Within the hotel sector the sales and marketing function has undergone drastic changes over the past ten years. Driven by the explosive growth in online bookings, we have moved away from a situation where much of our business came from a few select travel agent and tour operator partners towards one where hotels need to juggle an ever expanding and increasingly complex portfolio of different online and offline distribution channels.
In the past electronic distribution at the property level was usually managed by the Front Office Manager or perhaps in more enlightened properties, by the Yield Manager. Today however, with the distribution environment much more complex and convoluted, the skill set needed to manage the distribution function has evolved and a variety of dedicated professionals typically work at both corporate and property level trying to insure that the hotel maximises business, at the optimum price, from each and every possible channel of distribution.
