Hotel director of sales and marketing job description
A hotel director of sales and marketing picks the business that fills the hotel's rooms, meeting space and ballroom, and leads the team that books it. They set goals for groups, weddings and leisure guests and run the website, email, ads and travel site listings.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Hotels & Resorts - Director of Sales and Marketing
Company Name:
[INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE]
Department:
Sales and Marketing
Reports to:
General Manager
Location:
[INSERT LOCATION HERE]
1. Position Summary
The Director of Sales and Marketing brings in the business that fills the hotel's rooms and meeting space. You'll set the sales and marketing plan, lead the sales team, own the group and catering revenue goals, and run the website, email, social and advertising. The Revenue Manager sets prices; you both work from the same forecast.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Write the annual sales and marketing plan by market segment: corporate, association, social and wedding, leisure and tour.
Set goals for each Sales Manager and review their accounts, leads and activity every week.
Approve group contracts outside standard terms, such as attrition, cancellation, concessions and comp rooms.
Decide which groups to chase with the Revenue Manager, based on dates, rates and the business they would displace.
Manage the marketing budget and agencies: website, paid search, email, social media and public relations.
Keep photos, descriptions and offers current on the website, [your brand's channels] and online travel agencies.
Represent the hotel with the local convention and visitors bureau, the chamber and key accounts.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review new leads, tentative groups and contracts waiting for signature.
Check group pace against the forecast and flag blocks that need a cutoff decision.
Join site visits and calls with large or high-value clients.
Approve marketing posts, emails and ad changes.
Check upcoming events booked by sales with the Food and Beverage Director and Banquet Manager.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Total sales revenue booked against goal: [your target].
Group and catering revenue on the books for future months: [your target].
Lead response time: [your target].
Website direct booking revenue: [your target].
Sales team activity against goal: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[5+] years in hotel sales, including [2+] years leading a sales team or as a senior sales manager.
Has negotiated group contracts, including attrition, cancellation and food and beverage minimums.
Keeps accounts and activity in a sales and catering system such as [your system].
Plans and manages a marketing budget across digital channels and agencies.
Bachelor's degree in hospitality, marketing or business, or equivalent experience.
6. Preferred Experience
Resort or full-service hotel experience with weddings, conferences and leisure packages.
Relationships with meeting planners and associations in [your feeder markets].
Certified Hospitality Digital Marketer (CHDM) or Certified Meeting Professional (CMP).
7. Physical Requirements
Office and computer work, plus walking the property for site visits and event checks.
Travel to trade shows and client meetings, carrying display materials up to [25] pounds.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Salaried, weekday-based schedule, with evening and weekend client events.
Sales trips and trade shows: [how often and where].
Works from the hotel's sales office.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new director of sales and marketing gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
This director leads sellers, but also owns the marketing budget, the hotel's listings on the travel sites, and a group calendar that runs years ahead.
Every date can only be sold once
A room left empty tonight can't be sold tomorrow, and on a Saturday night the ballroom goes to one wedding or one gala, not both. So the director decides which business gets which dates: meetings on weekdays, weddings on weekends, packages in peak season. The Revenue Manager helps judge whether a group is worth the guests it would displace.
Groups book months or years out
Association conventions and big corporate meetings often sign long before they arrive. Weddings book many months ahead. So the director works two calendars at once. Next month's gaps get filled with leisure offers and short-notice groups. Group business for future years has to be booked now. Group pace reports show early when a month looks thin.
The hotel website competes with the travel sites
Guests can book on Expedia or Booking.com, on the brand's site, or on the hotel's own site. The travel sites take a cut of each stay. So the director grows direct bookings with paid search, email, metasearch and perks for booking direct, within what the travel site contracts allow. At a branded hotel, the brand also runs loyalty and sends leads from its sales offices.
Federal rules cover how the hotel asks for reviews
Guest reviews sell rooms, and federal rules now govern how hotels ask for them. The FTC's review rule, in effect since October 21, 2024, bans fake reviews and any perk offered only for a good review. A manager who asks staff for reviews must tell them to say they work at the hotel. Google goes further: no perk for any review, even an honest one, and no quota of reviews for staff to bring in. So ask every guest the same way and offer nothing in return. Source: FTC: Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule questions and answers.
An agency sends the email, the hotel keeps the duty
Hotels often hand email, social media or paid search to an agency. The legal duty doesn't go with it: the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide says you can't contract it away. Each promotional email must carry the hotel's postal address and an unsubscribe option that works, and anyone who unsubscribes must stop getting mail within 10 business days. Ask the agency to show you both in a sent email. Source: FTC: CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide for business.
