Company Description

The Mercure London Earls Court hotel is a newly renovated property in Southwest London. The property is a large conferencing & group hotel comprising a total of 508 bedrooms, across two distinct brands within Accor, Ibis & Mercure. As the property is a combo there are 226 Ibis rooms & 282 Mercure rooms. The London Suite is the main ballroom for all types of events. The London Suite is extremely versatile and plays a pivotal role in the property’s overall performance. The London Suite is divisible into nine separate meeting rooms, which when combined can be one of the largest pillar free spaces in London for events up to 1200 guests. The F&B outlets in the property have been created by PARIS SOCIETY. The F & B space named Barnaby’s, is perfect for social events and either the Barnaby’s Kitchen or Barnaby’s Lounge Bar can be semi or completely privatised for groups, events or additional catering / meeting space for larger residential bookings/ functions.

Our promise is caring and impeccable service. We nurture real passion for service and achievement beyond limits.

Our mission is to make the impossible possible, to realise your dreams.

Job Description

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Reservations & Leisure Sales Manager is responsible for leading the Reservations Department while driving leisure sales performance to maximise hotel revenue and profitability. Reporting to the Commercial Office Manager, the role oversees the day-to-day operation of the reservations function, ensuring all enquiries, bookings and group reservations are managed efficiently and in line with hotel and Accor brand standards. The role is accountable for developing leisure business across Group Leisure, Series and Wholesale segments, building strong client relationships, identifying new business opportunities and working closely with the Commercial, Revenue and Operations teams to deliver the hotel's commercial objectives. The Reservations & Leisure Sales Manager will lead, develop and motivate the reservations team, promoting a culture of commercial awareness, service excellence and continuous improvement while ensuring effective communication across all hotel departments.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

Commercial Overview

• Develop and implement the annual Leisure Sales Strategy alongside the Commercial Office Manager and Director of Sales & Marketing.
• Conduct regular Leisure Strategy Meetings reviewing production, market trends, opportunities and competitor activity.
• Drive Leisure revenue across FIT, Group Leisure, Series and Wholesale segments.
• Negotiate contracted rates, allocations and commercial agreements for leisure series and tour operators.
• Manage leisure account production, analysing performance and identifying opportunities for growth.
• Conduct regular materialisation meetings and calls with leisure partners to review contracted business versus actual production and implement recovery plans where required.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with tour operators, wholesalers, destination management companies (DMCs), coach operators and leisure travel agents.
• Carry out regular client visits, account reviews and hotel presentations to existing and prospective leisure clients.
• Participate in Leisure on Tour events, trade shows, networking functions, client entertainment and familiarisation trips to promote the hotel.
• Host site inspections and educational visits for leisure partners and key accounts.
• Develop new leisure business opportunities within domestic and international markets.
• Identify opportunities to convert Ad-hoc leisure enquiries into long-term contracted business.
• Monitor market trends, competitor activity and demand patterns to support group pricing and commercial decisions.
• Work closely with Revenue Management to ensure leisure rates, allocations and availability are aligned with commercial strategy.
• Ensure leisure business contributes positively to overall hotel profitability.
• Proficient in creating slides to present upwards on key focus areas of department, wins/gains/losses and commercial reactive/proactive reservation focus, across multiple segmentation
• Clear understanding of comprehensive current and future customer segmentation and base. Competency on how to negotiate/price/yield across the MICE/Group, Transient Negotiated, Corporate (Business Groups) & Transient Wholesale business mix
• Understands the overall market, including competitors' strengths and weaknesses, economic trends, supply and demand etc. and knows how to sell/leverage/negotiate against them.