Head of Commercial

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Location: Hybrid - London (Head Office), Farthingstone (Hotel), WFH

Contract: Permanent, full-time

Start Date: March 2027

About Fifty Five Hospitality

Fifty Five Hospitality is creating a new brand of ultra-luxury hotels and resorts rooted in nature and wellness within easy reach of global gateway cities.

Our first hotel, Farthingstone, is a new-build ultra-luxury countryside hotel in Northamptonshire, less than two hours north of London, in an outstanding natural environment with an exceptional wellness offering. Future hotels will follow in prime international locations.

We are a small, private equity-backed team of experienced hotel executives, a two-Michelin-starred chef, and specialists from corporate, interior design and global creative backgrounds. As owner, developer, brand and operator, we are building a hospitality company from the ground up, so every hire is fundamental in shaping how we build and how we operate.

This role presents a unique opportunity to build the commercial engine from zero, defining rate, channels and demand ahead of opening day, turning a blank page into a highly curated, commercially successful ultra-luxury resort.

Role Summary

The Head of Commercial is the senior commercial leader for the group, based at Head Office rather than on-property. The role's initial and primary focus is Farthingstone, the group's first hotel, a 61-key ultra-luxury countryside wellness resort , with a projected team of 150+. The Head of Commercial will design and mobilise the entire commercial function - revenue strategy, sales, commercial marketing and distribution - from the ground up, ahead of a single, high-stakes opening date, with no historical trading data, existing demand base, or established rate positioning to work from.

The Head of Commercial owns the resort's total revenue strategy across rooms, spa/wellness, F&B, and events, and is responsible for building Farthingstone's market position and demand generation engine from zero. Given the scale of the ambition - an ultra-luxury, wellness-led positioning commanding a premium rate in a competitive countryside luxury market - this role carries significant responsibility for the commercial success of the group's flagship opening.

While the role is not asset-based, it will require regular, visible presence at Farthingstone to build relationships with the General Manager and department heads, understand the guest experience first-hand, and ensure that Head Office-designed commercial strategy is genuinely grounded in operational reality.

Although based at Head Office in steady state, the role will need to be property-based at Farthingstone for a defined period covering pre-opening mobilisation and the post-opening stabilisation phase.

Key Responsibilities

Pre-Opening Commercial Mobilisation

• Own the end-to-end commercial mobilisation plan for Farthingstone, working backwards from the opening date across positioning, pricing, demand generation, and distribution set-up
• Define Farthingstone's market positioning, opening rate strategy and inventory release plan from scratch, benchmarked against comparable ultra-luxury countryside and wellness resorts
• Build the pre-opening sales and demand plan to generate qualified advance bookings well ahead of opening, including a soft-opening/pre-launch booking strategy, aligned with PR launch plan
• Establish all distribution infrastructure - PMS/RMS, channel manager, OTA relationships, GDS presence, direct booking engine - ahead of go-live
• Build relationships with luxury travel advisors, consortia (Virtuoso, Amex FHR, etc.), and key intermediaries ahead of opening, given their outsized role in ultra-luxury bookings
• Provide commercial input to the Head of Marketing's pre-opening PR and brand-awareness campaign, ensuring launch timing, messaging, and booking release are aligned with demand and revenue targets

Revenue Strategy & Management

• Own total revenue management across rooms, spa/wellness, F&B and events - setting pricing, inventory, and yield strategy across all revenue streams, not rooms alone
• Build the forecasting and budgeting framework from scratch, with seasonality assumptions appropriate to a countryside wellness resort (weekday/weekend mix, retreat, event and wedding demand)
• Establish a revenue management rhythm (weekly/monthly strategy meetings, RevPAR/TRevPAR reporting, competitive set tracking)
• Set and refine pricing across segments - leisure, wellness retreats, corporate/MICE, weddings and private events - balancing rate integrity with occupancy through the post-opening ramp-up

Sales

• Design and lead the sales strategy across leisure, corporate, MICE, weddings, and wellness retreat segments
• Build a sales pipeline and account base from zero - direct outreach, trade shows, familiarisation trips - and establish rate agreements, commission structures, and contracting with agents, tour operators, and corporate accounts
• Represent the resort at relevant luxury travel trade events

Marketing Alignment (led by Head of Marketing)

• Provide commercial input to marketing and brand strategy - revenue targets, priority segments, rate positioning, and ROI expectations - so campaigns are built around clear commercial objectives
• Track the commercial performance of marketing activity - direct booking conversion, paid media ROI, OTA vs. direct channel mix - and feed insight back to the marketing team

Distribution & Channel Management

• Own the distribution strategy, balancing direct and indirect channels to protect margin while building visibility during launch
• Manage OTA, GDS, and wholesale relationships, negotiating terms appropriate to a new, unproven property
• Build a direct-booking strategy and own booking-engine commercial performance as a priority channel

Commercial Partnerships & Business Development

• Develop and manage commercial partnerships - OTAs, travel agents, consortia, tour operators, wholesalers, and corporate accounts - that drive bookings and protect margin
• Provide commercial input to brand collaborations (wellness brands, luxury lifestyle brands, media), which are led by the Head of Marketing

Commercial Reporting & Governance

• Build the commercial reporting framework - revenue, pipeline, forecast accuracy, channel mix, ROI - and present performance and forecasts to the CEO/MD and ownership on a regular cadence
• Own the commercial budget for Farthingstone and the data and systems infrastructure (PMS, RMS, CRM) that supports commercial decision-making

Candidate Profile

Experience

• Proven senior commercial leadership experience in luxury hospitality - Director of Sales & Marketing, Commercial Director, Head of Revenue, or equivalent
• Direct experience leading commercial strategy through a hotel or resort pre-opening / mobilisation phase is a strong advantage
• Track record of building rate positioning and demand for a new or repositioned luxury property
• Experience across the full revenue mix - rooms, spa/wellness, F&B, and events/weddings - rather than a rooms-only background
• A genuine network within the UK/international luxury travel trade, including advisors, consortia, and intermediaries
• Experience building commercial infrastructure (PMS/RMS/CRM, distribution set-up) from scratch is a strong advantage

Skills & Attributes

• Genuinely commercial and numbers-driven, comfortable owning revenue targets and being accountable for hitting them from a standing start
• Strong strategic thinker balanced with hands-on delivery - this is a build role, not a maintain role
• Comfortable operating in a "dual mode" - strategic at Head Office, relationship-led and close to the ground at Farthingstone
• Genuine understanding of and enthusiasm for the wellness and luxury countryside market, able to represent the brand credibly to trade partners
• Confident presenting to ownership under the scrutiny of a flagship opening, with the resilience to match a pre-opening timeline

Qualifications

• Degree-level education in hospitality, business or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience in hospitality, revenue management, and commercial disciplines
• Working knowledge of hotel PMS/RMS systems and distribution platforms

Practical Requirements

• Right to work in the UK
• Based at Head Office, with regular and, during pre-opening, frequent travel to Farthingstone, trade events, and key feeder markets
• Full UK driving licence would be useful due to Farthingstone's rural location with limited public transport
• Flexibility to travel for trade shows and fam trips, including internationally where relevant to key source markets

What We Offer

• Competitive salary with discretionary annual bonus
• Enhanced pension scheme
• Salary sacrifice schemes (EV, cycle-to-work) available after probation
• Private medical and dental insurance
• 33 days’ annual leave (including bank holidays)