Senior Commercial Director

Overview

Job Description

Commercial Strategy and Leadership

• Develop, lead and execute the hotel strategy ensuring alignment with ownership objectives, brand standards, annual budgets and hotel business plans.
• Act as the senior commercial partner to the Managing Director, providing clear recommendations on business mix, pricing, demand generation, channel strategy and growth opportunities.
• Translate objectives into measurable commercial action plans with clear ownership, timelines and performance expectations.
• Create a strong commercial culture across the organization, ensuring hotel teams understand market opportunities, revenue priorities and their role in driving commercial results.

RevPAR, Total Revenue and Market Share Growth

• Drive RevPAR, ADR, occupancy, market share and total revenue growth across the asset through disciplined commercial planning and execution.
• Lead total hotel revenue opportunities across rooms, food and beverage, groups, meetings and events, long-stay, corporate, leisure and ancillary revenue streams.
• Work closely with revenue management teams to optimize pricing, inventory controls, restrictions, forecasting, segmentation and channel mix.
• Identify demand gaps and growth opportunities by monitoring market trends, competitor activity, city-wide events, source markets and changing customer behaviour.
• Ensure commercial decisions are profitability-aligned, balancing revenue growth with distribution costs, margin impact and long-term account value.

Sales, Marketing, Distribution and Brand Activation

• Lead the overall sales strategy across key segments including corporate, leisure, groups, MICE, wholesale, consortia, travel trade, OTA and direct channels.
• Ensure strategic account management disciplines are in place, including account plans, production reviews, relationship mapping, conversion tracking and measurable action plans.
• Oversee commercial input into marketing, PR, digital, e-commerce, CRM, loyalty and promotional campaigns to drive demand and conversion for each hotel.
• Maximize the use of IHG commercial platforms, Vignette Collection brand opportunities, distribution systems, loyalty channels and shared-service resources.
• Prioritize Brand.com and overall direct business revenue generation, increasing direct booking contribution, improving channel profitability and reducing reliance on third-party channels where commercially appropriate.
• Further leverage One Rewards, IHG's loyalty ecosystem and the Vignette Collection brand platform to capture direct business, drive member engagement, strengthen repeat demand and grow loyalty-led revenue across the portfolio.
• Provide direct leadership and accountability for Sales and Marketing teams, ensuring both functions are aligned behind the hotel commercial strategy, revenue targets and brand priorities.
• Represent the hotel at asset management reviews, key client meetings, brand reviews, trade events, sales missions and commercial forums when required.

Team Management and Performance

• Lead, coach and develop commercial teams and relevant on-property colleagues, creating a results-driven and collaborative working environment.
• Set clear individual and team KPIs, monitor performance regularly and provide timely feedback, coaching and corrective action where needed.
• Build team capability through training, succession planning, best-practice sharing and consistent commercial routines.
• Ensure strong communication and coordination between sales, revenue, marketing, reservations, events, F&B and hotel operations teams.
• Direct the Sales Leader and Marketing Leader with clearly defined responsibilities, reporting routines, KPIs and accountability for revenue-generating activities.

Above-Property and Shared-Service Collaboration

• Build strong and productive relationships with above-property and shared-service teams, including IHG/brand commercial support, revenue management, digital, distribution, reservations, loyalty, PR and marketing resources.
• Influence and coordinate shared-service support to ensure hotel priorities are understood, actioned and measured against expected results.
• Translate above-property initiatives into property-level execution, ensuring hotel receives the right level of commercial focus and follow-through.
• Escalate risks, opportunities and resources needs clearly to the Managing Director and senior leadership team.

Business Planning, Reporting and Analysis

• Lead and contribute to annual business planning, budgeting, forecasting and commercial reviews.
• Prepare clear commercial reports and presentations for the Managing Director, senior management and relevant stakeholders.
• Use data from PMS, CRS, RMS, CRM, sales reporting and business intelligence tools to identify trends, risks and actionable opportunities.
• Track progress against commercial plans, revenue targets, pace, pickup, conversion, account production and campaign performance.

Operational and Stakeholder Alignment

• Work closely with hotel operations teams to ensure commercial promises are aligned with guest experience, service delivery and operational capacity.
• Partner with food and beverage leaders to create demand, packages, promotions and partnerships that grow total revenue and enhance hotel positioning.
• Maintain strong relationships with asset management/owners, brand representatives, key clients, partners and internal stakeholders to support long-term commercial success.

Key Performance Indicators

• RevPAR, ADR, occupancy and market share index performance.
• Total revenue delivery, including rooms, food and beverage, meetings and events, and ancillary revenue versus budget and forecast.
• Sales productivity, account penetration, conversion, pipeline quality and business mix improvement.
• Channel mix optimization, direct booking contribution, loyalty performance and distribution cost efficiency.
• com production, direct business revenue contribution, One Rewards and loyalty contribution, member engagement and repeat demand.
• Forecast accuracy, pricing discipline, commercial plan execution and speed of corrective action.
• Team engagement, talent development and quality of collaboration with hotel leadership and shared-service teams.

Desired Skill & Expertise

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Hospitality Management, Commercial Strategy, Marketing or a related field; master’s degree or relevant certification is an advantage.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive hotel commercial, sales, revenue, distribution or marketing leadership experience, including 3–5 years in a senior commercial role.
• Proven track record of delivering RevPAR, total revenue, market share, Brand.com/direct-channel growth, loyalty revenue and profitable commercial performance.
• Prior international chain with lifestyle brand experience is strongly preferred.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen across rooms, F&B, groups, events, pricing, segmentation, distribution, digital/e-commerce, CRM, brand marketing and demand generation.
• Proven ability to lead Sales and Marketing teams, with clear reporting lines, KPIs, performance routines, coaching and accountability across a multi-property environment.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, presentation and relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence senior leadership, owners, brand teams, shared-service teams, clients and partners.
• Proficiency with hotel commercial systems, including PMS, CRS, RMS, CRM, sales reporting and business intelligence tools.
• Knowledge of the Dubai/UAE hospitality market and international source markets is strongly preferred; fluent English is required and additional languages are preferred.
• Flexibility to travel and attend client meetings, industry events and commercial activities as required.