Director, Destination Marketing - South Asia

The Director, Destination Marketing – South Asia is the in-market business strategist for marketing and eCommerce performance across India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. This role translates South Asia business and Asia Pacific (APAC) marketing and loyalty functional strategy into market and hotel priorities that capture demand, grow direct and digital revenue, improve channel performance and strengthen the return on marketing investment.
You will be the voice of the business, the function and the customer for South Asia—turning consumer insight, local market context and commercial performance into clear decisions on where to focus, how to allocate resources and which capabilities hotels and markets need to build next. The region’s scale, growth pipeline, diverse consumer segments, multilingual context and rapidly evolving digital ecosystem require a leader who can combine strategic clarity with practical, market-level execution.
Reporting to the Senior Director, Regional Marketing & eCommerce – APAC, you will lead the South Asia agenda and serve as the primary interface between the regional discipline and regional commercial, revenue management, distribution, operations, property commercial and marketing leaders, owners and management companies. You will create a culture of accountability, collaboration, learning and continuous improvement that turns insight into measurable revenue, channel and share outcomes.
WHY YOU’LL BE A GREAT FIT
You have these minimum qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Hospitality, Communications, Economics, Analytics or a related field.
10+ years of progressive experience in hospitality, travel, consumer, retail, digital marketing, eCommerce or a closely related commercial discipline.
5+ years of experience leading regional, cluster, multi-market or cross-functional teams in a matrixed organization.
Proven experience developing marketing and eCommerce strategies that improve business performance across multiple hotels, markets, brands or customer segments.
Strong understanding of digital performance levers, including demand generation, conversion, acquisition efficiency, direct booking growth, channel mix, CRM or loyalty engagement and measurement.
Demonstrated ability to interpret commercial and customer data, build recommendations, manage budgets and connect marketing activity to revenue, share and return on investment.
Experience influencing senior stakeholders, hotel leaders, owners, management companies, agencies and market teams without relying solely on direct authority.
Ability to travel approximately 25%.
It would be useful if you have:
Experience working across India’s diverse regional, language, city-tier and consumer segments.
Experience operating in a hotel owner, franchise, management company or distributed-market model.
Experience with experimentation, incrementality, media effectiveness, performance marketing, metasearch, online travel intermediaries, mobile-first commerce or digital payments.
Experience building hotel marketing capability through onboarding, training, playbooks, audits, coaching and change management.
MBA or advanced degree in Marketing, Business, Analytics or a related discipline.
HOW YOU WILL MAKE AN IMPACT
Your role is important, and below are some of the fundamental job duties that make your work unique.
What your day-to-day will be like:
Own the South Asia marketing and eCommerce performance strategy, translating APACx and market priorities into clear growth plans, hotel and cluster priorities, targets, investment choices and accountability.
Serve as the senior regional interface between Marketing & eCommerce and regional and on-property commercial teams, partnering across functions to review performance, identify demand and conversion opportunities, align investments and drive measurable outcomes.
Lead performance management across direct, digital, paid, owned, and relevant third-party channels, using revenue, conversion, acquisition efficiency, channel mix, contribution and share metrics to prioritize action.
Guide hotels and markets in building practical, insight-led marketing plans for rooms, food and beverage, weddings, meetings and events, balancing local business needs with regional priorities and available resources.
Improve adoption and effectiveness of Hilton enterprise programs and digital capabilities, including Hilton Honors, WhatsApp for Business, Dine Like a Member and other relevant platforms, while identifying capability gaps and escalating performance requirements to regional and global partners.
Lead, coach and develop a high-performing South Asia team, setting clear standards for commercial thinking, stakeholder partnership, analytical rigor, pace and quality of execution.
How you will collaborate with others:
Partner closely with APAC marketing and loyalty and South Asia regional teams to connect marketing and eCommerce priorities to hotel, portfolio and market business plans.
Act as the primary above-property contact for key and priority hotel marketing and commercial leaders, including participation in performance deep-dives, hotel business reviews and need-hotel action planning.
Work with APACx and global Marketing, eCommerce, Media, CRM, Loyalty, Analytics, Technology and Product teams to pull through global platforms and playbooks, provide market feedback and enable adoption; this role does not own brand positioning, brand campaigns or eCommerce product roadmaps.
Build trusted relationships with owners, management companies, agencies, media partners and commerce platforms, ensuring performance issues are surfaced early and actions are followed through across India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Partner with relevant teams to introduce and scale new brands across South Asia, ensuring hotels are equipped with the marketing strategy, eCommerce capabilities, channel presence, content, tools and performance frameworks required to build demand and achieve commercial success from opening and beyond.
What deliverables you will take ownership of:
The South Asia marketing and eCommerce strategy, annual operating plan and market prioritization framework, with clear growth opportunities, investment choices, service levels and success measures.
A consistent performance-management rhythm across commercial and hotel teams, including scorecards, forecasts, channel and market diagnostics, business reviews and action plans.
A scalable hotel marketing and eCommerce enablement model covering plan quality, budget allocation, platform adoption, content and channel audits, training, playbooks, automation and measurement.