Director of Sales

About Four Seasons:

Four Seasons is powered by our people. We are a collective of individuals who crave to become better, to push ourselves to new heights and to treat each other as we wish to be treated in return. Our team members around the world create amazing experiences for our guests, residents, and partners through a commitment to luxury with genuine heart. We know that the best way to enable our people to deliver these exceptional guest experiences is through a world-class employee experience and company culture.         
At Four Seasons, we believe in recognizing a familiar face, welcoming a new one and treating everyone we meet the way we would want to be treated ourselves. Whether you work with us, stay with us, live with us or discover with us, we believe our purpose is to create impressions that will stay with you for a lifetime. It comes from our belief that life is richer when we truly connect to the people and the world around us.

About the location:

An urban retreat steeped in historic beauty. Stroll the city’s biggest private garden – a tranquil haven of statues, fountains and centuries-old trees – or retire to your suite where frescoes line the walls amid original architectural features. Our historic Hotel, with its Michelin-starred Italian restaurant and a locally inspired Spa where you can spend afternoons in pure indulgence, is just steps away from the cultural heart of Florence.

At Four Seasons Firenze we are looking for a passionate and strategic Director of Sales to monitor and motivate the department activities and team to ensure that all salespersons' quotas are met, sales activities, individual accounts and group bookings are focused and coordinated with transient demand to yield the maximum revenue per available room, to maximize sales in all hotel revenue areas. The position has overall responsibility for achieving revenue goals, KPIs, guest and employee satisfaction and the financial performance of the department.

What you will do

• Hire, retain and develop diverse, high-caliber talent that makes a strong positive impact on the organization, and creates and sustains a work environment that embraces the brand’s culture, ensures fair and equitable treatment and associate satisfaction to enable business success.

• Develop and implement strategies to exceed financial results and drive market share, customer satisfaction, employee loyalty, owner loyalty, and brand strength for the hotel.

• Develop and implement a sales strategy to effectively manage all the different sales channels and segmentation. Ensure the development of strategic account plans for the demand generators in the market. Deploy sales team against appropriate market segments and constantly monitor performance.

• Assist in the development of the annual marketing plan, ensure projects are executed for all market areas as stated in the hotel marketing plan with emphasis on increasing sales and profitability, review market analysis and determine client needs, occupancy potential, rates desired, etc.

• Supervise the installation of sales and marketing procedures and ensure the hotel is in compliance with all company Minimum Operating Standards.

• Proactively position and market the property to remain a market leader and strengthen Four Seasons brand image. Develop and execute a marketing strategy to drive revenue and meet property objectives.

• Act as the customer expert and customer advocate at the hotel. Ensure sales and marketing information provided to the operations departments is timely, accurate and enables property to meet or exceed guest expectations, create customer loyalty and grow market share. 

• Identify changing market conditions and introduce appropriate changes in sales and marketing strategy to meet or exceed customer expectations and results.

• Know the business, the competition, the clients and customer trends. Represent the customer needs to the rest of the hotel, and constantly identify and communicate potential new revenue opportunities to the hotel executive team influencing the development of plans to tap those opportunities.

• Proactively develop and maintain effective relationships with internal and external key stakeholder groups.

• Create and execute account plans for assigned markets and territories in the Leisure Segment to ensure maximum revenue and budgeted targets are achieved.

• Conduct sales calls, prospecting calls, site inspections, and entertainment.

• Effectively manage communication with Four Seasons Sales Offices maintaining regular dialogue and providing Sales & Marketing updates.

• Lead on-property sales functions and leverages above property sales resources to deliver results.

• Accomplish desired results by setting priorities and effectively managing through people and processes, using reliable tools, and leveraging resources and other parts of the organization.

• Assign clear goals to team members to assure success and accountability for results. Encourage sales team to set and exceed challenging objectives. 

• Maintain strict confidentiality and ensure work is of the highest level.

• Be responsible for all aspects of systems, administration, database and facilities of on-site sales activities including procedures and processes specific to the daily operation of the sales team. Responsible for overseeing the contract document, escrow, loan servicing and reporting processes for new sales, buybacks, repurchases and re-sales.

• The Director of Sales will also manage specific markets and segmentations.

What you bring

• Education: Academic education or equivalent experience.

• Experience: Must have minimum 3 year experience in the same position. Proven sales track record is a plus.

• Must possess strong decision making, selling, negotiation and interpersonal skills.

• Ability to organize, delegate and work under pressure are requirements for this post. Coach and development skills are also expected.

• Must maintain a professional appearance and conduct personal behavior in a mature professional business manner when representing the hotel or company.

• Advanced computer skills and knowledge including but not limited to Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Internet.

• Reading, writing and oral proficiency in the Italian and English language. Other languages such as French and/or Arabic are a plus.

• Travel required: in case of sales trips, conferences, training and special events.

What YOU can expect:

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts can offer what many hospitality professionals dream of: the opportunity to build a life-long career with global potential and a real sense of pride in work well done.  We look for talent who share the Golden Rule – people who, by nature, believe in treating others as we would have them treat us. 

The benefits offered by Four Seasons Hotel Firenze include:

This position is based at the Four Seasons Hotel Firenze and the contract is full time.

You must possess the legal right to work in Italy at the time of application