Cluster Marketing & Public Relations Manager
Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts
Total years of experience :17 years, 1 Months
Managing a portfolio of 3 Hilton hotels with a total of 977 keys and 20 F&B outlets in Ras Al Khaimah: Waldorf Astoria Ras Al Khaimah (Luxury) | Hilton Al Hamra Beach & Golf Resort (5 star) | Al Hamra Residence and Village (5 star) - Part of Hilton Worldwide, Ras Al Khaimah Al Hamra Cluster
• Responsible for a total marketing and PR budget of AED 4.6 million covering Marketing, Ecommerce, Public Relations and Social Media
• Successfully re-branded and launch Siddharta Lounge by Buddha Bar into the market
• Planned and managed the budgeted marketing plan with resultant ROI for cluster hotels
• Developed and maintained key media relations with prominent media agencies and influencers leading to significant media coverage
• Coordinate and deliver key partnerships and exclusive experiences: Aston Martin, Gyro Flight, Zip Line, Golf, Jewel of the Sea
• Mentoring a team of 3 executives
Managing a portfolio of 4 Hilton hotels with a total of 1, 346 keys and 24 F&B outlets in Ras Al Khaimah: Hilton Ras Al Khaimah Resort and Spa (5 star) | Hilton Al Hamra Beach & Golf Resort (5 star) | Hilton Garden Inn Ras Al Khaimah (4 star) | Al Hamra Residence and Village (5 star) - Part of Hilton Worldwide, Ras Al Khaimah Cluster
Key Achievements:
• Responsible for a total marketing and PR budget of AED 3.2 million covering Marketing, Ecommerce, Public Relations and Social Media
• Successfully launched the multi-million refurbished villas of Hilton Ras Al Khaimah Resort & Spa into the market through a specific marketing plan
• Did pre-opening marketing for the first Hilton Garden Inn in brand Ras Al Khaimah
• Assisted in launching the first up-scale Arabic restaurant viz. Al Maeda in the Emirate
• Planned and managed the budgeted marketing plan with resultant ROI
• Ensured marketing processes are aligned to the international brand standards associated with Hilton
• Managed, optimized and promoted the hotel on Hilton websites, micro-sites, OTAs and aligned it to the resources and support systems available at Hilton EMEA Regional, Public Relations, eCommerce and Social Media.
• Developed and maintained key media relations with prominent media agencies and influencers leading to significant media coverage for cluster of hotels
• Developed and owned promotional activities, marketing channels and the production of marketing materials for specific events.
• Increased hotel revenue by charting out key promotions (Rooms, F&B, Recreation, Spa) at Cluster level and ensured sales and F&B teams receive adequate marketing support, and ensure collateral requirements are met
• Planned and supervised all photography/videography projects; coordinated for brand approvals and execution on channels
• Liaisoned with various creative and media agencies for execution of projects
• Mentored a team of 3 marketing personnel
• Ensured all marketing communications and promotional efforts confirm to brand guidelines
Key Achievements:
• Set up the entire gamut of digital/online presence
• Created a Private Digital Library (PDL); Implemented a Guest Satisfaction Survey system
• Evaluated, enhanced and monitored OTAs (booking.com, agoda, holidaycheck, expedia etc.) to drive more booking and incremental revenue online
• Created the road map for branding - logo, brochures, corporate presentations, company profile
• Built a database of 21, 000+ from scratch, in 6 months, for various promotions; Hand-coded and set up e-mail marketing/EDMs ( Link1 | Link 2 | Link 3 ); Managed cleaning, profiling and targeting internal database with electronic campaigns
• Planned and executed a website re-design (www.alhamraresorts.com )
• Created Footprints: the newsletter for the properties, from inception to promotion (http://bit.ly/19R9ktF )
• Implementation of joint-promotions, PR exposures like Ukranian Fashion Show, Entertainer, bank partnerships etc.
