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For Companies At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead a high-performing team to drive hotel partnerships and commercial success in the UK & Ireland.
- Company: WebBeds is a global leader in accommodation distribution for the travel industry, offering innovative solutions.
- Benefits: Enjoy a dynamic work environment with opportunities for growth, collaboration, and international exposure.
- Why this job: Join a passionate team in a fast-growing market, making a real impact on travel experiences worldwide.
- Qualifications: Proven experience in hotel partnerships, strong negotiation skills, and a proactive leadership approach required.
- Other info: Embrace a culture of innovation and empowerment while working with a diverse, multilingual team.
The predicted salary is between 43200 - 72000 £ per year.
What you will do on your journey with WebBeds.
As the Director of Contracting, you will lead our sourcing strategy across one of WebBeds' most critical markets. This senior leadership role combines team management, commercial strategy, and high-level supplier engagement. You will play a key role in shaping the regional hotel portfolio, negotiating strategic partnerships, and ensuring consistent delivery against commercial objectives. Through collaboration with internal stakeholders and external hotel partners, you will drive performance and ensure WebBeds maintains its competitive advantage in the UK and Ireland.
In this role you will:
Manage hotel partnerships, drive commercial performance, and ensure portfolio growth in line with market demands. The ideal candidate brings strong leadership experience, a solid background in hotel contracting, and a passion for delivering high-impact commercial outcomes.
Key Responsibilities.
- Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing contracting team.
- Define and execute the hotel partnership strategy, ensuring alignment with business objectives.
- Collaborate with regional peers across Northern Europe to drive consistency and best practices.
- Develop strategic partnerships with top-performing hotels and chains.
- Achieve regional revenue, margin, and competitiveness targets within the B2B distribution landscape.
- Negotiate optimal inventory, rates, and availability to maximize sales potential.
- Analyse portfolio performance, identifying trends, gaps, and emerging opportunities.
- Work cross-functionally with Sales, Revenue Management, Marketing, Finance, and Operations to ensure seamless execution.
- Champion WebBeds' value proposition to secure long-term, strategic partnerships.
- Ensure hotel portfolio diversity, coverage, and quality aligned with regional market demands.
- Drive data-led decision-making to enhance competitive positioning.
- Lead internal initiatives to improve contracting processes and team efficiency.
The skills we would love to see in your suitcase.
- Proven track record in hotel partnerships and commercial management within the UK & Ireland market.
- Strong negotiation skills; and relationship-building abilities. Able to develop, and maintain, strong and trusting relationships with hoteliers and colleagues.
- Pro-active team leader.
- Accurate with attention to detail.
- Well-developed written and verbal communication skills (internal and external) in English.
- Able to work well under pressure and motivated to succeed.
- A solid working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook.
- Aptitude for leading and motivating a team.
- Ability to delegate competently.
- Able to communicate internally and externally in an effective and timely manner.
WebBeds is a global digital travel marketplace for the travel trade, an intermediary connecting hotels and other travel service suppliers to a distribution network of travel buyers all over the world. We connect hotels looking to fill rooms with buyers trying to find rooms. In short, we source bookable content, integrate, aggregate and merchandise that content in our platform, then distribute it to a global network of travel trade buyers, who sell to the travelling public.
Our Products range from a Retail Online platform, Integration Connectivity hub and distribution APIs to name but a few and our systems are 100% cloud hosted processing up to 8.3bn search requests daily, with 17million rooms nights sold in FY24. We deliver amazing outcomes using leading edge technology through innovative and creative thinking; and products help our partners deliver amazing travel experiences, enabling travel the world over.
Some things that make us stand out!
- We are a truly global travel organisation, with a global footprint.
- We have 1200+ people speaking 50+ languages in 120+ cites across 50+ countries.
- We partner with over 500,000 properties in more than 39,000 locations.
- We work with more than 50,000 travel buyers in 140 source markets.
- We have an amazing team delivering valuable outcomes using innovative tech and creative, lateral thinking.
