Manager, Enterprise Strategy & Business Relations

We’re People People. Are you?

We’re Sonesta International Hotels—the 8th largest hotel company in the U.S. (and growing fast 🚀).

With a dynamic mix of full-service and focused hotels across major cities, our diverse portfolio of owned, managed, and franchised properties means we’re everywhere our guests need us to be.

But here’s the thing—we’re not just in the business of hotels, we’re in the business of people. We bring service with passion, loyalty with purpose, and create experiences that genuinely connect—delivering quality, value, and memorable stays across 1,000+ properties in eight countries (and counting).

What this role is all about

The Manager, Enterprise Strategy & Relations serves as a strategic integrator and relationship steward across Sonesta’s corporate functions, providing visibility, structure, and clarity to how enterprise priorities are planned, tracked, and executed. The role also supports data-driven evaluation of hospitality systems, commercial opportunities, and strategic vendor and partner relationships.

Reporting to the Vice President of Strategic Planning, this position plays a critical role in maintaining the integrity of Sonesta’s enterprise alignment framework, ensuring that all strategic initiatives, financial priorities, and executive communications advance through a disciplined, data-informed process.

This role is entrusted with access to ownership-level data, ELT materials, and cross-functional insights and operates as a direct liaison between the Strategic Planning Office, the Executive Leadership Team, and departmental leadership. The position requires the ability to work independently, represent enterprise priorities at senior levels, and surface escalation items to the Vice President of Strategic Planning for alignment or executive intervention.

This role is 3 days at our Orlando, FL or Newton, MA Headquarters and 2 days remote.

What you’ll be doing

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Alignment & ELT Coordination

• Maintain visibility into all enterprise initiatives and strategic priorities, ensuring consistent alignment to ELT directives.
• Engage directly with department and functional leaders to capture updates, resolve blockers, and ensure leadership direction is translated into measurable execution.
• Serve as a trusted liaison between the Vice President of Strategic Planning, ELT, and departmental stakeholders, ensuring that information flows accurately, respectfully, and efficiently.
• Identify and elevate risks, dependencies, or conflicts to the Vice President of Strategic Planning for prioritization, mitigation, or executive review.
• Represent the Strategic Planning Office in ELT or governance discussions as needed, maintaining discretion and professionalism with highly sensitive information.

Strategic Planning & Governance

• Manage the operational cadence of Sonesta’s enterprise planning cycles, including initiative intake, quarterly reviews, and KPI reporting.
• Ensure all initiatives are properly documented, funded, and aligned to corporate priorities and leadership expectations.
• Oversee the preparation of executive-level materials for ELT, Board, and Ownership meetings in coordination with the Vice President of Strategic Planning and Finance.
• Reinforce consistent use of enterprise templates, dashboards, and governance frameworks across departments.
• Partner with Finance, IT, and Operations to ensure strategic planning aligns with capital, technology, and operational readiness.

Enterprise Data Integrity & Reporting

• Access and manage enterprise-level data sets tied to performance, transformation, and ownership reporting.
• Validate the accuracy and consistency of information presented to the CEO, CIO, and CFO, ensuring a single source of truth across all executive communications.
• Using innovation and competitive intelligence, integrate intelligence, performance, and innovation data into unified data.
• Drive discipline in reporting quality, ensuring transparency and clarity across the organization.

Hospitality Systems, Commercial Intelligence & Partner Relations

• Gather, normalize, and aggregate data from operational, financial, market, and vendor sources, with emphasis on hospitality systems, technology capabilities, commercial models, and property-level implications.
• Monitor meaningful product launches, roadmap developments, pricing and packaging changes, partnerships, and market activity across key hospitality technology providers and solution categories.
• Develop comparative analyses of system capabilities, integration requirements, implementation readiness, commercial terms, total cost of ownership, and enterprise or franchise value.
• Translate market and vendor intelligence into concise executive summaries that explain what changed, why it matters to Sonesta, potential risks or opportunities, and recommended follow-up questions or actions.
• Support and, where appropriate, lead vendor and strategic partner negotiations in coordination with Finance, Legal, IT, Operations, and other stakeholders, including development of negotiation positions, pricing benchmarks, business cases, and decision materials.
• Maintain organized records of vendor proposals, pricing, contractual commitments, roadmap dependencies, negotiation outcomes, and key decisions to strengthen institutional knowledge and commercial discipline.

