Valerie Barrie has been appointed as the director of sales and marketing at the JW Marriott Dubai.
Academically, Valerie is well qualified to be at the helm of the sales and marketing department, JW Marriott Dubai, as she brings along more than 16 years of experience in hospitality management with an extensive knowledge of sales and marketing.
With a Bachelor of Arts in Hotel Catering and Institutional Management from the Robert Gordon University in Scotland, Valerie’s first placement in the hotel industry was in 1992 where she first held the position of Reservation Manager and later as Sales Manager.
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Her willingness to learn and advance her career paid off as she was given the opportunity to work as area sales manager at the Aberdeen Marriott Hotel in Scotland in 1996. It was here that Valerie honed her skills in all aspects of sales and marketing. She managed to reposition the hotel within the corporate and leisure market after a major refurbishment.
Scottish by birth, Valerie moved to Australia in 1999 and worked for Mirvac Hotels Pty Ltd in Brisbane, Australia in 1999 as regional sales & marketing manager. The principal focus of her role was to take charge of all the sales and marketing activities for 5 hotels in Queensland with a total turnover of $25 million.
She carefully oversaw the planning and development of promotional strategies and marketing plans for each hotel in the region.
In 2002, Valerie was designated as director of marketing at the Novotel Twin Waters Resort in Queensland, Australia. Her skills and accumulated experience was put to good use in this 355 room resort as she aggressively drove direct leisure business within the first 6 months and was responsible for the management and direction of wholesale and inbound business.
Moving to director of marketing in Hyatt Regency Coolum, Queensland from 2005 to 2009 Valerie successfully repositioned the resort to all markets and maintained a positive revenue flow. She was also a member of the Maroochydore Tourism advisory board and she maximized business relationship with Tourism Queensland and other government bodies.
Valerie joined the Marriott family in Dubai in January this year. Under her strong leadership as director of sales & marketing at the JW Marriott Dubai and with a proven track record in sales target achievement and maximizing sales output, she will oversee the entire sales and marketing department at the JW Marriott Dubai.
“As a sales and marketing leader, you must have passion. A hotel is merely a building, but what makes a hotel successful are the people, that’s what drives results.”
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