Welcome to the Bright Side® at La Quinta Inns & Suites.

Who is La Quinta?
We help brighten the day of our busy, practical, hardworking travelers and help them take care of their business or leisure travel needs. We provide the best hotel rooms, warmest hotel atmosphere and most courteous service in our market segment at every hotel, every night.

• Fastest growing limited-service hotels in the North America
• Operate and provide franchise services with over 65,000 rooms in over 700 properties
• Locations in 46 states plus Canada and Mexico under the names La Quinta Inns and La Quinta Inns & Suites
• Based out of Dallas, Texas, over 9,000 employees nationwide work on the Bright Side

Our Goal, it's easy
We want for every guest to wake up on the bright side while staying at our hotel. We offer clean and comfortable guest rooms with a dose of advertising humor to help our guest feel optimistic and happy no matter what the day holds. A great portion of this comes directly from our employees attitudes. And as if that wasn't enough, we offer our guest free Bright Side™ breakfast, free hi-speed Internet while they stay with us and comfy beds. Many of our properties include pools and well equipped work-out facilities.

What sets us apart?
Every team member plays a vital role in the success of our family and growth. We are not a conglomerate of hotels brands that make decision on panel of "experts". We make an effort to know all our employees and help them grow through our training program. While we may be one of the largest owner-operators of hotels in North America, we are a family first.

Our Philosophy
At La Quinta, we have a culture by which we are never satisfied. It doesn't matter how well we have done something in the past or how well we may do it today, our goal is to continually improve. Our operating philosophy is very simple:

• Take care of our employees
• Take care of our guests
• Keep the hotels spotlessly clean and well maintained

Everything we do at La Quinta truly revolves around our people, our product and our service.

Benefits
We work just as hard to create a work environment that's equally inviting and with many benefits:

• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Life insurance
  
• Vision coverage
  
• Disability
  
• Paid vacation
  
• Discounted hotel stay at all of our locations
  
• Flex Spending account plans
  
• 401K
  

POSITION SUMMARY:

 

This position is responsible for achieving revenue targets in assigned market segments by developing and implementing strategic sales and marketing. Success is measured by: achieved revenue compared to plan, increased revenues from existing accounts, increased customer value and ROS.

 

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

 

Business and Planning and Performance

* Develop and implement strategic sales and marketing plan to increase account revenue share and overall unit revenue growth.
* Achieve revenue and rate targets for assigned segments.
* Analyze customers' business, identify sales opportunities and develop strategic plans with supporting tactics for revenue attainment.
* Manage the customer decision and relationship process.

* Identify customer requirements and expectations relative to the segment.  This includes understanding that the client includes agency/membership organization, actual traveler/end-user and hotel.
* Sells the brand to the market segment with no preference to Corporate vs. franchise.

* Support corporate and departmental goals, and contribute to enhancement of customer value.
* Develop strategic plans to sell into the assigned segment by using resources and segment data. These plans will incorporate both the customer expectations and the company's goals relative to RevPAR.
* Leverage La Quinta's assets to create only those value-offers that can be delivered to the customer.Execute La Quinta's pricing strategy according to Revenue Management guidelines.
* Execute tactical sales processes that support the strategic plan.
* Organize activities and resources in a manner that maximizes productivity and efficiency.
* Identify trends and opportunities within the segment by using a wide range of resources available.
* Allocate both dedicated and shared sales resources to achieve maximum revenue return on invested sales dollars by focusing efforts on those customers who are the most profitable and the best fit for La Quinta.

* Monitor achievement of objectives for the segment and take appropriate action to correct shortfalls versus the strategic plan.

 

Account Management

* Grow relationships at the appropriate levels, both internally and externally (end customers, channel partners and third party influences) that enable the development and advancement of sales initiatives.
* Maintain segment accounts to increase customer satisfaction and account revenue.
* Negotiate the best possible terms and conditions that satisfy customer (internal and external) requirements by using professional sales techniques.
* Articulate the financial benefits of the La Quinta solution to close sales opportunities.
* Deliver solutions that impact customer business issues.
* Build trust through effective contact planning, data gathering, need development, objection handling, interpersonal skills, and closing.

 

Financial Results

* Assist in the preparation of an annual budget for travel and other business expenses.
* Manage cost control procedures to remain with budget.
* Manage costs to keep cost of sales to an acceptable percentage of attained revenue.
* Monitor expenses to explain cost variances, make adjustments to avoid future cost variances and to remain within overall annual budget.
* Identify sales opportunities that require additional costs and use return on investment analysis to justify whether or not to pursue these opportunities.

 

Leadership

* Seek new revenue opportunities throughout the organization and use initiative and resources to capitalize on them. Clearly communicate needs and coordinate with your supervisor to address those needs.
* Organize, influence, control and prioritize activities on a daily basis to gain maximum productivity.
* Calculate risk versus the objectives, and follow through once the course of action is defined.
* Model proper sales skills to others, takes a leadership role through personal development and development of others.

* Share experience and skills with others that enhance the overall performance of the sales department.

 

Communication

* Communicate regularly with immediate supervisor regarding progress toward goals, resources needed and resources consumed. Use company resources to enhance both personal and professional performance.
* Maintain communication with key customers. Understand brand performance and customer issues and trends.
* Develop effective presentations, both oral and written, that clearly articulate recommend...

Zita Perez
Housekeeping Supervisor - Plano West
4 years & 11/mo on the job

"It's nice working for a company that you can feel proud about.  The hotels are nice and I enjoy working with the people."

Olga Harrison
Front Desk Service Representative - Plano West
6 years on the job

"I really enjoy my job - it's never boring at La Quinta."

Thalia Escalante
Front Desk Service Representative - Plano West
6 months on the job

"At La Quinta, management really cares about you - personally and professionally."
"La Quinta does a great job of training its employees. It's part of the reason I look forward to going to work."

Jaime Nicks
General Manager - Valdosta, VA
2 years & 8 mo w/ La Quinta

"La Quinta does an astounding job at bridging the gap between corporate executives and property level employees - other La Quinta team members are a simple call or email away when needed."