Senior Director, Group Distribution Strategy

Overview

JOB SUMMARY

The global distribution landscape in the lodging industry continues to expand and become more complex, and Marriott International recognizes the importance of the continued development and execution of a comprehensive channel distribution strategy. The Distribution team is charged with delivering long-term profitability to hotels and owners by generating demand and optimizing returns across owned and direct, and third-party customer facing channels.

The team identifies, develops, and deploys the means to drive customers to Marriott’s lowest-cost owned and direct channels (, voice, mobile, etc.) while cultivating and optimizing the relationships with all third-party channels, including groups & meetings, OTAs, Metasearch, wholesalers, TMC, and travel agencies.

As a key team leader of Marriott International’s Distribution team, the Senior Director, Group Distribution Strategy, reports to the Vice President, Group and Transient Distribution Strategy and Activation. This position is responsible for developing and implementing Marriott’s distribution strategy for the Groups & Meetings segment. Working in close collaboration with key stakeholders in Global Sales, Continents, Revenue Management, Digital, IT, and Owner + Franchise Services, this position will define Marriott’s approach to drive group demand, strengthen the value proposition for direct channels, and address group intermediation cost and growth.

The Senior Director, Group Distribution Strategy will lead a team responsible for formulating a product vision, setting the strategy & roadmap, and managing the performance of Marriott’s direct channel Shop + Book products (e.g.,  RFP and Quick Group) and Group Housing Solutions (e.g., Res Link and Rooming List), which cumulatively generate over $6B in revenue. This role also will lead Marriott’s strategy and management of existing and emerging third-party digital/technology players who play an active role in the group segment (e.g., Groups
360, Cvent). He or she will lead the negotiation governance process for Group intermediary contracts and will help define and build support for the objectives, strategy, and options for all intermediary agreements in the group segment. This role also will be an active contributor to Marriott’s efforts to define the benefits provided to group customers, and will drive any changes to direct channel benefits and advantages.

This leader will develop detailed quantitative and qualitative analyses, create compelling materials to describe and build support for findings and recommendations, and present these materials to key leaders across Marriott International. This is a critical role that is central to Marriott’s efforts to address the changing dynamics in the group distribution channel landscape and ensure that long-term profitability in the Groups & Meetings segment is achieved.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Education And Experience

• Bachelor's degree required;
  Graduate degree preferred.
• 8+ years’ work experience, with at least five years of relevant work experience is required.
• Demonstrated ability to manage, develop, and motivate a talented team is required.
• Proven track record of strategy formulation, delivery and results is required. Consulting or similar experience with development and implementation of transformational strategies, particularly in the hospitality industry, is desired.
• Experience with strategy development, distribution issues in the group & meetings segment, relationship/account management, and emerging solutions and technologies is required.
• Demonstrated ability to take complex projects from conception to successful execution, leverage creative problem solving and provide overall value analysis throughout is required.
• Experience in planning and preparing teams for complex partner negotiations is preferred, particularly with group partners in the hospitality space.
• Solid project management, organizational and process skills are required. Demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex projects without losing focus on priorities is required.
• Demonstrated ability to work well within all levels of the organization, especially internal and external…