Group Sales & Retreat Manager

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage the group sales pipeline for a SMA boutique luxury property: target segments include corporate leadership retreats (executive teams seeking creative thinking environments outside of Mexico City), literary and artistic residency programs (SMA attracts international creative communities — the corporate retreat for a publishing company or creative agency is a natural SMA group product), small luxury incentive programs (10–40 top achievers from high-net-worth US and Canadian companies who want a culturally rich experience rather than a beach program), and destination wedding groups
• Build the corporate retreat product with SMA's specific cultural assets: the SMA corporate retreat proposal is built around the destination's specific offer — working sessions in a converted colonial courtyard, creative workshops with Oaxacan and Guanajuato artisans, mezcal and wine tasting from Guanajuato's growing wine region, cooking classes with traditional Bajío cuisine, and the artisan market circuit as a group cultural excursion
• Develop relationships with the executive retreat and corporate wellness planning community: the corporate retreat market for small luxury groups is managed by executive assistants, HR leaders, and experience design companies — the sales manager builds relationships in this community through CDMX visits, LinkedIn, and the referral network of previous SMA retreat clients
• Manage the destination wedding group room block sales: SMA is one of Mexico's most celebrated destination wedding locations — the sales manager develops relationships with the SMA wedding planner community and the North American destination wedding agencies that recommend SMA couples to the boutique hotel inventory
• Coordinate the art and cultural event programming for group stays: SMA's festival and gallery calendar (FIL Guadalajara proximity, International Film Festival, arts markets) can be integrated into group programming — the sales manager coordinates these elements with the property's cultural partners
• Present and promote the property at CDMX corporate community events, US destination wedding trade shows, and the Latin American cultural tourism market events

Requirements

• Group sales or retreat sales experience; boutique or cultural tourism property preferred
• English and Spanish bilingual — the SMA group market is heavily English-speaking
• SMA and Guanajuato cultural, culinary, and artisan knowledge
• Corporate retreat and executive experience design market awareness
• Destination wedding planner community relationships preferred

Benefits

• IMSS, aguinaldo, paid vacation + premium
• Staff meals
• Group and retreat commission
• Integration into SMA's cultural and artisan community through sales partnerships
• Career development in the boutique cultural group sales market

Work environment

Group sales and retreat manager at a San Miguel de Allende boutique luxury hotel. Executive corporate retreat, small luxury incentive, and destination wedding group sales for the most culturally distinctive group hospitality market in Mexico.

About the role

The SMA group sales manager who wins a leadership retreat for a Chicago-based design firm — who in the proposal described the group's 3-day program as "a creative immersion in a living design school" — who arranged a morning session with the internationally exhibited Oaxacan ceramicist who lives in SMA, an afternoon walking tour of the colonial architecture with the property's heritage architect contact, and a evening wine tasting from the Guanajuato biodynamic producer who is generating significant international attention — who the design firm's CEO described in their post-retreat report to the board as "the best leadership program we've done in 15 years" — has sold a group product that no conference center, ballroom, or slide deck could produce. The product is the place and the people in it. The sales manager's job was to know the place and the people well enough to design a program that the design firm's creative team would experience as genuinely new.