Career Path of a Director of Sales and Marketing at Santa Monica Proper Hotel
Erin's career path, beginning with a hospitality degree from Boston University, involved numerous internships in food and beverage and event production, culminating in a first role at the New York Palace Hotel. The career progression involved "jumping around to different disciplines within Hotel sales," steadily advancing through various lifestyle and luxury hotel brands to their current Director of Sales and Marketing position at Santa Monica Proper Hotel.
Hospitality, Sales, Hotel Management, Career Progression, Internships
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Erin Bennett
Director of Sales and Marketing
Santa Monica Proper Hotel
Boston University 2008
UCLA EMBA 2023 (expected graduation June 2023)
Hospitality Administration
Hospitality, Restaurants & Events
Sales and Client Management
Took Out Loans, Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. Completed a Hospitality degree at Boston University.
2. Gained valuable experience through internships in food and beverage, banquet services, and event production.
3. Started as a coordinator at the New York Palace Hotel and progressed through various sales roles in the hospitality industry, focusing on lifestyle and luxury hotels
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college? Did you have any internships or jobs before your current role?
My career path was very straightforward. I went to school for Hospitality at Boston University, in the School of Hospitality Administration.
During my undergrad, I had a lot of internships. I sampled food and beverage working at a country club, and did banquet services and event production while studying abroad in London.
My first job came immediately after college through on-campus recruiting at the New York Palace Hotel. I started as a coordinator, focusing on catering, and then progressed from there.
I moved across country to join a hotel in Los Angeles as a coordinator. I then rose up the ranks in sales. I've been in sales the entire time, jumping around to different disciplines within hotel sales at a property level. I worked my way through different brands, always in the lifestyle segment, a mix of lifestyle and luxury hotels.