Development Manager France

Summary

The position is responsible for the development of all Wyndham Hotels & Resorts brands in France. 

Working closely with the Head of Development Central Europe, the role will include all aspects of development including cold calling, sourcing and screening potential projects; in conjunction with Feasibility analyse projects’ potential; preparing contracts and attaining internal approval.  The incumbent will be responsible for surfacing potential opportunities for growth by adding new properties to our portfolio.  These may be new builds, conversions or rebrands mainly under franchised agreements.  

The role will also be required to seek out and build productive relationships with new and existing owners and franchisees in order to grow the portfolio across their region.

This position will also have frequent contact with the Development/ Franchise Sales colleagues, Legal, Contracts Administration, Central Operations, NHOP, AD&C, Feasibility, Finance and Commercial teams.  

Responsibilities

• Identify and evaluate business growth opportunities for our economy, midscale and resort brands in franchising opportunities for WHR. This will include extensive collection and maintenance of market intelligence in the specific territories assigned as well as the generation of franchise leads which conform to agreed strategies and standards and manage these to the approval stage.
• In collaboration with the Legal Department, provide terms and conditions of agreements with franchisees/ representatives. Ensure that agreement terms and conditions follow the correct legal process and contract obligations are acceptable to/ approved by the organization. Thereafter, conduct the follow up until deal closure.
• Coordinate all aspects of the development process internal to WHR, including site inspections, technical services representatives, requesting feasibility studies and pro forma valuations when required, overseeing the due diligence process, operations team involvement, and presenting the opportunity for approval by the Vice President and Wyndham’s International Approval Committee (“IAC”) as required. 
• Establish and maintain purposeful and positive professional relationships with a strong network of contacts throughout your territories. These will include existing franchisees, partners and owners as well as potential new clients/ investors and their representatives and also brokers, agents and other subject matter experts in order to maintain awareness of activities in the market for new opportunities, renewals and exit windows.
• Ensure that all aspects of leads, executions and openings are fully recorded and maintained within the Salesforce.com CRM system so that all activities may be fully tracked and progress reviewed. 

Complexity

Decision Making Authority
This position will have the authority to take decisions or make recommendations related to:

• Lead qualification and processing (100% responsible)
• Providing standard key commercial terms for all/ any projects to all parties
• Closing transactions  

Level of autonomy
This position will have a high sense of autonomy. In many cases, the individual will have a remote or home office setup; therefore they will plan their own daily activities and organize their own travel schedule.

Impact
The position has a direct impact on the company’s image, pipeline and revenue growth. This individual will have a specific annual quota to meet and the achievement of this will make a measurable impact on the Company’s bottom line performance.

Scope/ Financial Responsibility

• The position holder will have monthly scorecard review meetings and annual Key Performance Objectives to meet which will be measured in terms of their contribution to System Growth (executions and openings) and agreed personal objectives.
• They will be in a revenue generating position and their individual performance will have a direct impact on the Company’s growth, financial performance and the achievement of the regional strategy.  
• They will be responsible for managing their own travel and travel related expenses in accordance with an approved annual budget (the budget will be communicated to the individual).

Abilities/ Key Competencies/ Skills

• Highly developed analytical, negotiation and financial skills
• Able to build and maintain positive professional relationships
• Solution orientation and able to anticipate and resolve potential obstacles
• Able to meet deadlines and project timelines 
• Superior communication and presentation skills, both oral and written 
• Detail orientation 
• Highly self-motivated, goal oriented and target driven
• Demonstrates the highest standards of honesty, integrity and discretion
• Customer focused
• Culturally sensitive and adaptable 
• Able to work remotely and autonomously whilst demonstrating a collaborative approach and spirit 

Experience/ Certificates/ Education

• Educated to degree level or equivalent, ideally in a Business Administration, Real Estate, Finance or Hospitality discipline
• Post graduate qualification or equivalent experience in property advisory or similar would be an advantage
• Previous experience in a corporate environment within the preparation and negotiation of managed or franchised contracts is required
• Previous experience in the negotiation or brokerage of franchising, hotel management contracts, real estate development and/ or the hospitality sector are advantageous
• Experience of working in the hospitality industry at hotel or corporate level is a must
• Fluency in spoken and written English and French is essential. Additional language capabilities would be a plus.
• Must be computer literate and experienced in using all Microsoft Office programmes including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
• Candidates must also have had experience of using Customer Relationship Management tools