Reporting to : General Manager
Department : Sales & Marketing
Job Grade : Leadership Committee
About Royal Plaza on Scotts
Royal Plaza on Scotts is a 511-room independent premium lifestyle hotel in the heart of Orchard Road, Singapore. With over 50 years of history and a clear vision for the next decade, we are investing in product, technology and guest experience to build a premium lifestyle destination that competes on quality and direct guest relationships rather than on channel dependency.
We are a fully independent property - no parent company, no brand constraints - which means every commercial decision we make is ours. That independence is our competitive advantage and the reason this role exists with the scope it does.
The Role
The VP Commercial is the senior commercial voice in the hotel, responsible for the total revenue strategy and the teams that execute it. You will directly manage the Director of Sales and Director of Marketing, and you will own the hotel's distribution architecture, channel mix, and revenue growth strategy across all markets and segments.
This is a genuinely broad commercial role - not a traditional hotel DOS or Revenue Manager position. You are accountable for how the hotel acquires revenue across every channel, what it costs to acquire it, and how the mix shifts over time toward higher-quality, lower-cost channels. Sales executes the relationships. Marketing executes the brand and digital strategy. You set the commercial framework both teams operate within and you are accountable for the outcome.
Distribution fluency is central to this role. You need to understand how hotel inventory moves from channel manager to GDS to OTA to direct, and you need to be able to manage commercial relationships and negotiate terms at every layer of that stack. This is what separates the right candidate from a strong but traditional hotel commercial leader.
Strategic Responsibilities Commercial strategy and P&L
- Own total revenue budget and channel mix across rooms, F&B and ancillary revenue
- Set pricing strategy working closely with the Revenue Management function
- Lead weekly commercial meetings - pace review, strategy, yield decisions
- Present commercial performance to Board and Asset Management
Distribution and channel management
- Own the hotel's full distribution architecture - channel manager, GDS, OTA relationships, metasearch and direct booking engine performance
- Negotiate commercial agreements with key OTA partners
- Drive progressive shift of booking mix toward direct and negotiated channels, reducing cost of acquisition over time
- Hold full channel P&L accountability - not just revenue but net contribution by channel
Corporate account and GDS strategy
- Own corporate RFP strategy - direct submissions for annual TMC cycles via Cvent and Lanyon
- Manage TMC relationships across Singapore, Australia, UK, Middle East and Europe
- Direct account management for the hotel's top producing corporate accounts
- Oversee GDS distribution strategy - rate structure, corporate rate performance, chain code optimisation
Sales and marketing leadership
- Directly manage Director of Sales - set account targets, guide corporate acquisition strategy, develop team capability
- Directly manage Director of Marketing - align brand, digital and paid media investment to commercial outcomes
- Connect marketing spend to channel performance - every marketing dollar should have a measurable revenue outcome
- Own the promotional calendar and rate strategy across all segments
New market development
- Build and execute strategy to grow BLeisure segment from Australia, UK, US and Europe
- Develop Muslim traveller segment beyond existing base - GCC, Malaysia, Indonesia and new source markets
- Lead India and China market development in partnership with OTA account managers and the DOS team
- Identify and activate loyalty and airline partnership opportunities to support direct booking growth
What We Are Looking For
- Minimum 8 years in hotel commercial, distribution or revenue management, with genuine depth across multiple channel types
- Singapore market knowledge is non-negotiable - must understand the Orchard Road competitive set, local corporate travel landscape, and Singapore-based TMC relationships
- Hands-on distribution experience - GDS mechanics, OTA commercial negotiations, metasearch management, direct booking strategy
- Experience managing or closely working with a Director of Sales and/or Director of Marketing
- Commercially articulate - able to present revenue strategy clearly to Board and asset management audiences
- Fluent in hotel technology - channel manager, PMS, revenue management system, IBE
- Track record of growing direct channel revenue and reducing OTA cost of acquisition
Strongly preferred
- Experience at an independent or soft-branded hotel - able to build and optimise commercial infrastructure without parent company support
- Experience managing corporate RFP cycles directly via Cvent and Lanyon
- Strong network across APAC source markets - Australia, UK, Middle East, Indonesia, India
- Exposure to full distribution stack management - from rate loading through to channel performance reporting
