Group Sales Manager Job Description

A Group Sales Manager's job is to bring in meetings, conferences, room blocks, and events that drive hotel revenue. This is fundamentally a business development role — most of the week involves prospecting for new clients, responding to RFPs, presenting the property, and negotiating terms. The selling is the job; the paperwork follows.

Prospecting takes several forms. Inbound leads from meeting planners come through Cvent, Lanyon, and HotelPlanner — the national sourcing platforms where companies post their meeting needs. Outbound prospecting means calling and emailing companies and associations that haven't yet booked with the property. Trade shows — IMEX, PCMA Convening Leaders, ASAE — are concentrated opportunities to meet decision-makers. Referral development from event planners and corporate travel managers is slower but yields the most valuable clients.

Site inspections are a significant part of closing business. Meeting planners typically want to see the property before committing a contract, and the inspection is the sales manager's best opportunity to differentiate on intangibles — responsiveness, problem-solving, the quality of the sales coordinator team. A planner who feels well-hosted during the site visit is significantly more likely to book.

Contract negotiation requires holding the line on pricing while being flexible enough to win competitive situations. Revenue management sets the floors; the sales manager decides where within that range to price. A manager who consistently undercuts on rate to win deals looks good on room nights and poor on revenue contribution. The discipline to walk away from bad business is part of the job.

Once a contract is signed, the sales manager transitions the account to the coordinator team. The manager stays in the relationship — particularly for large or repeat clients — but the day-to-day servicing work shifts. This division of labor is what allows a sales manager to carry a meaningful pipeline rather than getting absorbed in rooming list administration.

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in hospitality management, business, or marketing preferred
• Associate degree plus substantial hotel sales or operations experience is accepted at many properties
• CMP (Certified Meeting Professional) designation is recognized in the meetings industry and signals commitment to the group business sector

Experience:

• 2–4 years in hotel sales, catering sales, group reservations, or a coordinator role with exposure to group contracts
• Demonstrated revenue production track record at a prior property — specific room night and revenue numbers are expected interview topics
• Client relationship management experience in any sales context is directly transferable

Technical skills:

• Delphi (Amadeus) or equivalent hotel sales and catering system
• Cvent, Lanyon, or HotelPlanner platform experience for RFP management
• PMS basics: understanding of how group blocks work in Opera or equivalent
• Microsoft Office: PowerPoint for presentations; Excel for pickup tracking and actualization reports

Sales competencies:

• Cold calling and outbound prospecting without management mandate — the best producers call people who haven't asked to be called
• Proposal writing that addresses the client's specific event requirements rather than sending a generic rate sheet
• Negotiation comfort: knowing when to hold on rate and when flexibility wins business worth having
• Pipeline discipline: managing 30–50 active prospects without losing track of follow-up deadlines

Group Sales Managers are employed wherever group and meeting business is a meaningful revenue stream — full-service hotels, conference centers, resorts, and convention-adjacent properties. The market is broad and the roles are available nationwide, with concentration in major meeting destinations and regional conference markets.

The group meetings industry has recovered strongly from the 2020–2022 disruption. Corporate meeting activity, driven by the reestablishment of in-person sales and leadership events, is near pre-pandemic levels. Association and trade event business has similarly recovered, with many organizations reporting strong attendance. Leisure group travel (sports tournaments, reunions, destination weddings) has grown as a segment. This recovery supports active demand for group sales staff at properties of all sizes.

For high performers, the earnings potential is real. A sales manager who consistently exceeds annual revenue targets at a large full-service property can earn $100K+ in total compensation, and the top producers at major convention hotels earn significantly more. The commission structure means performance pays directly.

Career paths from Group Sales Manager include Director of Sales and Marketing, which carries full departmental P&L ownership and often a management team. Some experienced sales managers move into regional sales roles for hotel management companies, covering a portfolio of properties rather than a single asset. Others move into the meeting planning side — association management companies and corporate meeting planning firms actively recruit hotel sales professionals for their institutional knowledge.

Dear Hiring Manager,

I'm applying for the Group Sales Manager position at [Hotel]. I've spent three years as a group sales coordinator at [Property] — a 320-room Hyatt full-service hotel — and for the past year I've been supporting our Director of Sales by managing an assigned portfolio of 12 corporate accounts, including initial outreach, proposal response, and contract negotiation under her supervision.

In that capacity I've been directly involved in converting $2.1M in group room revenue over the past 12 months — covering 28 separate group programs ranging from small executive retreats to a 180-room pharmaceutical conference. The pharmaceutical account was a new-to-property client I sourced through a Cvent lead and maintained through the entire booking process.

I'm ready to carry a personal revenue target and manage a full pipeline independently. My coordinator background means I understand the operational side of the contracts I'll be selling — I've built rooming lists, resolved billing disputes, and run site inspections, so when I'm presenting the property to a meeting planner I know exactly what we're promising and whether we can deliver it.

Your property's meeting space and group room capacity look like a strong platform for the corporate and association segment I know best. I'd appreciate the opportunity to discuss the role and share more detail on my prior production history.

Thank you for your time.

[Your Name]