How much hotel directors of sales and marketing make
The closest BLS group for hotel directors of sales and marketing is sales managers. Sales managers who work for hotels, resorts, and motels earned a median of $98,850 a year ($47.53 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $148,270 median for sales managers in all industries. About 9,700 of the 637,080 sales managers in that survey work for hotels and resorts.
Salary plus a bonus. The bonus usually follows room, group and catering revenue against budget, and many plans add hotel profit.
Hotels and resorts
$98,850$98,850 median Middle half $76,310–$129,990 10th–90th $62,330–$169,080
All industries
$148,270$148,270 median Middle half $100,360–$207,340 10th–90th $73,170–$290,540
$0k$50k$100k$150k$200k$250k$300k$350k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Hotels and resorts
$62,330
$76,310
$98,850
$129,990
$169,080
All industries
$73,170
$100,360
$148,270
$207,340
$290,540
BLS groups hotels, resorts and motels as traveler accommodation. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has led hotel sellers and held them to weekly activity and booking goals
Negotiates group contracts, including attrition, cancellation, concessions and food and beverage minimums
Sees a weak future month coming in the group pace report and fixes it early
Plans a marketing budget across search, email, social media and travel site listings
Comfortable leading site visits and trade show meetings with big clients
Teach these on the job
Your brand's standards, sales tools and loyalty rules, or your independent channels
Your feeder markets and convention bureau contacts
The resort's room types, function space, menus and blackout dates
Which agencies you use and what each one owns
How your owners want monthly results reported
Accounts, leads and group contracts live in sales and catering software, often Amadeus Delphi or Oracle OPERA Cloud Sales and Event Management, and many meeting requests come through Cvent. Marketing runs on the website's booking engine, an email platform, Google Hotel Ads or other metasearch, and market reports from STR.
Hotel director of sales and marketing interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Set each goal from your budget, your mix of groups and leisure guests, and how far ahead your groups book. Peak months and slow months need different numbers.
Total sales revenue booked against goal
The full value of every contract the team signed in the month, rooms plus meeting space plus catering, from the sales software. Break it out by seller and segment to see where it came from.
Group and catering revenue on the books for future months
Pull definite group and catering revenue for each coming month and set it beside budget and this time last year. The gaps show which months need sales effort now.
Lead response time
Time from a new lead or RFP to a first answer that offers dates and a rate, from Cvent or sales system time stamps. Check the slowest replies by hand each week.
Website direct booking revenue
Room revenue booked through the hotel's own website and booking engine each month. Track it next to travel site revenue so you see which way the channel mix is moving.
Sales team activity against goal
Count the calls, site visits, proposals and trade show leads each seller logs per week. Look for activity that never turns into proposals, not only low totals.
Career path
Sales ManagerBooks groups and weddings and learns how blocks and contracts work.
Director of salesLeads the sellers at one hotel, without owning marketing.
Director of Sales and MarketingOwns sales, marketing and the revenue goals for the hotel.
Area director of sales and marketingLeads sales and marketing for several hotels in one group.
General ManagerSome move into the top job after years of owning the revenue line.
Who decides what: the director of sales and marketing or the revenue manager?
The director chooses which business to chase and leads the people who book it. The Revenue Manager sets room prices and stay rules and judges whether a group is worth the dates it wants. They work from one forecast and meet every week. At some hotels revenue reports to the director of sales and marketing. In this template the General Manager oversees both and settles it when they disagree about a big group.
How much does a hotel director of sales and marketing make?
Sales managers who work for hotels, resorts, and motels earned a median of $98,850 a year ($47.53 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $76,310 and $129,990 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
Which certifications matter for a hotel director of sales and marketing?
The template names two industry credentials. Neither is a license. HSMAI's Certified Hospitality Digital Marketer (CHDM) covers websites, email, paid search, travel sites and reviews. Holders renew it every two years by logging training hours. The Events Industry Council's Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) is based on work experience, education and an exam. Count either as a plus when you compare finalists, next to their booking record.
Does brand experience matter when hiring a director of sales and marketing?
It depends on what you run. Brand-trained directors know the brand's sales tools, loyalty program and national sales offices, and they count on those for leads. Directors from independent resorts are used to creating demand on their own through the website, travel site listings, paid search and public relations. If your hotel is independent, ask brand candidates how they would replace the leads the brand used to send them.
Should sales and marketing be one job or two?
Often one at first. At a resort this size, one director can cover both with a few sales managers, a coordinator for proposals and contracts, and outside agencies for ads, email or social media. Ask the agencies to report bookings and revenue, not clicks. A large conference center or more hotels usually tips it toward a separate marketing hire.
How soon should a new director of sales and marketing show results?
Group business books months ahead, so a new director's first season mostly runs on contracts the last one signed. Judge the early months by what they control now: how fast leads get answers, how busy the team is, and how much group business is on the books for next year. The revenue that arrives later shows whether the plan worked.
