Reporting to the Vice President, Global Marketing, the Director – Travel executes strategy aligned to enterprise priorities. Owns the end-to-end commercial and operational performance of the Cruise and Hotel product lines. Leads strategic execution across pricing, yield management, supply optimization, and customer experience while leading back-end operations and servicing teams to deliver seamless, high-quality booking and post-booking experiences.
This role blends commercial strategy, analytics, supplier management, and operational excellence, with accountability for revenue growth, margin optimization, service quality, and scalability.
Expected Contributions
Product & Commercial Strategy
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Define and evolve the multi-year strategy for Cruise and Hotel product categories aligned with overall company growth objectives.
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Own the full product lifecycle including sourcing strategy, pricing architecture, yield management, inventory optimization, and promotional planning.
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Partner with Marketing, Sales, and Digital teams to ensure products are positioned effectively and differentiated in-market.
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Identify and prioritize new opportunities (e.g., exclusive partnerships, bundled offerings, differentiated amenities, loyalty-driven products).
Pricing & Yield Management – Partner with Interval’s Revenue Management team to translate the following in actionable marketing / call center agent education:
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Establish pricing and yield strategies to maximize revenue, margin, and conversion across Cruise and Hotel portfolios.
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Implement dynamic pricing frameworks, forecasting models, and performance dashboards.
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Balance supplier costs, competitive positioning, customer value, and internal margin targets.
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Drive continuous testing and optimization of pricing, packaging, and promotional levers.
Supplier & Partner Management
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Lead strategic relationships with cruise lines, hotel partners, technology providers and aggregators.
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Own contract negotiations, commercial terms, allotments, and performance governance.
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Ensure supplier partners align to service-level expectations and brand standards.
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Leverage partner relationships to unlock exclusive value and differentiated customer experiences.
Operations & Service Delivery Leadership
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Lead the back-end operations and customer servicing teams supporting Cruise and Hotel bookings, including fulfillment, changes, cancellations, and issue resolution.
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Design scalable operational processes that balance efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction.
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Establish service KPIs (e.g., turnaround time, first-contact resolution, CSAT/NPS).
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Drive training, tooling, and workflow improvements to elevate agent effectiveness and customer experience.
Customer Experience Optimization
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Own the end-to-end customer journey from booking through post-travel support.
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Identify friction points and lead cross-functional improvements with Technology, UX, and Operations.
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Use customer insights and service feedback to inform product and process enhancements.
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Ensure Cruise and Hotel experiences consistently meet or exceed brand promises.
Analytics, Performance & Governance
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Define success metrics across revenue, margin, conversion, service, and retention.
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Develop performance reporting and business reviews for executive stakeholders.
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Use data and insights to guide prioritization, investment decisions, and trade-offs.
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Maintain strong governance, risk management, and compliance across operations.
People Leadership
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Build, lead, and develop a high-performing team across strategy, operations, and service functions.
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Set clear goals, accountability, and development plans for direct and indirect reports.
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Foster a culture of customer obsession, ownership, and continuous improvement.
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Act as a senior leader and mentor within the broader Travel organization.
Education
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Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Communications, or related discipline or equivalent work experience.
Work Experience
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At least 10 years of experience in travel, hospitality, or marketplace businesses, with ownership of P&L, pricing, or product strategy.
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At least 3 years managing team.
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Deep experience in Cruise and/or Hotel categories (preferred).
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Proven success leading pricing and yield management initiatives in a complex environment.
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Strong operational leadership experience, including customer service or fulfillment teams.
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Track record of building and scaling teams and processes.
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Experience in Hotel Management, Vacation Ownership, Hospitality preferred.
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Strong analytical acumen with the ability to translate data into strategy and action.
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Executive-level communication and stakeholder management skills.
Skills and Attributions
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Strategic mindset with an ability to make difficult and complex decisions.
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Creates alignment and empowerment through strong leadership, management discipline, and clear communication.
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Skilled at building and nurturing relationships at all levels of the organization through collaboration, negotiation, and mentoring.
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Influences senior leaders’ thinking early to ensure decisions align with business priorities and deliver results.
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Knowledge of marketing resources policies, practices, and procedures.
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Facilitates meaningful discussions and delivers clear presentations and training that build capability and drive alignment.
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Strong written and verbal communications skills.
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Skilled in decision-making and conflict resolution in a fast paced, continuously changing, customer focused environment.
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Passion for strategic involvement in the creation and execution of departmental and company-wide goals and objectives.
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Knowledge of marketing trends and practices within the industry.
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Flexibility, adaptability, and capability to manage and prioritize multiple and conflicting priorities and tasks.
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Integrates and balances priorities, work activities and resources for the benefit of multiple key stakeholders.
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Understands how to manage in a culturally diverse work environment.
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Experience with Qualtrics, Business Objects or similar, Adobe Analytics and Adobe Campaign preferred.
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Computer literacy on Microsoft Office products, e.g., Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams, etc.
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Marriott Vacations Worldwide is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive culture.