Cross-Functional Relationships & Communication

• Build trusted, service-minded relationships across departments, reflecting Sonesta’s hospitality-first culture in all interactions.
• Support the Vice President of Strategic Planning in reinforcing governance discipline and reducing informal or ad hoc escalation to ELT members.
• Facilitate communication and coordination between corporate and property leadership, ensuring enterprise strategies are executable and guest-centric.
• Model professionalism, discretion, and follow-through, setting the tone for how information and collaboration should flow across the enterprise.

Cultural Stewardship

• Reinforce Sonesta’s hospitality-first culture at the corporate level by modeling respect, service, and accountability in all cross-functional engagements.
• Promote behavioral alignment by ensuring clarity of ownership, communication discipline, and adherence to enterprise processes.
• Support the Vice President of Strategic Planning in embedding enterprise rhythm — the structure, communication cadence, and collaboration habits that drive focus and execution.

Qualifications

• 7–10 years of experience in strategic planning, business operations, or enterprise governance, ideally within hospitality, travel, or service-based industries.
• Proven ability to manage cross-functional relationships and communicate with executive leadership with discretion and confidence.
• Strong analytical and data management skills; proficient in Smartsheet, Power BI, and enterprise planning tools.
• Demonstrated success in managing enterprise-level reporting, initiative tracking, and performance dashboards.
• Working knowledge of the hospitality technology landscape, including property, central reservation, point-of-sale, payments, revenue management, guest experience, and connectivity platforms.
• Experience supporting commercial evaluations and vendor or partner negotiations, including pricing analysis, benchmarking, total cost of ownership, and contract-related decision support.
• Exceptional organizational and communication skills; able to simplify complexity and drive clarity across stakeholders.
• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s in Business, Strategy, or Organizational Leadership preferred.

Leadership Attributes

• Trusted Liaison: Operates as a reliable and confidential bridge between leadership and the organization.
• Enterprise Thinker: Understands interdependencies and aligns initiatives to Sonesta’s broader strategy and financial goals.
• Cultural Ambassador: Models hospitality and professionalism, reinforcing corporate behaviors that reflect Sonesta’s brand ethos.
• Strategic Synthesizer: Converts complex data and updates into concise, actionable insights for executive consumption.
• Commercially Minded: Connects hospitality technology capabilities and market intelligence to financial value, operational feasibility, and practical negotiation strategies.
• Disciplined Executor: Ensures enterprise processes are followed with precision, timeliness, and accountability.

​Success Measures

• Accuracy, timeliness, and completeness of enterprise reporting and ELT materials.
• Reduction in ad hoc executive escalations through strengthened governance discipline.
• Increased consistency and adoption of the SPO framework across departments.
• Measurable improvement in enterprise data integrity and reporting quality.
• Improved visibility into hospitality technology market developments, vendor roadmaps, pricing, packaging, and enterprise implications.
• Demonstrable value from vendor and partner negotiations through improved commercial terms, risk reduction, clearer commitments, or stronger strategic alignment.
• Enhanced trust and collaboration between ELT members, ownership, and the Strategic Planning Office.
• Positive leadership feedback on communication clarity, alignment, and responsiveness.

Anticipated Pay Range & Additional Job Information

pay range: $100,000 to $110,000. Base pay offer may vary depending on various factors, including but not limited to job related knowledge, skills and job specific/overall experience.

How we reward you

At Sonesta, we know showing up for our guests starts with showing up for our people. That means supporting your health, your financial future, and everything in between. 

Here’s a snapshot of what we offer: 

• Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance  

• Health Savings Account (HSA) with Company Match  

• 401(k) Retirement Plan with Company Match  

• Paid Vacation & Sick Time  

• Paid Parental Leave  

• Company-Paid Life Insurance  

• Company-Paid Short-Term & Long-Term Disability  

• Hospital Indemnity, Critical Illness & Accident Insurance  

• Educational Assistance  

• Sonesta Hotel Discounts (yes, you’ll want to use these ✈️)  

• Additional Perks & Employee Discounts 
  
  

Our Commitment to You

Sonesta is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Before You Apply

To be considered, please complete the full application in addition to submitting your resume. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.