About us:

The Hothorpe estate is a luxury countryside destination on the Leicestershire–Northamptonshire border, set within 22 acres of grounds. Blending historic character with contemporary elegance, the estate offers luxury accommodation, fine dining, and unforgettable guest experiences providing the ultimate space to celebrate, gather, feast, share, relax, kickback and just be.

We aspire to set a new benchmark for excellence, providing a place where every detail is considered, every experience feels personal, and every guest leaves inspired.

About the role:

This is an outreach role, not an order-taker role. You won't be sat waiting for enquiries to land in an inbox, you'll be out there making things happen: designing and running curated, measured outreach campaigns that build pipeline through deliberate, well-targeted cold contact. If a sector or a target account isn't already talking to Hothorpe, it's your job to start that conversation.

You're equally comfortable walking into an event unannounced, cold-calling a procurement team or a PA, or hosting a themed event to draw buyers to the estate whatever it takes to get in front of the right people first. Working closely with the Sales Manager, you'll help shape a strategic events calendar, proactively identifying and attending the right industry events over a 12-month cycle, treating every interaction as a business development opportunity than a networking nicety.

Proactive New Business Development

Actively identify and target new corporate accounts across a range of sectors including but not limited to finance, legal, consulting, professional services, automotive, fashion, pharma and tech - the primary buyers of events and conference away days
Prospect via direct outreach: email marketing and sequencing through researched and targeted contacts as part of a wider distribution list, cold calls, LinkedIn prospecting, field sales visits and attendance at industry networking events
Build and maintain a pipeline of qualified leads within our defined CRM
Attend relevant industry events, trade shows, venue-finder briefings and PA/EA networking forums to generate new connections
Conduct sales blitzes into defined geographic territories (Midlands corporate corridor: Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Nottingham)
Achieve and exceed monthly and quarterly new business revenue and activity KPIs

Key Account Management & Retention

Own and grow a portfolio of corporate key accounts, maximising repeat and extended-value bookings
Conduct structured account reviews, identify upsell opportunities (spa add-ons, expanded delegate numbers, multi-event annual contracts)
Maintain client relationships between bookings through proactive touchpoints, personalised communications and event follow-ups
Act as the senior commercial relationship holder for high-value accounts, supported by the events and operations team

Requirement:

Demonstrable proactive sales experience within luxury hospitality, 4-star, 5-star hotel, country house, exclusive-use venue or premium experiential environment
Proven track record of winning new business against measurable targets, not just reactive account management
Demonstrable experience of the full sales cycle: prospecting, qualifying, proposing, negotiating, closing and retaining
Experience of the UK MICE market: corporate conferences, residential away days, product launches and incentive travelSelf-starting, target-driven, comfortable with rejection and relentless in follow-up, the 'sniper' who chooses targets deliberately rather than spraying and praying
Relationship-first approach: the ability to build genuine, long-term trust with clients through care, consistency and deep product knowledge
Excellent verbal communication and presentation skills - comfortable in front of a business leader or CEO, a procurement team, PA or a prospective bride and groom
Commercial acumen: understanding of yield management, rate negotiations, seasonal demand patterns and revenue maximisation
Highly organised with a structured, methodical approach to CRM, pipeline management and time allocation
Confident in field-based work: the role is predominantly outward-facing and requires regular travel within the UK

Senior Business Development Executive