Business Development Manager - South West

Business Development Manager - South West & Tenby Crest Hotels Central Office, Bristol

Crest Hotels Group, buy, develop and manage uniquely positioned hotels in the UK. Privately owned and operated, with core values focused around true-hospitality, engaged teams, and serving the community that our hotels are located in.

As the Business Development Manager for the South West cluster, you will be the primary commercial driver for four Crest properties across Pembrokeshire, Bristol and Devon. Your mandate is to identify, engage and convert business opportunities (corporate, conferences, groups, events) in those regions, build and maintain strong relationships, drive incremental revenue and deliver against defined targets. You will act as a strategic partner to the hotels and to the central sales & revenue functions of Crest.

The role is field based so willingness to travel regularly within the assigned territory and attend networking and industry events is essential.

As Business Development Manager, you will Research and develop new business in your region: target corporates, associations, incentive/group travel planners, leisure group operators, sports clubs, golf/tennis societies and leisure segmentation.

The Business Development Manager will be up to date with market trends, have a constant churn of new initiatives and ideas to ensure the business is always evolving and attracting new business whilst maintaining current client base.

As Business Development Manager you will conduct regular site visits across your cluster to build relationships with hotel team, host familiarisation visits for clients in partnership with DOS, and attend client meetings on site when business required. Develop cluster wide initiatives (for example: multi-venue offerings, off-peak meeting bundles, “stay & meet” packages) and coordinate the marketing roll out with the group Marketing team.

Track key metrics: number of leads, proposals sent, conversions, average rate, length of stay, segment mix, event utilisation. Provide insight into what’s driving success and what barriers exist.

Attend local and regional networking/business forums, trade events and exhibitions to grow brand visibility of Crest and secure new corporate relationships. Update the CRM at all key stages of the sales lifecycle, ensure consistency of data and clean reporting. You will provide monthly reporting to the Group DOS: pipeline status, wins/losses, insights, and proposed next-steps for the cluster.

The role of Business Development Manager will report to the Group Director of Sales, as we grow our business and develop our unique hotels the successful candidate has the opportunity to shape the role and to have a real impact on the business.

This role is ideal for someone who has strong demonstratable business development and commercial skills, with great communication and time management. The candidate will need previous experience, be able to effectively communicate with each hotel team and use their own initiative.

Experience & Qualifications

• Proven experience in business development within the hotel/venue/meetings/events sector (ideally multi-property or resort environment).
• Excellent network and ability to build relationships with corporates.
• Strong commercial acumen: comfortable negotiating contracts, interpreting revenue/ADR/occupancy data, and aligning business opportunities with hotel commercial strategy.
• Self-motivated, organised, able to manage multiple prospects and priorities across locations.
• Excellent presentation, communication and negotiation skills; confident delivering proposals, site tours and client meetings.
• Proficient in CRM systems, MS Office, comfortable producing reports and insights.
• £60 BB per night for Friends and Family rate
• Celebration of milestone employment anniversaries
• 50% off Food & Beverage in our hotels
• Meals on duty provided
• Access to Hospitality Rewards
• Offerings from retail and dining discounts
• Employee Assistance Programme and same day on-line GP appointments