Hotel & Travel Contracts Lead

Salary: Competitive

Hours: Full Time

Location: VHQ, Crawley

Contract: Permanent

Closing Date: 29th November 2024

At Virgin Atlantic Airways, we believe that everyone can take on the world, and it's our vision to become the most loved travel company. As we embark on this next exciting stage of our journey, we’re harnessing our spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation to challenge the status quo.

In a nutshell

Reporting to the Manager – Planning and Analysis, you will be responsible for the management and Service Level Agreement (SLA) delivery of the hotel and transport providers we use to support the Pilot and Cabin Crew Operation. 

Day to day

You will be responsible for ensuring hotel and transport arrangements are in place at each of the locations served by Virgin Atlantic, ensuring value for money, internal stakeholder satisfaction and delivery to contract.

You will work closely with a number of business areas and collaborators both internally and externally to ensure a smooth and efficient operation is upheld. These will include the Hotel and Travel Operations team, Procurement, Finance, Security, and our Industrial Partners along with hoteliers and transport providers.

You will take an active part/lead with senior stakeholders to ensure the service provision balances crew satisfaction, cost, security, and operational deliverability.

The role holder will be Virgin Atlantic’s representative externally and with senior stakeholders (to Senior Vice President level) internally. As such, you will be required to participate in a variety of on-site and off-site meetings to discuss a range of topics, including negotiating new contracts and developing new and existing relationships.

You will ensure budgets are adhered to and all activities within your team are in line with company policy and documented.  

About you

As Lead – Hotel & Travel Contracts, you will need to be a forward thinker, excellent at cultivating and building relationships. You will likely have a background in the aviation industry with strong operational knowledge/experience. If this sounds like you, and you meet or exceed the criteria below, we’d love to hear from you:

• Proven experience working with third parties to deliver a high-quality outcome.
• Knowledge of hotel contracting and delivery to SLA.
• Evidence of working with challenging stakeholders.
• Mathematics and English to at least GCSE Level 6 / Grade B or equivalent.
• Good understanding of airline operations, ideally with an understanding of airline hotel/transport contracting.
• Able to build exceptionally strong relationships both internally and externally, including with senior figures.
• Able to communicate clearly and concisely, both verbally and written.
• Able to adapt to different cultures and approaches.
• Excellent organisation and forward planning skills.
• Strong strategic planning capability and the ability resolve conflicts and influence stakeholders.
• Comfortable with budgets, contracts with good attention to detail.
• Able to remain calm under pressure.
• Strong analytical skills and able to draw insights from data.