Director Revenue & Reservations (Cape Town).
Salary neg DOE.
The Opportunity
Are you a commercially sharp, operationally minded leader with a passion for luxury travel? This is a rare executive opportunity to take ownership of the full revenue and reservations function across a prestigious portfolio of safari lodges and camps spanning East and Southern Africa.
As Director of Revenue & Reservations, you will sit at the heart of the business — shaping commercial strategy, leading a talented 20-person team across Cape Town and Arusha, and ensuring every guest booking journey is executed flawlessly from first inquiry to final departure.
Reporting directly to the Board and CEO, this is a high-impact, high-visibility leadership role for someone who thrives at the intersection of commercial performance and operational excellence.
What You’ll Own
Revenue & Yield Strategy
• Lead group-wide revenue optimisation across all camps, lodges, and safari products.
• Drive pricing strategy, inventory control, occupancy optimisation, and booking pace analysis.
• Partner with Sales, Finance, and Operations to maximise RevPAR, ADR, and overall profitability.
• Monitor market trends, competitor positioning, seasonality, and demand forecasting.
• Ensure disciplined management of allocations, stop-sell controls, and channel availability.
Reservations Leadership
• Own all reservations operations across properties and DMC functions.
• Drive consistency, accuracy, and professionalism across every booking interaction.
• Design and maintain SOPs, workflows, and service quality standards.
• Ensure seamless coordination between reservations, operations, guiding, camps, and third-party suppliers.
DMC & Logistics Oversight
• Oversee safari logistics including flights, transfers, activities, accommodation movements, and guest itineraries.
• Ensure operational feasibility and smooth handovers from reservations into field operations.
• Improve integration between DMC bookings and property reservations teams.
• Minimise booking errors, operational clashes, and guest-impacting issues.
Systems & Process Innovation
• Champion technology adoption, automation, and process modernisation across the department.
• Act as departmental lead for PMS, CRM, DMC booking systems, channel managers, and reporting tools.
• Improve data integrity, reporting accuracy, and dashboard visibility across the commercial function.
• Identify opportunities for AI and workflow efficiencies where practical and impactful.
Team Leadership & Culture
• Lead, mentor, and unify a multi-location team of approximately 20 people.
• Build a culture of accountability, humility, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Develop team capability, succession pipelines, and performance management frameworks.
• Foster strong cross-departmental relationships across Operations, Finance, Sales, Marketing, and Camps.
Who You Are
This role is for a rare type of leader.
You combine commercial sharpness with emotional intelligence. You understand revenue strategy and can simultaneously hold a team to account with genuine care and humility. You lead from the front without losing sight of the big picture.
The ideal candidate will bring:
• A humble, grounded leadership style with high emotional intelligence.
• The maturity to delegate effectively and empower teams across geographies.
• Calm, solutions-oriented thinking under pressure with high personal ownership.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen — you understand the numbers and what drives them.
• A structured, disciplined mindset with a bias for action and continuous improvement.
• The ability to build trust, alignment, and momentum across departments and cultures.
What You Bring
Experience
• 10+ years in luxury hospitality, safari operations, DMC environments, or high-end travel.
• 5+ years in a senior leadership role managing multi-functional, cross-location teams.
• Proven track record in reservations management, revenue/yield optimisation, and operational coordination.
• Experience leading meaningful systems and process improvement initiatives.
Technical Skills
• Strong command of PMS systems, reservations platforms, DMC/travel systems, and channel management tools.
• Advanced capability in reporting dashboards, data analysis, and commercial forecasting.
• Financially literate with experience driving commercial performance against budget and KPIs.
• Exposure to AI, automation, or workflow technology in a hospitality or travel context is a plus.
Qualifications
• Diploma or Degree in Hospitality Management, Tourism Management, Business, Commerce, or related field.
Please forward applications to cameron@cedar-wood.co.za