Laura Lotz
Laura Lotz is a seasoned hospitality sales and revenue leader with approximately 30 years of experience building a progressive career from front-line sales roles to executive leadership positions. She began her journey in the hospitality industry in early sales roles, including work with the American Diabetes Association, and steadily advanced through increasingly senior positions with respected organizations such as Moody National Companies and luxury hospitality brands including The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Over the course of her career, she has built a strong reputation for driving revenue growth, strengthening client relationships, and leading high-performing sales organizations across multi-property portfolios.
Throughout her leadership tenure, Laura has served in senior roles including Vice President of Sales and Revenue and Corporate Director of Sales and Revenue, where she oversaw large-scale hotel portfolios and guided regional and property-level sales teams. She has partnered closely with ownership groups, brand leaders, and revenue management teams to develop disciplined pricing strategies, improve forecasting accuracy, and enhance overall market performance. Known for her ability to build structure and accountability within sales organizations, she has consistently delivered strong results, earned recognition for meeting and exceeding sales goals, and helped strengthen portfolio-wide revenue performance.
Today, Laura is equally focused on active sales leadership and mentorship, which she considers the most meaningful part of her career. While she continues to perform in revenue-generating roles, she is especially passionate about developing and mentoring the next generation of sales leaders, helping directors grow into regional and above-property positions. She finds fulfillment in seeing her mentees achieve their goals and advance their careers, viewing their success as her greatest professional achievement. Having reached her goal of working within both brand and management company environments, she remains dedicated to leadership, with a continued interest in expanding her impact within the hospitality industry while maintaining her focus on coaching, team development, and long-term organizational success.
• Saint Joseph's University - BS, Health Administration
• Jimmy Buffett Parrot Head Club
What do you attribute your success to?
I had really good mentors as I was coming up in the industry. My very first mentor at the American Diabetes Association just saw something in me and mentored me, so I grew in hospitality there for several years. Then when I got to Moody National Companies, my mentor there gave me freedom to make choices and decisions, but nothing that I would kind of hang myself with. I was able to use my creativity and my independence to grow the sales team and do things the way I wanted to, let my personality come out. Having those mentors that trusted me and guided me, but were also so firm when they needed to be, like 'okay, maybe you shouldn't have done that, next time let's do this' - that was so important. They made me feel good and accomplished. Once I got in the industry, I rarely had to interview to get my next steps or my next jobs. It was just offered to me, people would reach out and say they'd like to talk to me about an opportunity. I also learned from situations where I saw people and they taught me what not to do or how not to be. I'd store that away and think 'yeah, that's not how I want to lead.' Knowing how not to be is important too.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
You gotta love it. You gotta be a little thick-skinned, because it's hard now. Really, since the pandemic and since things have changed with revenue management and how things are looked upon, you still have to remember the heart of it. You have to remember we're there to serve people. You may not be completely forward guest-facing in what we do as a salesperson, but you still have to remember to help those around you provide that hospitality. Guests are spending a lot of money to come to your location and be there, either for business, so you want to make it feel good for them because they're away from home and away from family, or if they are on vacation or leisure, you want to make it nice for them. You just have to remember why you're going into hospitality - to serve. Everyone in the building is selling, and everyone is making the experience for the guests.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Family first. Over the past few years I've worked on being intentional about that, despite the demands of what I'm doing. God and family and relationships are very important to keep your center. And just being kind. You don't know what someone's dealing with on the other side. In my role too, I try not to assume people either know more than I think they do or know less. I just try to ask the right questions to make sure I don't make someone feel small, or inadequate, or not smart. Just being kind - a little bit of kindness goes a long way.