Senior Commercial Director

Overview

Ciel Dubai Marina, Vignette Collection is a lifestyle luxury hotel located in the Dubai Marina district of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Standing at 377 meters, Ciel is the tallest hotel in the world boasting 1,004 guestrooms featuring floor-to-ceiling panoramic glass windows, eight dining destinations, three outdoor swimming pools including one of the world's highest infinity pools, a luxury spa, and a state-of-the-art gymnasium. Designed by award-winning architects Norr, the skyscraper is a global symbol of modern engineering and luxury.

Ciel is strategically located at the gateway to Dubai Marina, offering direct access to key tourist attractions, beaches, retail centres, and transport networks. The property was developed by The First Group, a renowned UAE-based global property investment firm and is part of IHG Hotels & Resorts’ Vignette Collection. Discover more at https://www.vignettecollectionhotels.com/cieldubai. 

The First Group Hospitality is a Dubai-headquartered, full-service hospitality management company specialising in hotel operations, asset management, and F&B strategy. With a team of industry veterans and a proven track record, the company delivers tailored solutions that enhance efficiency, optimise revenue, and maximise asset value for investors and hotel owners. As a trusted third-party hotel management provider, The First Group Hospitality partners with leading global brands to drive operational excellence and long-term profitability, thanks to expertise spanning property performance optimisation, cost management, and guest experience enhancement.

Beyond management, The First Group Hospitality develops and operates a dynamic portfolio of upscale hotels, residences, and award-winning restaurants, creating high-value hospitality assets that stand out in the market. For more information, visit tfghospitality.com 

Job Description

The Senior Commercial Director is responsible for setting, leading and delivering the full commercial strategy for the Ciel Dubai Marina – Vignette Collection by IHG. Working directly with the Managing Director, hotel leadership teams and above-property/shared-service teams, this role is accountable for commercial growth across rooms, food and beverage, meetings and events, and all relevant ancillary revenue streams.

The role has clear accountability for RevPAR, market share, total revenue, profitability-aligned growth, brand-aligned commercial execution and the development of a high-performing commercial culture across the organization. The ideal candidate is a proven commercial leader with successful experience in a similar hotel organization and a demonstrated track record of managing luxury lifestyle in a complex environment as well as critical asset importance.

Sales and Marketing Teams report directly to the Senior Commercial Director, ensuring clear ownership of demand generation, brand activation, commercial execution and revenue delivery across all commercial disciplines.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Commercial Strategy and Leadership

• Develop, lead and execute the hotel strategy ensuring alignment with ownership objectives, brand standards, annual budgets and hotel business plans.
• Act as the senior commercial partner to the Managing Director, providing clear recommendations on business mix, pricing, demand generation, channel strategy and growth opportunities.
• Translate objectives into measurable commercial action plans with clear ownership, timelines and performance expectations.
• Create a strong commercial culture across the organization, ensuring hotel teams understand market opportunities, revenue priorities and their role in driving commercial results.

RevPAR, Total Revenue and Market Share Growth

• Drive RevPAR, ADR, occupancy, market share and total revenue growth across the asset through disciplined commercial planning and execution.
• Lead total hotel revenue opportunities across rooms, food and beverage, groups, meetings and events, long-stay, corporate, leisure and ancillary revenue streams.
• Work closely with revenue management teams to optimize pricing, inventory controls, restrictions, forecasting, segmentation and channel mix.
• Identify demand gaps and growth opportunities by monitoring market trends, competitor activity, city-wide events, source markets and changing customer behaviour.
• Ensure commercial decisions are profitability-aligned, balancing revenue growth with distribution costs, margin impact and long-term account value.

Sales, Marketing, Distribution and Brand Activation

• Lead the overall sales strategy across key segments including corporate, leisure, groups, MICE, wholesale, consortia, travel trade, OTA and direct channels.
• Ensure strategic account management disciplines are in place, including account plans, production reviews, relationship mapping, conversion tracking and measurable action plans.
• Oversee commercial input into marketing, PR, digital, e-commerce, CRM, loyalty and promotional campaigns to drive demand and conversion for each hotel.
• Maximize the use of IHG commercial platforms, Vignette Collection brand opportunities, distribution systems, loyalty channels and shared-service resources.
• Prioritize Brand.com and overall direct business revenue generation, increasing direct booking contribution, improving channel profitability and reducing reliance on third-party channels where commercially appropriate.
• Further leverage One Rewards, IHG's loyalty ecosystem and the Vignette Collection brand platform to capture direct business, drive member engagement, strengthen repeat demand and grow loyalty-led revenue across the portfolio.
• Provide direct leadership and accountability for Sales and Marketing teams, ensuring both functions are aligned behind the hotel commercial strategy, revenue targets and brand priorities.
• Represent the hotel at asset management reviews, key client meetings, brand reviews, trade events, sales missions and commercial forums when required.

