Hotel Business Development Lead – Midlands & North Cluster in Knowsley

Located just off the M57 close to football action at both Anfield and Everton, this Business Development role covers Wales/Midlands/North cluster of four Crest hotels. You will be responsible for driving business development activity across a diverse territory, from Mid Wales through Shropshire up to Merseyside, focusing on corporate accounts, meetings & events, associations, and group business. You will act as the commercial catalyst for these properties and collaborate with central sales, revenue and operations teams to maximise commercial success.

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.
• Maintain and manage a structured pipeline: research prospects, reach out via email/phone, schedule site tours, manage quote submission, negotiate contracts and close business.
• Conduct regular site visits across your cluster to build relationships with hotel teams, 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.
• 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 demonstrable 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.

Benefits include £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 online GP appointments.