William Bullens

Experience

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  University of Evansville

  Aug 1999 - May 2002

  Crescent Newspaper - Campus News Editor & Staff Writer

  Held the senior news reporter position, in charge of gathering news stories for the student newspaper.Supervised all news staff writers and oversaw assigning and editing staff drafts.Directed story selection and layout and brainstormed with editors and other coworkers.Wrote general assignment stories and covered a beat.

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  Spherion

  Jun 2002 - Jun 2005

  Recruiter & Staffing Specialist at Dell Computer Corporation

  Interviewed and scheduled candidates meeting specific hiring criteria for sales, manufacturing and customer service positions.Assisted in the hiring of 850 temporary employees in five months, to staff the Dell Call Center in Nashville, TN.Supervised and maintained a pipeline of 100-200 employees ready to work at any given time.Organized, scheduled, and executed career fairs.Created radio and print advertisements to consistently attract new candidates.Revamped the hiring process through implementation of new testing processes and information tracking.Spearheaded several projects designed to evaluate employee profiles and files. Show less

• 

  The Hermitage Hotel

  Sept 2006 - Sept 2012

  Responsible for meeting production goals for group sales and transient reservations at a Forbes Five-Star, AAA Five-Diamond property.Manage and follow up on all leads generated out of the West, Southwest, Midwest, and Northeast Regions. Also assist with Southeast region leads as necessary.Create new revenue opportunities by prospecting and soliciting new business.Set up volume rate accounts for business travel sales.Draft and finalize all sales documents including proposals, contracts, and resumes.Arrange and conduct special events and site inspections for existing and potential clients.Entertain clients and maintain business relationships to help advance sales goals.Maintain and monitor group information in Opera, including rooming lists, room block pickup, and room assignments.Block and contract meeting space for group functions, while setting group’s Food and Beverage Minimums and room rentals, before turning the file definite and transferring to Catering Services.Represent the hotel at trade shows and conventions, including World Education Congress for MPI.Travel to targeted markets and execute sales calls with potential and existing clients.Maximize ancillary revenue by selling all facets of the hotel to current and potential clients.Participate in daily sales, weekly business, and pre-convention meetings, as required.Assist the Director of Sales in managing the reservations staff, and assist with overflow reservation calls in compliance with Forbes Five-Star, AAA Five-Diamond standards.Primary hotel contact for all celebrity entertainment and political guests.Work closely with tour managers and personal assistants on all aspects of VIP guest stays.Ensure that all pre-arrival rider requirements are met prior to VIP arrivals.Maintain the highest level of confidentiality for the hotel VIP guests, including enforcing confidentiality procedures with employees hotel-wide. Show less Manage all Guest Services employees, including bellmen, doormen, front desk agents, and overnight guest service agents, to ensure the highest level of customer service for hotel guests.Directly responsible for Guest Services staff compliance with Mobil Five Star and AAA Five Diamond standards.Serve as Manager on Duty to quickly solve guest issues and ensure guest satisfaction, including customer follow-up.Liaise with VIP guests and group contacts as a Guest Services point of contact for hotel operations.Maintain a training program for new employees and ensure continuing education for current team members.Work closely with the hotel management team in all aspects of Guest Services, including departmental staffing and development of weekly work schedules. Show less

  • Sales and Entertainment Manager

    Jun 2008 - Sept 2012

  • Guest Services Supervisor

    Sept 2006 - Jun 2008
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  Hutton Hotel

  Sept 2012 - Sept 2013

  Sales Manager

  • Group Sales Manager responsible for the Southeast, West, and Midwest United States.• Prospect corporate clients in these markets to help generate new business opportunities that are higher-rated.• Liaise with national sales representatives with Leading Hotels of the World, DMI, as well as agent partners such as HelmsBriscoe and ConferenceDirect to consistently generate qualified sales leads.• Work to shift program patterns and dates to maximize the hotel’s meeting space and sleeping room ratios.• Assist the Director of Sales and Marketing with the Marketing Plan including evaluating the competitive set and selecting quality tradeshows with the highest ROI.• Exceeded sales goals each month since beginning at the Hutton Hotel in September, 2012 Show less

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  Sheraton Nashville Downtown