Team Management and Performance

• Lead, coach and develop commercial teams and relevant on-property colleagues, creating a results-driven and collaborative working environment.
• Set clear individual and team KPIs, monitor performance regularly and provide timely feedback, coaching and corrective action where needed.
• Build team capability through training, succession planning, best-practice sharing and consistent commercial routines.
• Ensure strong communication and coordination between sales, revenue, marketing, reservations, events, F&B and hotel operations teams.
• Direct the Sales Leader and Marketing Leader with clearly defined responsibilities, reporting routines, KPIs and accountability for revenue-generating activities.

Above-Property and Shared-Service Collaboration

• Build strong and productive relationships with above-property and shared-service teams, including IHG/brand commercial support, revenue management, digital, distribution, reservations, loyalty, PR and marketing resources.
• Influence and coordinate shared-service support to ensure hotel priorities are understood, actioned and measured against expected results.
• Translate above-property initiatives into property-level execution, ensuring hotel receives the right level of commercial focus and follow-through.
• Escalate risks, opportunities and resources needs clearly to the Managing Director and senior leadership team.

Business Planning, Reporting and Analysis

• Lead and contribute to annual business planning, budgeting, forecasting and commercial reviews.
• Prepare clear commercial reports and presentations for the Managing Director, senior management and relevant stakeholders.
• Use data from PMS, CRS, RMS, CRM, sales reporting and business intelligence tools to identify trends, risks and actionable opportunities.
• Track progress against commercial plans, revenue targets, pace, pickup, conversion, account production and campaign performance.

Operational and Stakeholder Alignment

• Work closely with hotel operations teams to ensure commercial promises are aligned with guest experience, service delivery and operational capacity.
• Partner with food and beverage leaders to create demand, packages, promotions and partnerships that grow total revenue and enhance hotel positioning.
• Maintain strong relationships with asset management/owners, brand representatives, key clients, partners and internal stakeholders to support long-term commercial success.

 Key Performance Indicators

• RevPAR, ADR, occupancy and market share index performance.
• Total revenue delivery, including rooms, food and beverage, meetings and events, and ancillary revenue versus budget and forecast.
• Sales productivity, account penetration, conversion, pipeline quality and business mix improvement.
• Channel mix optimization, direct booking contribution, loyalty performance and distribution cost efficiency.
• com production, direct business revenue contribution, One Rewards and loyalty contribution, member engagement and repeat demand.
• Forecast accuracy, pricing discipline, commercial plan execution and speed of corrective action.
• Team engagement, talent development and quality of collaboration with hotel leadership and shared-service teams.

Desired Skill & Expertise

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Hospitality Management, Commercial Strategy, Marketing or a related field; master’s degree or relevant certification is an advantage.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive hotel commercial, sales, revenue, distribution or marketing leadership experience, including 3–5 years in a senior commercial role.
• Proven track record of delivering RevPAR, total revenue, market share, Brand.com/direct-channel growth, loyalty revenue and profitable commercial performance.
• Prior international chain with lifestyle brand experience is strongly preferred.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen across rooms, F&B, groups, events, pricing, segmentation, distribution, digital/e-commerce, CRM, brand marketing and demand generation.
• Proven ability to lead Sales and Marketing teams, with clear reporting lines, KPIs, performance routines, coaching and accountability across a multi-property environment.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, presentation and relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence senior leadership, owners, brand teams, shared-service teams, clients and partners.
• Proficiency with hotel commercial systems, including PMS, CRS, RMS, CRM, sales reporting and business intelligence tools.
• Knowledge of the Dubai/UAE hospitality market and international source markets is strongly preferred; fluent English is required and additional languages are preferred.
• Flexibility to travel and attend client meetings, industry events and commercial activities as required.