Senior Catering Sales Executive

• Manages the sales efforts for the property including local corporate and social catering
• Responds to incoming catering opportunities for the property
• Identifies, qualifies and solicits new catering business to achieve personal and property revenue goals
• Solicits affiliate business associated with citywide events from approved affiliate list provided by Citywide Sales Executive
• Understands the overall market - competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, economic trends, supply and demand etc. and knows how to sell against them
• Closes the best opportunities for the property based on market conditions and property needs
• Uses negotiating skills and creative selling abilities to close on business and negotiate contracts
• Works with the management team to create and implement a catering sales plan addressing revenue, customers and market
• Designs, develops and sells creative catered events
• Maximizes revenue by up-selling packages and creative food and beverage
• Develops and manages catering sales revenue and operation budgets, and provides forecasting reports
• Develops menus that drive sales
• Assists with selling, implementation and follow-through of catering promotions
• Executes and supports Marriott’s Customer Service Standards and hotel’s Brand Standards
• Executes and supports the operational aspects of business booked (e.g., generating proposal, writing contract, customer correspondence)
• Participates in and practices daily service basics of the brand
• Establishes that the property implements a seamless turnover from sales to operations and back to sales while consistently delivering high level of service
• Monitors the effective resolution of guest issues that arise as a result of the sales process by creating mechanisms to channel issues to property leadership and/or other appropriate stakeholders
• Maintains successful performance by increasing revenues, controlling expenses and providing a return on investment for the owner and Marriott International
• Provides day to day supervision to catering sales associates that are on-property
• Contracts and closes local catering and social business and confirms that business is turned over properly and in a timely fashion for quality service delivery
• Achieves catering revenue goals by actively up-selling each business opportunity to maximize revenue
• Implements the brand’s service strategy and applicable brand initiatives in all aspects of the sales process and drives customer loyalty by delivering service excellence throughout each customer experience
• Performs other duties, as assigned, to meet business needs
• Works collaboratively with off-property sales channels (e.g., Sales Office, Area Sales,Enterprise Sales Team (EST)) to establish coordinated sales efforts that are complementary and not duplicative
• Interacts effectively with sales, kitchen, vendors, competitors, local community, catering associations and other hotel departments in order to monitor guest satisfaction
• Executes exemplary customer service to drive customer satisfaction and loyalty by assisting the customer and monitoring their satisfaction before and during their program/event
• Serves the customer by understanding their needs and recommending the appropriate features and services that best meet their needs and exceed their expectations, while building a relationship and loyalty to Marriott
• Gains understanding of the property’s primary target customer and service expectations
• serves the customer by understanding their business, business issues and concerns, to offer better business solution both prior to, and during the program/event
• Develops a close working relationship with operations to execute strategies at the property level

• High school diploma or GED
• 2 years experience in the sales and marketing, guest services, front desk, or related professional
• OR 2-year degree from an accredited university in Business Administration, Marketing, Hotel and Restaurant Management, or related major
• no work experience required

2 years of catering sales experience