Sales Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Total years of experience :11 years, 3 Months
Sales Specialist is responsible of generating revenue for the hotel by actively seeking prospects and managing the existing accounts by selling; rooms, F&B outlets, meeting venues and any other rentable space in the hotel. Some of the main responsibilities of this role are; to build and maintain relationships with the key accounts, keep up with the competition by staying in the loop of what they are offering, build strong networks to ensure that your customers are loyal and always be proactive to get the most out of the market share.
The Training Specialist identifies training needs and develops cost effective training initiatives to achieve the hotel's goals, and ensures standards and procedures are constantly applied.
Main responsibilities of this function include:
- Develop an effective annual Training Plan which meets the needs of all stakeholders
- Liaise with Department Heads on regular basis regarding specific training requirements within their Departments
- Publish an annual and quarterly calendar of training courses and ensure maximum attendance through clear communication
- Develop, source and conduct training courses scheduled in the training calendar.
- Focus on individual development goals of associates (promotion, cross departmental exposure, foreign language skills, location change, brand change, etc.) and tailor the training delivery method and timings to personal needs as much as possible
-Ensure that brand standards are known and applied in the property
-Assist Human Resources department where applicable with collecting and recording data & answering to associate demands and organize staff activities
-Select and train departmental trainers, manage their performance and effectiveness with regards to departmental training
-Measure hotel's performance on a regular basis with regards to product and service experience; report and present the findings to departmental heads to identify the improvement areas, improve on the outcome via constant training.
Occasionally as a Manager on Duty I was in charge of ensuring all brand standards, policies and procedures set out by the company were being executed and was the first point of contact in the absence of senior management.
The traineeship enabled me to observe different tasks & responsibilities within the Sales & Marketing department:
- Selling public spaces and hotel outlets for events & weddings.
- Management of event reservations, preparing proposals, confirming events arrangements, handling contracts of bookings.
- Conducting site inspections, walk-in tours, and local sales calls and attending client events.
- Coordinating all details / arrangements with the event guests. Organize and finalize details for social and corporate events, i.e.: finalizing menus and leading coordination meetings, floor plans and diagrams, set ups…etc.
- Communicating group needs and specifications to all related departments and handle all requests during the event.
- Assisting Public Relations during photo shoots, celebrity events and filming in the hotel.
- Assisting Public Relations in preparation of press releases, preparing the sales pitch and translating into English.
Worked as a student in; Front Office, Server and Hostess in F&B outlets, Public Relations Assistant, Executive Lounge and Reservations Department. This experience enabled me to learn the different departments of a hotel; the responsibilities shared within each other and gave me the basic skills and etiquette of the hospitality industry. The truly multicultural city of Bangkok widened my perspective as a person and as a student to thrive for a more open minded life and diverse work environment.