Director, Partner Relations

Summary

Join Ensemble Travel Group as their dynamic Director, Partner Relations (Hotels)! In this key role, you will cultivate and manage relationships with hotel suppliers, develop innovative programs, and drive revenue growth. Reporting to the VP, Hotel, you will be responsible for building and maintaining strong relationships with hotel suppliers, developing and implementing new programs, and ensuring the success of Ensemble's hotel partnerships. The ideal candidate will have a deep understanding of the hotel industry, exceptional relationship-building skills, and a proven ability to deliver measurable results. This is a fantastic opportunity to join a forward-thinking organization in the travel industry and make a significant impact on its growth and success. You will be responsible for developing and implementing strategies to increase revenue and profits from hotel supplier partnerships. This position requires a minimum of 5 years of experience in procurement or travel, managing hotel supplier relationships with a budget accountability of $2M+.

Requirements

• Minimum 5 years' experience in procurement or travel managing hotel supplier relationships with budget accountability of $2M+
• Proven track-record building best-in-class programs that have grown revenues or improved profits
• Demonstrated experience successfully pitching new concepts and programs to diverse audiences at multiple levels; must have the ability to take a “yes” from a successful pitch and systematically build relationships, inspire confidence and deliver on promises
• Polished and professional demeanor with experience as a company representative in high-profile and public environments
• Product knowledge management experience, including synthesizing, organizing and disseminating supplier information to audiences across broad geographical territories
• Ability to convert relationship capital into revenue and profits for the company
• Expert relationship manager with experience building and protecting brands
• Experience from the hotel industry is a must

Responsibilities

• Maintains and grows relationships with hotel suppliers and partners
• Proactively identifies, pitches and secures new hotel suppliers; conducts onboarding
• Cultivates chain/brand & property-level relationships that drive preferred program participation, special offers, enhanced commission and marketing leads
• Develops and rolls-out new hotel supplier programs, communicating supplier value, opportunities and ROI offered by Ensemble
• Collaborates with hotel suppliers on innovative programs, such as agent incentives and promotions; tracks, analyzes and reports outcomes
• Partners with events to plan and produce hotel supplier events
• Align with Member Relations to ensure adoption of preferred hotel partner programs
• Develops and implements soft dollar monetization strategies and tactics
• Owns hotel supplier business reviews, including ongoing tracking and monitoring of key programs, course correction and overall delivery of hotel supplier value and profit targets
• Sells marketing and advertising packages; partners with marketing to meet sales targets and ensures results for Ensemble hotel suppliers; leads hotel supplier post-mortems and marketing reviews
• Pitches hotel suppliers on programs that drive increased revenue for the company, including effectively communicating Ensemble’s successful track-record and vision for growth
• Negotiates hotel supplier agreements and partnerships, meeting revenue and profit improvement targets
• Audits current hotel supplier communications and develops go-forward strategy in partnership with marketing and advisor services
• Leverages existing communications channels and develops new ones to increase revenues
• Oversees effective dissemination of hotel supplier product knowledge to our travel advisor network; works with advisor services to build awareness and share information through existing and new channels, like events, social media and proprietary technology
• Maintains an in-depth knowledge of the hotel industries market conditions and competitive set; understands competitors’ strengths/weaknesses and takes actions to innovate and be best-in-class
• Attends events as an Ensemble representative

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in the luxury space an asset
• A builder who is entrepreneurial and creative with proven ability to go beyond traditional approaches
• Has a roll-up your sleeves approach with the flexibility to move quickly and navigate across teams and levels both internally and externally
• Excellent communication skills; demonstrated ability to persuasively communicate at multiple levels
• Exceptional listening skills with the ability to take constructive feedback and make positive change for stakeholders
• Analytical and facts-driven
• Collaborative and confident with sound judgment; has a straightforward style and can quickly generate trust with stakeholders
• Unquestionable integrity, high energy and a sense of urgency; embraces change
• A results-driven and forward-looking perspective; holds self and others accountable