• Designed a series of F&B Marketing collaterals and promoted them
• Promoted the brand through various events such as Amasi Beach Party, Pool Party, Oktoberfest
• Ensured all company communications adhere to brand guidelines
Key Responsibilities:
• Creation and promotion of all digital efforts online
• Drive overall marketing strategy including social media
• In-charge of brand building, brand marketing and events
• Creation of marketing collaterals
• Oversee all marketing and public relation efforts
• Ensure all promotional efforts confirm to brand guidelines
• Market Research, Brand Audit and Website Management
Key Achievements:
• Increased traffic to the website from 11, 576 to 64, 016 (453% increase) through various SEO strategies (Google Adwords, Social Bookmarking, Meta tags etc.)
• Increased brand equity and brand presence and online through multi-platform online presence
• Increased brand visibility by building a series of marketing collaterals (brochures, business cards, roll-ups, e-mails, posters, pamphlets etc.)
• Instrumental in launching a new product to the existing product line
Key Responsibilities:
• Responsible for developing and executing marketing strategies to meet company objectives.
• Responsible for developing the Annual Marketing Budget and Plan with optimal costs and best ROI
• To evaluate customer research, market conditions, and competitor data and implement marketing plan alterations as needed.
• To oversee all marketing, advertising and promotional activities (E-mail marketing, Events and Exhibitions, Joint-mailing opportunities, ads on Google & Facebook)
• Increase website and online presence, brand equity through website updates, SEO, social media optimization)
Key Achievements:
• Joined as a trainee; promoted as Senior Executive in 6 months; and promoted as Assistant Manager in 1 year
• Set up all social media platforms for the company: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, TripAdvisor, Google Maps, Panoramio
• Directly responsible for the execution of World-Travel Award-winning Digital Marketing campaign: Lifescapes (www.lifescapes.org.in)
• SLH Account Management; helped increase brand value through dissemination of info on various SLH channels
• Built up a database of 45, 000+ HNIs in 1.5 years.
• Maintained, modified and enhanced 4 different websites
Key Responsibilities:
• Dedicated administration of the social media presence of Orange County Resorts online, including research: Facebook, TripAdvisor, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, WordPress, Google Maps, Panoramio accounts.
• Planning and executing various social media promotions for Orange County Resorts through Google Adwords, Facebook adverts, E-mail campaigns etc.
• Website maintenance and updation (www.orangecounty.in, www.ifescapes.org.in, http://www.coorgblog.orangecounty.in/, http://www.kabiniwildlifeblog.orangecounty.in/, http://www.coorgexperiences.orangecounty.in/, http://www.kabiniexperiences.orangecounty.in/, www.trailsindia.com) through SubVersion, Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 etc.
• Responsible for coordinating the Virtual tour of the resort on the website: http://www.orangecounty.in/coorg/virtualtour/index.php; http://www.orangecounty.in/kabini/virtualtour/index.php
• Monitoring of all online media activities for Orange County Resorts & Hotels Ltd. (Google Adwords, Google Analytics, E-mail campaigns, Facebook Adverts, Database Management, Blog updations etc.)
• Marketing collaterals generation through designs and/or co-ordination with various creative agencies.
• Taught English to undergraduates through communicative and language immersion approaches.
• Ensured quality delivery of the lessons.
• Kept learner records and profile cards up to date.
• Integrated computer and multimedia-assisted instructional technology to language learning.
• Provided counseling for students from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
• Motivated and mentored students of different learning levels.
• Developed individual educational plans based on learning levels.
• Provided special linguistic instructions focusing phonetics, English Grammar, Conversational English.
First Rank holder throughout all Semesters Won Gold Medal for academic excellence
- First Rank Holder throughout all Semesters. - Won 4 Gold Medals for Academic Excellence. - Was Chief Editor of Mediagraph, the first ever Student Media Journal in India - Was Chief Coordinator of Departmental Festivals of the Dept. of Visual Communication, Loyola College, Chennai
