Ibis London Earls Court provides guests with a warm welcome, spacious and comfortable accommodation with breath-taking views of the London skyline currently in the exciting process of a refurbishment with the aim to shift our hotel to a four-star hotel and new branding. Our new goal is to find the right candidates to be part of this amazing project to help us during the evolution to become a modern, stylish and innovative 12-storey hotel. The hotel is about to undergo a very unique project resulting in a dual branding stylish and modern hotel with a combination of 3* and 4* product allowing the property to tap into different markets.

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. 

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Reservations Manager is accountable for the reservations department, ensuring all in bound leads, bookings and groups requested are serviced in a timely manner. To effectively coordinate all aspects of the office, from the reservations inbox, the team’s workload and preparing relevant reports and documentation for the property commercial and leadership teams. The Reservations Manager has the responsibility in hiring, managing, training, retaining and developing a reservations team. This role is an ambassador of the department and communicates effectively across the property ensuring all stakeholders i.e. FO/Sales & Events, F & B have relevant key information to ensure their ability to service our clientele. This role is cross function across all segmentations, present and future, in line with the hotel’s performance and business needs for existing and new business. (Transient Negotiated, Business Group, Leisure (FIT, Groups, Series), Transient Direct & Indirect Channels) 

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

Commercial Overview

• Driving innovation and continuous improvement of the department and the guest experience
• Understands the overall market, including competitors' strengths and weaknesses, economic trends, supply and demand etc. and knows how to sell/leverage/negotiate against them.
• Clearly demonstrates proficient understanding of leisure clientele, base, and buying decisions to optimise hotel market share in existing and future climate
• Gains understanding of the property's primary target customer and service expectations; serves the customer by understanding their business, business issues and concerns, to offer better business solution
• 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
• Quantifies business production daily. Incoming calls, new enquiries, ad-hoc group’s month prior, in the month for the month, additional targeted upsell strategies in F & B and upsell on additional rooms (BAR) 
• Drives team to be acutely commercial, farm leads, inbound reservations for potential ancillary spend as a future transient negotiated client, or drive additional MICE/Catering enquiries
• 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 
• Implements, manages and delivers BSC (Balance Score Card) for reservations team, part of the commercial unit.

Team Management & Delegation

• Coordinates/Manages/Delegates the daily operations and efficient running of the Reservations Department to team members including but not limited to the following : 
• Check lists are actioned and completed and reviewed on daily basis (Arrival check, Res Made Yesterday, e-mails)
• Monitor and administer all incoming reservations and correspondence, ensuring all requests are responded 
• Ensure all administrative procedures are completed accurately and in accordance with the departmental and Hotel guidelines
• Coordinate/Manage/Delegate the daily arrivals lists are checked regularly against correspondence received
• Coordinate/Manage/Delegate TBRs, traces, comments have been correctly updated by the team and checks have been accordingly done daily
• Coordinate/Manage/Delegate a) pre-paid bookings have been charged before the arrival b) none guaranteed bookings have been followed, c) all no-shows are followed up/charged according to the SOP and Hotel Target
• Coordinate/Manage/Delegate Guests’ profiles are updated/merged regularly according to the Company SOP’s
• Coordinate/Manage/Delegate all backups are passed to Reception on daily basis
• Coordinate/Manage/Delegate sales leads are communicated to the Sales Team
• Proactively service clientele across multiple segments from Transient negotiated, Leisure Groups, FIT & Business Groups both residential & non-residential
• Ensure all accounting procedures are adhered to and utilised 
• Monitor accurate, up to date contract information, rate agreements, data input into Opera Reservation System, for both existing and new clients
• Monitor all bookings are dealt with in the correct procedure, rate codes, market codes and proper profile selection
• Monitor all websites are checked daily with correct rate strategy
• Coordinate, foster and grow the team to have built long lasting relationships with the other departments (Front Office, Accounts, Sales, etc.)
• Ensure team are trained on the Fastcom programme & procedures with claim of commission, payment & provision if necessary 
• Drive the team to achieve goals (Revenue and Quality targets set and agreed with the Director of Sales & Marketing, i.e. up selling, Test calls, etc.)
• Ensure team have the capacity and acumen cross functional through training and development with the events & sales team, finding synergy in servicing multiple clientele, taking ownership of top line targets and closure of sale
• Individual and collective team accountability in developing new ideas to improve processes within the department
• Demonstrate an in depth knowledge and understanding of hotel systems to include and not limited to Opera, Resa Web, Data Web, Delphi, and etc
• Communicate any promotional rates offered by the DOSM to incentivise clients & grow revenue/share in the respective segments. Ensure stakeholders F & B, FO etc. are fully conscious of the promotions by the property
• Attend departmental and Hotel meetings as and when required
• Assist in leading, motivating and training all Reservations team members in all aspects of their job, including Health & Safety procedures; ensure training plans and records are up-to date
• Train and supervise Reservations Agents in their daily duties. Supporting them with daily challenges. Set expectations weekly/monthly to ensure they are self –sufficient within their individual job and the collective requirements of the department, ensuring ownership is taken accumulatively across the department

General/ Administration  

• Be familiar with the hotels employee handbook and have an understanding of and enforce the implementation of the hotels policies and procedures in particular those relating to fire, hygiene, Health and Safety
• Ensure that you and all talents have a complete understanding of, and adherence to, the company rules and regulations and in particular the policies and procedures relating to Fire, Hygiene, Health and Safety
• Ensure probation period reviews and performance reviews have been followed up accordingly
• Respond to any changes in the department as dedicated by the needs of the industry, company or hotel
• Be flexible and adapt tasks of team according to the business needs
• Ensure that the guest profiles are maintained and kept up to date at all times respecting Data protection laws
• Manages departmental P & L and approves invoices, coordinates sickness, holidays, training and development and other team members/departmental led tasks
• Be flexible with your schedule in accordance with the business need
• Undertakes Duty Management shifts as required, being fully aware of the Duty Manager Job description
• The Company reserves the right to amend this job description from time to time to accommodate the requirements of the business and the evolving nature of the role.

PERKS FOR YOU:

• Employee benefit card offering discounted rates at Accor worldwide
• £5 for any name mention
• £200 for the Heartist of the month (Employee of the month)
• Free and delicious meal breaks on duty
• Complimentary stays in UK and North Ireland
• Friends & Family discounts
• 50% food discounts in our restaurants
• Pension Scheme
• Health Insurance
• Eye Test Vouchers
• Cycle to work Scheme
• Staff Uniforms Provided
• Learning programs through our Academies
• Wonderful and fun colleagues
• Opportunity to develop your talent and grow within your property and across the world!
• Ability to make a difference through our Corporate Social Responsibility activities, like Planet 21

Candidates must have the right to work in the UK