Conference Sales Manager

Who we are

LodgeWorks is a privately held hotel development and management company. While our name isn’t on the hotels themselves, our extraordinary culture is at the heart of our 18 hotels — including our award-winning Archer Hotel boutique collection and our portfolio of other great brands with familiar names, such as Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Aloft, and Hampton Inn. We’re thrilled to be considered industry innovators with a rich 35+ year history. Yet, what we are most proud of is the strong family culture we have developed and maintained while growing to 1000+ employees nationwide. At LodgeWorks, hospitality is more than just the industry in which we work; it defines everything we do. Maybe it’s because we’re grounded in Midwestern hospitality (our home office is in Wichita, Kansas, while our hotels are scattered across the U.S.). Or maybe it’s because we actively work to make hospitality (with each other, our guests, our clients and partners) the foundation upon which everything is built.

Job overview

The Conference Sales Manager is a key driver of revenue, responsible for maximizing sales opportunities for conference and event spaces. This role focuses on identifying potential clients, nurturing relationships, and closing deals to meet and exceed sales targets. Collaboration with the Operations team ensures top-notch client satisfaction and seamless event execution.

Your day-to-day

• Coordinate meetings and special events and activities with accuracy and detailed communication outlines for client and hotel departments providing accurate resumes, banquet event orders, group profiles, and other communications as necessary.
• Work closely with the Operations team, ensuring the timely execution and delivery of resumes and banquet event orders.
• Maintain a good working relationship with the existing client base and explore ways to increase revenue from this base.
• Ensure all contracted groups are meeting and/or exceeding minimum food and beverage revenues, guest room revenues, meeting room rental revenues and monitoring potential attrition.
• Coordinate menu arrangements for event/group clients that maximize the revenue potential for the hotel, while serving the needs of the client.
• Able to upsell food and beverage, guest room types and any ancillary revenue streams.
• Monitor room blocks and cutoff dates for both individual reservations and rooming lists.
• Obtaining a rooming list by due date and in accordance with the contract, monitor group pick and advise client of potential attrition.
• Maintain accurate and current space (room) blocks in the CRM, observing proper turnovers and releasing space appropriately and timely so to maximize the revenue potential of the hotel through the booking of other business opportunities.
• Assist client with any off-premises details as they may affect the hotel service delivery, such as floral concerns/orders, decorations, motor coach arrival/departure patterns, all while informing supporting hotel departments, ensuring appropriate charges are assessed in accordance with the contract.
• Create diagrams of the events for the Food and Beverage team.
• Conduct Tours for potential and booked clients.
• Support Sales representatives in determining repeat/additional opportunities to serve group clients.
• Maintain flexible hours to accommodate customer needs.
• Based on slow business conditions, may support catering or group sales initiatives.
• Assist in the posting and billing of group events.
• Schedule appropriate interdepartmental meetings for the operational aspects of coordinating conference requirements, which may include pre-planning meetings or a pre-conference meeting for the operational departments.
• Prepare detailed conference profiles (Group Resume) for programs that are comprehensive and issued in a timely manner (no less than five business days prior to the group arrival date).
• Complete and distribute Banquet Event Orders, reports and correspondence as may be required, and issue in a timely manner (no less than 14 business days prior to arrival).
• Provide accurate conference profile/Group Resume, that documents all aspects of a group program, including menus, meeting set ups, client profiles, reservation pick up statistics and other pertinent information.
• Assist in any other task or duties as requested by management.

Who you are

• A team player with a heart for hospitality.
• Entrepreneurial at heart and innovative in mind.
• A long-term thinker.
• Customer-focused, with guests, clients and employees at the forefront of your thinking.
• Nimble and able to adapt to change quickly.
• Committed to sharing and togetherness and value the family mindset of our organization.
• Aware that a good reputation is a huge asset to a hotel and committed to being a representative of that great reputation.
• An excellent communicator.
• Naturally curious and value listening to solve problems.
• Comfortable following directions, guidelines and work objectives.
• Capable of exerting up to 60 pounds of force occasionally.
• Capable of standing for an entire shift or for an extended amount of time.
• Capable of reaching overhead, utilizing both hands, leaning over, stooping and kneeling.

A plus: Practiced, with six months' related experience in hospitality or a service industry.

A must: Eager to be part of a great work culture and team.

Benefits

We are proud to offer competitive wages and the following benefits for full-time employees: PTO, Hotel and restaurant discounts available at select LodgeWorks properties, Health, vision and dental benefits, 401(k) plans with matching contributions, Paid holidays, Short-term and long-term disability (company sponsored), Referral bonuses, Flexible spending accounts.

LodgeWorks is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability status.