Group & Corporate Sales Manager

Responsibilities

• Develop the group and corporate sales pipeline for a Mérida hotel: target the Yucatán government and healthcare sectors (Secretaría de Turismo regional meetings, IMSS Yucatán regional administrative travel, PEMEX supply chain management travel to the Yucatán petrochemical zone), the archaeological tourism group market (cultural tour operators from Europe and North America who bring 20–40 person group tours to the Yucatán Peninsula), and the domestic corporate incentive market from CDMX and Monterrey that uses the hacienda circuit for incentive programs
• Develop the hacienda group experience product: the Mérida hotel's most commercially distinctive group product is the hacienda excursion — a day or overnight program at one of the Yucatán henequen estates that combines cenote swimming, colonial architecture, traditional Yucatecan cuisine, and the history of the henequen industry — packaged as a group incentive activity or pre/post-convention excursion
• Manage the Siglo XXI convention group demand: the Mérida convention center generates pre/post-convention hotel demand and associated corporate meeting group business — the sales manager develops relationships with PCOs and event management companies that use the Siglo XXI
• Develop the international archaeological tourism group market: French, Spanish, and German cultural tour operators bring group tours to the Yucatán Peninsula specifically for Mayan civilization site access — the Mérida hotel that builds relationships with these European cultural tour operators has a stable international group base
• Manage the destination wedding group sales for the hacienda wedding market: Mérida's hacienda wedding circuit generates hotel room block demand for the guest accommodation component — the sales manager develops relationships with the hacienda wedding planners who refer guests to the hotel
• Apply the heat season group strategy: April–May extreme heat suppresses incentive group demand in Mérida — the sales manager focuses prospecting on the October–February peak and the July–August Yucatán domestic market during these periods

Requirements

• Hotel group or corporate sales experience
• English and Spanish bilingual; French or German a significant advantage for the Mérida European archaeological tourism market
• Yucatán hacienda and cenote product knowledge
• Government and institutional travel market familiarity
• Archaeological tourism group operator relationship development

Benefits

• IMSS, aguinaldo, paid vacation + premium
• Transport subsidy MXN 500/month
• Staff meals
• Group and corporate commission
• Career development in Mérida's growing group sales market

Work environment

Group and corporate sales manager at a Mérida hotel. Government institutional accounts, European archaeological tourism group operators, and hacienda incentive experience sales for the Yucatán Peninsula's group hotel market.

About the role

The Mérida group sales manager who identifies a Parisian cultural tour operator that specializes in Mayan civilization tours — who sends a hotel presentation in French to the operator's acquisition manager — who follows up with a call in French, discusses the hacienda excursion program that can be included in the Mérida portion of the itinerary, and presents a group rate for the 5 Mérida nights that 40-person cultural tour groups would require — who closes 4 group bookings over 2 years with that single operator relationship — has built an international source market account from a cold approach in a language that demonstrates commitment to the relationship. The French response rate to a well-written French email from a Mexican hotel is significantly higher than the English response rate to the same email. The language investment pays for itself in the first booking.