Commercial Leadership Recruitment in Hospitality
Revenue is won or lost on the quality of your commercial leadership. Finding exceptional commercial talent in hospitality is what we do.
The commercial function is the engine of any hospitality business. Your Director of Sales and Marketing fills rooms and drives rate. Your Revenue Manager optimises every night of inventory. Your Chief Commercial Officer aligns strategy across distribution, pricing, marketing and loyalty. When these roles are filled with the right people, your property or portfolio performs. When they are not, the gap shows immediately on the bottom line.
Madison Mayfair specialises in placing commercial leaders into luxury hotels, resort groups, hotel management companies and global hospitality brands. We recruit across the full commercial function, from property-level Director of Sales to group Chief Commercial Officer, working on a retained basis with a 97% search completion rate.
The Commercial Roles We Recruit
We conduct specialist executive search across every discipline within the hospitality commercial function, including Chief Commercial Officer, VP Commercial, Director of Sales and Marketing, Director of Sales, Director of Revenue Management, Revenue Manager, Director of Distribution, Director of Digital Marketing, Director of Marketing and Communications, Director of Partnerships and Loyalty, Area Director of Sales and Regional Commercial Director.
We recruit for individual property commercial appointments, cluster and area commercial roles and group-level corporate commercial leadership across hotel brands, management companies, ownership groups and asset managers globally.
Why Commercial Search in Hospitality Requires Specialists
Commercial leadership in hospitality is a uniquely demanding discipline. The best Directors of Sales and Marketing understand both relationship-driven revenue and data-led distribution. The best Revenue Managers combine analytical precision with commercial instinct. The best Chief Commercial Officers can move fluently between brand strategy, pricing architecture and channel management.
Identifying candidates who genuinely perform at the top of this discipline requires recruiters with deep personal networks in the commercial hospitality space and the sector knowledge to assess candidates accurately. Generalist recruiters who work across industries struggle to evaluate commercial hospitality candidates meaningfully. We do not.
Reaching the Candidates Who Aren't Available
The most impactful commercial leaders in hospitality are not on the market. They are driving strong results for a competitor, well-remunerated and not actively looking. Reaching them requires proactive, confidential outreach from a recruiter they trust and respect.
Madison Mayfair has been building relationships with senior commercial hospitality professionals since 1996. Our network spans more than 20,000 senior contacts globally, and our reputation in the market means we can open conversations that other recruiters cannot.
Property-Level and Corporate Commercial Search
We understand that the commercial skillset required at property level is distinct from what is required at group or corporate level. A high-performing Director of Sales at a single luxury hotel is not automatically the right candidate for a VP Commercial role across a multi-brand portfolio. We assess candidates against the specific context of each role, whether that is a standalone property, a cluster of hotels, a management company or a global brand headquarters.
This distinction matters and we apply it to every search we conduct.
Where We Work
Madison Mayfair recruits commercial leaders globally, with particular depth across the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas. We have successfully placed commercial leadership into roles across multiple markets and time zones, supporting luxury hotel groups, independent operators, asset managers and global hospitality brands wherever they need us.
Part of the Hospitality People Group
Madison Mayfair is part of the Hospitality People Group, operating in specialist hospitality recruitment since 1996. For board-level and C-suite commercial appointments, our sister brand HPG Search provides additional executive search capability. For finance leadership within hospitality, FM Recruitment offers specialist depth. Together, the group covers every senior hospitality appointment from Head of Department to Chief Executive.
Ready to find your next commercial leader?
5 FAQS
Q1: What commercial leadership roles do you recruit for in hospitality?
We recruit across the full commercial function in hospitality, from property-level Director of Sales and Marketing and Revenue Manager through to area and cluster commercial roles and group-level appointments, including VP Commercial and Chief Commercial Officer. We work with luxury hotels, resort groups, hotel management companies and global hotel brands, placing commercial leaders into both individual property roles and corporate group functions across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and the Americas.
Q2: How do you find senior commercial candidates in hospitality who aren't actively looking?
The most capable commercial leaders in hospitality are almost always passive candidates. They are performing well, hitting targets, and not browsing job boards. We reach them through proactive, confidential outreach built on personal relationships developed over nearly three decades in the market. Our network of more than 20,000 senior hospitality professionals gives us direct access to the full depth of the commercial talent pool, not just the candidates who happen to be available at any given moment.
Q3: What is the difference between a Director of Sales and Marketing and a Chief Commercial Officer in a hotel context?
A Director of Sales and Marketing typically leads the commercial function at the property level, with responsibility for group and leisure sales, marketing and sometimes revenue management. A Chief Commercial Officer operates at the group or corporate level, overseeing commercial strategy, distribution, pricing, digital marketing and loyalty across a portfolio of properties or brands. The skill sets overlap but are distinct, and the candidate pools for each differ. Madison Mayfair assesses every commercial search against the specific scope of the role before approaching any candidate.
Q4: How long does a hospitality commercial leadership search take?
Most commercial leadership searches are completed within eight to twelve weeks from initial briefing to offer and acceptance, following our structured twelve-week search process. The timeline depends on the seniority and complexity of the role, the target geography and the depth of the candidate shortlist required. Our 97% completion rate means clients can plan with confidence from the moment a search is instructed, with clear milestones and regular progress updates throughout.
Q5: Why is commercial leadership recruitment in hospitality different from other sectors?
Hospitality commercial leadership operates at the intersection of relationship-driven sales, data-led revenue optimisation, brand marketing and digital distribution. Evaluating candidates accurately in this space requires genuine sector knowledge — understanding the specific demands of hotel distribution systems, rate strategy, group and corporate sales cycles and the commercial dynamics of luxury guest acquisition. Generalist recruiters working across multiple industries lack the context to assess these candidates meaningfully or to represent an opportunity compellingly to a passive senior candidate. Specialist firms like Madison Mayfair, working exclusively in hospitality, consistently deliver stronger outcomes for commercial leadership searches.