AN established sales professional in the UK hospitality industry with more than ten years of experience has won a demanding new role with Sodexo Prestige.
Sarah McLean has been appointed by the hospitality giant as the new National Accounts Manager for Scotland where she will experience working for some of the country’s leading venues including Hampden Park and Perth Racecourse.
Born in Edinburgh, Sarah decided to make the move from her former role as director of sales at the Waldorf Astoria in the capital to a position that would challenge her and utilise her extensive sales experience.
With more than a decade of hospitality experience Sarah has progressed her career with leading hotel groups including InterContinental Hotels Group, Prima Hotel Group and Hilton Worldwide representing unique and historical hotels in the city and beyond. Sarah will cover Jemma Reid’s maternity leave, driving forward the latest offering, Prestige Venues & Events (PV&E). Sodexo’s premium offer for meeting and events.
Sarah has worked across multi market segments on a national and international level where she has developed valuable skills including a strategic sales approach, competent problem solving abilities and a keen aptitude for accessing client needs- all instrumental in her successful senior sales career to date.
Her recent progression into the luxury hotel market provides her with the ideal skill set to join the PV&E team at the new enquiry hub based in South Queensferry.
Sarah said: “This is an exciting opportunity for me to utilise my extensive industry experience as an Ambassador for Prestige Venues & Events. The opportunity to engage with customers and represent such a diverse portfolio of unique venues is a real privilege.
“I take great pride in the work I do, and can’t wait to get fully embedded with the work here with Prestige Venues & Events.
“To be part of the team here is an exciting challenge as the new offering is generating a lot of new enquiries and more importantly, new business.
“I’m extremely looking forward to getting more hands on with our varied client base and use my experience to the company’s advantage through my new role as National Accounts Manager.”
Sarah’s primary role will be to drive corporate businesses to the PV&E portfolio and spearhead the strategy to improve relationships with corporate key accounts.
She will also be responsible for business development in the gala dinner and large banqueting events segments, an area which has seen promising recent growth.
Amanda Brown, national accounts director for Sodexo Prestige in Scotland, said: “It is just fantastic to have someone with as much experience as Sarah join the team.
“It has been an incredibly busy year so far for Prestige Venues & Events and Sarah’s arrival will help with the smooth running of everything that we have going during what is set to be an extremely busy summer.
“Sarah has extensive national accounts experience working with hotel groups such as Prima Hotels and InterContinental Hotels so has a wealth of the type of experience we need to push our PV&E offering.
“We want to make this appointment a great success for Sarah and the rest of the team, so that we can continue to grow and maintain our leading position in the hospitality and catering industry. We also hope to also see a great deal of new business through this new appointment with both current and future clients benefiting from her experience.”
The enquiry hub was created by Sodexo Prestige as the first point of contact for enquiries from UK conference and event agencies as well as corporate customers. The ‘Hub’ facilitates enquiries for 50 high-profile venues where it operates, including Ascot Racecourse, Everton Football Club and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
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Contact: Melissa Clark
Phone: 0131 561 2238
Email: melissa@holyroodpr.co.uk
Website: http://www.holyroodpr.co.uk/clients/sodexo-prestige/