  Sept 2013 - Jun 2016

  Associate Director of Sales / Director of Entertainment Sales

  Assist the Director of Sales and Marketing with complete oversight of 10 sales and catering team members at the 482-room property.Assist with the development of annual marketing plan, budget, and identifying tradeshows and sales call target cities with the most ROI potential.Review weekly and monthly STR reports to monitor RevPAR index to ensure the property is outperforming the competitive set and capturing market share.Develop action plans with each sales manager for their market segments as well as assign and oversee their comp set analysis.Lead weekly GRC meetings, conduct weekly individual supervision meeting with each Sales Manager, and assist in management of daily business review meetings.Solely handle the entertainment market responsible for all bands, crews, VIPs, production blocks, and other entertainment related business resulting in over $500k in annual revenue for this segment.Personally manage group sales for the financial and insurance vertical market segments.Maintain, track and market hotel hot dates in order to maximize revenue opportunities and secure new business over need periods.Negotiate and establish business travel rates through market research and Hotelligence data.Maintain vital relationships with key players in the industry in order to constantly generate business for the hotel.While continuing as Associate Director of Sales at Sheraton Nashville Downtown, in December, 2015 began the additional, simultaneous role as Director of Entertainment Sales for all six hotels in the company portfolio. Drive entertainment (artist, band, crew) group revenue to the following properties:*Sheraton Nashville Downtown*The Heathman Hotel (Portland, OR)*The Roger Hotel (New York, NY)*Oceana Beach Club (Santa Monica, CA)*Villa Florence (San Francisco, CA)*Holiday Inn Express (Nashville, TN - Downtown)Other responsibilities as Associate Director of Sales at Sheraton Nashville Downtown are listed above Show less

• 

  Thompson Hotels- Two Roads Hospitality

  Jun 2016 - Jun 2018

  Director of Sales - Thompson Nashville / Director of Entertainment Sales - Thompson Hotels

  Hired during pre-opening and assembled the sales team and determined deployment before hotel opened in October 2016.Worked with Delphi and Opera to create technology used in sales and crafted the hotel contract.Assisted the Director of Sales and Marketing with pre-opening decks and marketing strategies.Along with the Director of Sales and Marketing and Director of Revenue, established top line revenue budget for first full open year - along with establishing sales and marketing expensed.Worked with the Director of Revenue to create all budgets for corporate negotiated, consortia, and all group segments. Part of the executive team that presented the budget to ownership.Represented the department on weekly asset manager calls.Managed the sales efforts including quoting/approving rates, negotiating all addendums, and supporting the sales managers to ensure everyone in the department exceeded expectations. Handled entertainment and sports market segments.In 2016, awarded “Best Entertainment Hotel Representative, East” for second consecutive year and property was named “Best Entertainment Hotel, East” Top Dog industry awards less than 3 months after hotel opening.In 2017, awarded Tour Link’s “Top Dog – Entertainment Sales Rep, East” for third consecutive year and accepted Tour Link’s “Top Dog – Entertainment Hotel, East” for Thompson Nashville for second straight year.Awarded 2017 “Sales Leader of the Year” for Thompson Hotels.Led the sales team to finish at 185% of group budget and 10 points over group occupancy the hotel’s first full year of operation.In July 2017, promoted to a simultaneous role of Director of Entertainment Sales for the Thompson brand.Added responsibilities included:--Generating entertainment leads to the other seven Thompson hotels--Coordinate roadshows and group sales calls/events for the entertainment sales representatives at the other seven Thompson hotels and lead the entertainment affinity team for Two Roads Hospitality. Show less

• 

  Makeready

  Jun 2018 - now

  Vice President of Global Sales for Makeready, representing our complete hotel collection to all group segments, entertainment, and sports:The Adolphus (Dallas, TX)The Alida (Savannah, GA)Cliff House Maine (Cape Neddick, ME)Emeline (Charleston, SC)Halcyon, a Cherry Creek Hotel (Denver, CO)Noelle (Nashville, TN)The Ryder (Charleston, SC)Responsible to find and secure business for all Makeready properties from a Global Sales perspective.Create brand-wide partnerships with key third parties and clients.Partner with Corporate Director of Marketing and Corporate Director of Revenue Strategy on sales, marketing, and revenue guidance and initiates for all properties.Collaborate with on-property sales and marketing leadership teams to drive successful results.Join asset manager/ownership calls to report on overall strategies and measurables.Assist in proforma, market data research as Makeready adds properties to the portfolio.March 2020 - June 2021 (during COVID-19 Pandemic)Simultaneously to VP of Global Sales responsibilities, served as interim Director of Sales & Marketing for The Alida Hotel in Savannah, GA. Directly responsible for all sales and marketing efforts while navigating through all aspects of the pandemic and its effects on the hotel. Show less

  • Vice President of Sales

    Jul 2023 - now

  • Vice President of Global Sales

    Jun 2018 - Jul 2023