Working at WebBeds
WebBeds is a fast-paced, results-driven business and that is reflected throughout our company, in our technology, product and perhaps most importantly – in our people. Visit ‘Careers’ for jobs around the world of WebBeds.
Global and regional hotel chains, independent hotels, apartments, resorts, attractions, transfer and sightseeing companies and more – can sell their products through WebBeds by connecting to a global network of over 50,000 online and offline travel buyers through robust solutions that provide greater inventory control to simplify distribution, and leverage WebBeds enhanced analytics to inform inventory optimisation choices – saving costs and increasing revenue.
Online travel agencies, retail travel agents, corporate travel managers, tour operators, wholesalers, tourism boards, super apps, DMC’s, group providers, airlines and more – can integrate the hundreds of thousands of hotels and ground services in the WebBeds marketplace through simple and seamless API connectivity, or they can search, shop and book online through one of WebBeds trade only booking sites.
Our operation.
We operate globally through four geographic regions – Europe, Asia Pacific, MEA (Middle East and Africa) and the Americas – with over 2,000 travel professionals working in 120 cities across 50 countries worldwide. WebBeds also operates specialist brands JacTravel DMC and UHl. JacTravel DMC provides tailormade travel arrangements for offline FIT and groups traveling to the UK, Ireland and key mainland European destinations to the international travel trade. UHI is a genuine pioneer, providing online pilgrimage travel services to travel agencies worldwide.
WebBeds is a travel brand of the Web Travel Group, an ASX 200 listed company (ASX: WEB) operating global digital travel businesses.
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Director of Contracting UK & Ireland (London) employer: WebBeds
Contact Detail:
WebBeds Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Director of Contracting UK & Ireland (London)
✨Tip Number 1
Familiarise yourself with the latest trends in the UK and Ireland hotel market. Understanding the competitive landscape and emerging opportunities will help you demonstrate your strategic thinking during interviews.
✨Tip Number 2
Network with professionals in the travel and hospitality industry, especially those involved in hotel partnerships. Building relationships can provide valuable insights and potentially lead to referrals for the role.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare to discuss your negotiation strategies and successes in previous roles. Be ready to share specific examples of how you've built strong relationships with hoteliers and achieved commercial goals.
✨Tip Number 4
Showcase your leadership skills by discussing how you've mentored teams in the past. Highlight your ability to drive performance and foster a collaborative environment, as this is crucial for the Director of Contracting role.
We think you need these skills to ace Director of Contracting UK & Ireland (London)
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV highlights relevant experience in hotel partnerships and commercial management, particularly within the UK & Ireland market. Use specific examples that demonstrate your negotiation skills and relationship-building abilities.
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Write a cover letter that showcases your understanding of WebBeds' mission and values. Explain how your background aligns with the role of Director of Contracting and how you can contribute to their growth and success.
Highlight Leadership Experience: Emphasise your experience in leading and mentoring teams. Provide examples of how you've developed high-performing teams and driven results in previous roles, as this is crucial for the position.
Showcase Communication Skills: Since strong written and verbal communication skills are essential, ensure your application is free from errors and clearly articulates your thoughts. Consider including examples of successful internal and external communications you've managed.
How to prepare for a job interview at WebBeds
✨Research WebBeds Thoroughly
Before your interview, dive deep into understanding WebBeds' business model, their products, and their market position. Familiarise yourself with their technology stack and recent developments in the travel industry to demonstrate your genuine interest and knowledge.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Skills
As a Director of Contracting, you'll need to lead a team effectively. Prepare examples of how you've successfully managed teams in the past, focusing on mentoring, developing talent, and driving performance. Highlight your ability to foster collaboration across departments.
✨Prepare for Negotiation Scenarios
Given the role's emphasis on negotiation with hotels and chains, be ready to discuss your negotiation strategies. Consider preparing a few scenarios where you successfully negotiated terms that benefited both parties, showcasing your relationship-building skills.
✨Demonstrate Data-Driven Decision Making
WebBeds values data-led decision-making. Be prepared to discuss how you've used data analysis to identify trends and make strategic decisions in previous roles. Bring examples of how your insights led to improved performance or competitive advantage.
