure top line revenue is maximized – deploy appropriate initiatives when needed.
• Create and present promotional rates, packages and programs for these market segments with recommendations on deployment and marketing for these packages through various channels.
• Responsible for identification of key markets and creating travel schedule strategies around these markets.
• Stay abreast of industry trends and communicate to appropriate individuals anything that could impact the hotels directly or indirectly.
• Continually assess the strengths/challenges of each area of discipline and maximize the use of available resources.
• Accountable for the annual revenue goals within assigned market segment and effectively manage budget and costs.
• Solicit Familiarization Tours – Overnight at the various hotels and/or site & meal functions.
• Intimate destination knowledge of Hawaiian Islands.
• Travels primarily to engage with key stakeholders, travel agents, business development managers and consumers to educate them on the portfolio of properties.
• Entertain and maintain clients in a professional manner.

Marketing Responsibilities

• Implements marketing initiatives to support sales strategies and activities within budgeted dollars.
• Pursues appropriate marketing and advertising opportunities that represent property goals and makes recommendations.
• Actively pursues partnerships, promotions, and joint ventures through all mediums.
• Assists with annual digital marketing budgets review and marketing plans as directed.
• Assists with other tasks as needed.

Candidate Profile

Successful candidates should possess knowledge and experience plus a demonstrated ability to move market share.

Education:

• 4-year degree/diploma in Travel Industry Management, Sales & Marketing, or Business management preferred or equivalent experience.

Experience:

• Six (6+) years’ experience in proactive direct sales deployed against the FIT / Wholesale market, with a focus on multi-property portfolios.
• Expertise with Microsoft Office, SharePoint, Teams, with high skill levels in excel and PowerPoint.
• Must possess excellent verbal and written communication skills to serve both customers and co-workers.
• Must be able to work well under pressure, have excellent time management skills and able to handle multiple accounts and deadlines.
• Must be detail oriented and a creative problem solver.

Marriott Vacations Worldwide is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive culture.