Riad Abdallah

Manager - Holidayme.com.sa - Online Product, Digital Marketing, Strategic Partnerships, Arabic localisation:

Provide thought leadership to C-level managers, including supplier implementation and e-commerce best practices.

Leverage quantitive and qualitative data to understand, prioritise and engage with the target market.

Coordinate and integrate multiple functions to multiple lines of business, Content with the Online

Product development to IT to Marketing.

Manage Arabic teams across Content, Social Media, SEO, Design.

Hire across business lines.

Report to the CEO and the board of investors the overall results of the company and budgeting on quarterly basis.

Responsible for up to $20, 000 Marketing spend budget per month, heading a team of 3 technical web developers, 3 marketing assistants & content managers.

Set up the monthly and quarterly Marketing KPIs, Targets, Budgets and Implement the Strategies agreed upon, in-house.

Set up the Product and Technical IT Projects on Weekly, Monthly and Quarterly basis - Develop the Products in liaison with Sales and Customer feedback.

Direct management of Google Adwords, Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, Mailchimp and Kissmetrics

Daily management through & with the team, of the Communication on Social Media channels and Newsletters.

Contracting PR companies for Brand awareness, and Publishers for offline ads.

Create Business Development opportunities with 3rd party companies to strengthen the Products Sales and spread awareness with the Brand name of TravelerVIP.com (for example: key partnership alliances with banks, charities, and government or semi-governemental entities)

Managing the day-to-day operations and “red-tape”

Achievements:
121% increase in sales YOY

Bring down the Cost of Acquisition by 70% while doubling the qualified leads

Setting up the process of campaign measurement and its reporting on a tight budget.

Planning the strategy and launching the Destinations travel vertical for the largest group-buying website in the MENA region

Managing a small team of sales executives and admin executives to meet pipeline objectives and targets.

Plan and manage growth, innovation in liaison with the IT and Marketing departments.

Sourcing hotel and travel packages

Achievements:
Over 50, 000 room-nights sold in a year
Up to $1.3 million in sales in a month

Responsibilities:

Strategic planning

Manage key account partners

Responsible for area coverage & development

Relationship management, and expanding the networks as well as marketing the brand name of BOOKING.COM to hotels

Negotiating deals & contracts

Negotiate and maintain allotment

Maintaining and preparing of quantity and quality reports

Accompany and train hotels with implementation of system

Roll out XML projects

Training of hotels on internet strategies & revenue management

Organize and coordinate Tourist Trade Fair visits

Fulfilling the role of intermediary for Customer/Hotel service complaints

Liaise with the website Projects development, Marketing and website Content departments.

Competitor analysis and market feedback

Train new joiners

Achievement:

Achieving 350% growth YOY and beyond targets results,

Expanding the “shelf inventory” 2 to 3 times beyond competition’s reach, Managing for maximum website conversion and Customer’s satisfaction, Training new joiners and Gaining trust & respect of the local team, Supporting key business departments (Content, Marketing, Project, IT and Customer Service departments).

Responsibilities:

Directing the business actions, reporting to the Owner/GM, managing a team of 4 to 35 associates depending on seasonality

Launching of new destinations/ products, Pricing and Operational Implementation

Contracting with Tour Operators clients and Suppliers (hotels, transport companies, and government related)

Preparing & Pitching quotations B2B

Preparing the marketing plan in coordination with the owner/GM
Tour Leader in the early years.

Starting as a Tour leader for 3 years accompanying small groups of 4 to 25 pax from Europe mainly, on tours of 7 to 15 days across the Middle East was an invaluable experience. Developing TLB’s business through contracting with suppliers and other third parties was a success on both the financial and relationship levels.