Stephanie Smith
Edinburgh
Summary
Results‑driven commercial professional with extensive experience managing diverse regional portfolios, driving revenue growth, and strengthening long‑term partner relationships. Skilled in strategic account development, consultative selling, and data‑led decision making, with a consistent track record of exceeding targets and delivering high‑impact advertising and sales solutions.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
3
3
years of post-secondary education
Work history
Business Development Manager
Expedia Group
Edinburgh
10.2021 - Current
- Managed UK & Ireland territory offering a full suite of advertising solutions, including TravelAds, to partners
- Delivered strong regional performance in 2024, growing Edinburgh market TravelAds spend by 62% YoY and Dublin market by 86% YoY through proactive account development
- Drove significant growth across multiple regional hotel groups by identifying opportunities, expanding product adoption, and implementing tailored advertising strategies
- Developed and scaled activity for several mid‑sized hotel groups by introducing new advertising formats, improving campaign performance, and unlocking incremental budget
- Launched multiple co‑op and brand campaigns from scratch, demonstrating strong sales, negotiation, and stakeholder‑management skills while building long-term client relationships
- Built and expanded a large multi‑partner cooperative advertising initiatives from scratch, growing it beyond £1m in value over three consecutive years and securing new strategic sponsorship opportunities
- Recognised for consistently uncovering new revenue opportunities, increasing market spend across regional hotels, and strengthening advertiser engagement
Account Manager
Expedia Group
Edinburgh
07.2020 - 09.2021
- Primary responsibility is to develop relationships with strategic accommodation partners in Scotland to ensure a high quality portfolio of experiences on Expedia's family of travel websites
- Quickly built strong relationships with accommodation partners across challenging markets, including Perthshire, Dundee, Fife and St Andrews. This resulted in a 38% increase in promotional and mobile-exclusive offers , improving competitiveness and visibility in my portfolio.
- Selected to work on US Taskforce during lockdown – very quickly had to perform in another market with a temporary portfolio of accounts. Met and exceeded KPI's for this project resulting in
- Highlights of time in this role include refining account management skills, finishing in top 10 for UKIR performers, creating creative solutions and rolling them out to the rest of our team, securing products and deals with all 5star properties in portfolio (previously difficult to engage customers)
- Expanding beyond accounts to reach out to DMO's for the area in order to drive overall visibility of the markets resulting greater relationships at destination level
Market Manager - Join Expedia Team
Expedia Group
Edinburgh
01.2018 - 07.2020
- Key achievements to date for this role include using strategic partners to achieve and surpass targets. Q2 18 achieved 117% to target and Q3 18 achieved 174% of target
- Successfully negotiated and acquired over 160 properties within first year ensuring they have inventory and rates competitiveness to optimise availability on sites
- Developed three successful training sessions to further team in continuous development around negotiation skills, communication skills and sales skills (eg, challenger sales training)
- Working closely with internal stakeholders in Account Management team and completed a project working with our Marketing team to develop marketing for social channels in order to encourage more partners to join Expedia
Sales Manager
Mercat Tours
Edinburgh
04.2017 - 12.2017
- Overall responsibility for driving sales growth – direct responsibility for 60% of overall revenue
- FIT & Group sales through travel trade and local trade up by 26% in first six months
- Achievement of sales targets in line with Sales & Marketing plan
- Optimise sales from current trade and partners and also take every opportunity to develop new business from key trade accounts such as Viator, Get Your Guide and Expedia
- Identify emerging markets and market shifts while being fully aware of new products and competition status
UK & Europe Sales Account Manger
The Travel Corporation
Edinburgh
03.2014 - 04.2017
- Responsible for optimising sales from Agency, Direct and Retail channels throughout the UK by account management, data driven decisions and fast paced technology solutions
- Maintained relationship with strategic accounts such as STA, Flight Centre, Viator, GYG and Expedia. Worked on these accounts at national level negotiating contracts on annual basis in order to support our local reps in market
- Main achievement in this role has been implementing a strong sales strategy, ensuring a buy in from all internal stakeholders and executing the plan with the result being a YOY 35% growth in a particular extended product and YOY 63% growth in tours (GBP region)
- Maintaining a positive representation of the company within industry bodies such as UKInbound, ETAG, Capital Group, Marketing Edinburgh and Visit Scotland
Sales Account Manager
The Scotsman Hotel
Edinburgh
02.2012 - 02.2014
- Managed and developed key relationships for the hotel including corporate and agent bookers
- Proactively developed new contacts and strived to introduce new business to the hotel, as well as chasing lapsed accounts.
- Implemented new sales strategies and creative ideas in order to meet required sales targets. Worked on developing and implementing annual sales strategy with senior managers, Revenue Manager and General Manager
- Arranging and hosting FAM visits with key clients and wider stakeholders
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Entertainment and Events Management
Glasgow Caledonian University
Glasgow 09.2005 - 03.2009
Skills
Client Relationship Management
Strategic Account Development
Revenue Growth and Commercial Acumen
Data Driven Decision Making
Negotiation and Influencing Skills
Campaign Planning & Execution
Stakeholder Collaboration
Portfolio Management
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Business Development Manager
Expedia Group
10.2021 - Current
Account Manager
Expedia Group
07.2020 - 09.2021
Market Manager - Join Expedia Team
Expedia Group
01.2018 - 07.2020
Sales Manager
Mercat Tours
04.2017 - 12.2017
UK & Europe Sales Account Manger
The Travel Corporation
03.2014 - 04.2017
Sales Account Manager
The Scotsman Hotel
02.2012 - 02.2014
Bachelor of Arts - Entertainment and Events Management
Glasgow Caledonian University
09.2005 - 03.2009