Commercial Director

About the Role

We are seeking a distinguished Commercial Director to lead the business development and sales strategy for Saadiyat Rotana Resort & Villas, a prestigious beachfront property on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi. This individual will drive the resort’s commercial success by leveraging expertise in luxury sales, extensive connections within top-tier travel agencies, and strong adherence to brand principles.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and implement an advanced sales strategy targeting corporate, leisure, MICE, and ultra-affluent segments to translate the resort's prestige into market leadership.
• Build and maintain elite relationships with prominent travel consortia and agency networks such as Virtuoso, Signature Travel Network, American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts, Traveller Made, and Ensemble, ensuring preferred partnership status and exclusive allocation.
• Manage a portfolio of high-profile clients, including GCC royalty, private aviation customers, family offices, and luxury destination management companies, converting these connections into accelerated revenue streams.
• Represent the resort at key international luxury travel events like ILTM Cannes, Arabian Travel Market, and Virtuoso Travel Week to generate a pipeline of discerning customers.
• Provide comprehensive production reports with analytical insights benchmarked against brand-wide performance indicators.
• Lead marketing efforts to position the property as a distinguished architectural and experiential icon, collaborating with corporate marketing on campaigns that engage luxury media, influencers, and editorial platforms.
• Ensure consistent brand messaging across all materials and digital channels, upholding tone, visual identity, and experiential standards.
• Forge strategic partnerships with luxury lifestyle media, fashion brands, and cultural organizations to enhance brand prestige.
• Balance creative marketing ambitions with corporate governance requirements.
• Collaborate with revenue management to develop pricing strategies that protect rate integrity and optimize revenue, using advanced forecasting and segmentation techniques.
• Maintain rate parity and channel consistency across all distribution platforms including owned, branded, and third-party channels.
• Contribute commercial data intelligence to strategic planning and respond proactively to market, competitive, and economic trends.
• Manage the property's distribution across brand websites, global distribution systems, online travel agencies, and wholesale channels, ensuring premium merchandising standards.
• Promote direct booking channels in alignment with global 'book direct' initiatives and incentives.
• Negotiate and establish luxury-focused distribution partnerships with specialized agency portals and exclusive travel designer platforms.
• Monitor channel cost-efficiency and productivity with meticulous analysis to optimize margin and maintain brand integrity.
• Coordinate with corporate teams on emerging distribution technologies and evolving luxury booking trends.
• Oversee the brand’s loyalty program as a strategic tool to deepen guest engagement and relationship value.
• Implement loyalty standards across sales and frontline teams to create meaningful guest recognition beyond procedural interactions.
• Utilize loyalty and CRM analytics to refine personalized guest targeting and engagement strategies.
• Support partnerships in adjacent luxury industries such as private aviation, automotive, and premium credit services to enhance loyalty benefits.
• Accurately report loyalty enrollment and engagement figures according to global brand benchmarks.

Required Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing or related discipline; MBA considered advantageous.
• Proven leadership abilities and strategic planning competence in luxury sales environments.
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and relationship management skills.
• Insightful understanding of market forces and consumer behavior within luxury segments.
• Capability to excel under fast-moving, competitive market conditions.