A Day In The Life Of A Director Of Sales And Marketing At Santa Monica Proper Hotel
A day as Santa Monica Proper Hotel's Director of Sales and Marketing is unpredictable; while a typical day might involve morning meetings with various hotel teams and report preparation, unforeseen events—from guest requests to weather-related emergencies—constantly require adaptation and pivoting, making it a "living, breathing 24/7 operation." This highlights the dynamic and reactive nature of the role, demanding flexibility and problem-solving skills.
Project Management, Communication, Problem-Solving, Teamwork, Resilience
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. A typical day involves a morning meeting with various hotel teams (front desk, restaurant, engineering, housekeeping) to understand daily operations.
2. The work is dynamic and involves responding to unexpected events, such as guest requests, PR photoshoots, or urgent RFPs.
3. The role requires adaptability and problem-solving skills, especially during unexpected issues like power outages or inclement weather impacting hotel operations
Transcript
Okay, what does a day in the life of your role look like?
Hotels can be tricky. While you can start with the best intentions for your day and anchor it with meetings, like any job, operations are constant. We have a million meetings going on with different people each day.
Because it's a living, breathing, 24/7 operation, you never know what's going to come up. What's going to be important or sidetrack you. For me, it can be a very simple day where I walk in and have my morning meeting.
We hear about what's going to happen in the operation, going through it with the front desk, restaurant, engineering, and housekeeping teams. After that, I move into working on my monthly and weekly reports for financial analysis and pace.
But it can very easily be sidetracked. There might be a guest at the front desk who wants to talk to you, or you've got a PR photoshoot. A really good RFP might come in, and everyone needs to stop and think about closing or buying out the hotel.
The worst-case scenario is on days where the weather is really crummy, and we have to shut down the roof, or we lose power. So, how do you pivot that day into making it a good experience? You never know what could happen at a hotel because they're open all the time.