Senior Director Development - Greece, Cyprus & Israel

Description of Company

Marriott is a leading global lodging company with over 8,700 properties spanning 31 brands in over 130 countries and territories. Founded by J. Willard and Alice Marriott and guided by Marriott family leadership for over 90 years, the company is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

Further to the acquisition in 2016 of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., the company has become the world’s largest hotel company. Marriott now offers the most comprehensive portfolio of brands including leading lifestyle brands, a significant global footprint and leadership in the luxury and select-service tiers as well as the convention and resort segment. 

For more information on Marriott please visit their webpage www.marriott.com.

Description of Position

The Senior Director of Development Greece, Cyprus & Israel will be responsible for the development of all Marriott brands in the region. 

The Senior Director of Development identifies and pursues new business opportunities and coordinates a multi-disciplinary team involved in the review, approval and finalization of contracts for new hotels. 

The majority of the projects worked on in the region are likely to be under franchise contracts (probably in the region of 80%) with the remainder under management contracts. Currently, Marriott has over 45 hotels in Greece, 2 hotels in Cyprus and 5 hotels in Israel. In the pipeline, there are 9 hotels in Greece, 2 hotels in Cyprus and 3 hotels in Israel. The goal is to add at least a further 30 hotels in both primary and secondary cities across the region over the mid-term. These will be mostly single asset transactions with private owners and institutional investors. Marriott is interested in ground-up developments, conversions and adaptive reuse projects. 

Success in the position demands a driving focus on creation of shareholder value through the pursuit of new projects, a proactive disposition, a willingness to champion new business opportunities, an enthusiasm for working in a small, focused team and a passion for the work.  Strong management skills and a collaborative approach to doing business are also critical.

The addition of new hotels is one of the principal drivers of Marriott’s earnings growth and an important element in progressing the product quality, operating excellence, distribution power and brand equity of Marriott’s lodging system. The company’s unit growth strategy focuses primarily on management contracts and licensing of hotel brands to third party owner-operators under franchise agreements.  The Senior Director of Development performs a central, critical role in identifying, generating and structuring deals for Marriott’s brands and successfully closing on opportunities for new hotels, and building win-win relationships with new and existing hotel owners and franchisees.

The role will include: sourcing and screening potential projects; conducting the analysis of projects’ potential; coordinating and managing internal and external resources; structuring business deals; negotiating deal terms with owners leading to the signing of the Heads of Terms and negotiating management and franchise contracts (together with Marriott’s legal representatives). Establishing and maintaining good relationships with potential owners, partners, lenders, advisors and investors will also be essential. 

Specific responsibilities will include:

General and Strategic

• Together with the other members of Marriott’s development team responsible for the region, active participation in implementing the strategic business plan to grow the company’s presence in the region;
• Identification and evaluation of business growth opportunities for franchise and management contracts; 
• Compilation and update of a list of target markets for Marriott development in the region and determination of an achievable pace of development; 
• Attendance at relevant hospitality events and establishment/maintenance of a high profile within the industry in the region;
• Monitoring of relevant industry trends and their potential impact.

Development Procedures

• Establish and maintain a strong network of contacts in the local hotel and real estate development/investment sector to feed potential projects to Marriott;
• Identify, initiate, and assess potential owners, investors, developers and branding opportunities;
• Review and analyze potential hotel conversions, adaptive reuse projects and new build opportunities, for integration into any of Marriott’s brands;
• Develop and maintain the appropriate business relationship with potential owners, capital providers and partners, in order to build loyalty and preference for the company and bran