Rochelle Triplett

I've been in the hospitality industry for nearly 30 years, and my journey here actually started by accident. I went to school to be an accountant and was doing sales for AT&T part-time while working for Coca-Cola. Because I was the top sales manager there, someone referred me to Marriott, saying I was good at sales. That's how I came into hospitality, and I just continued to progress and get promoted. The majority of my career has been as an account manager in national sales, where I would travel to different cities and states to showcase our hotels to customers. After having a child, I couldn't travel as much anymore since I already had kids, so I transitioned to my current role. Now, as a Senior Sales Manager, I have a goal of $2.5 million a year to build for the hotel. I work with customers who come into the hotel, visit with them, give them tours of everything they're looking for, accommodate their needs, and walk them through what we have to offer. Then I handle all the contracting and negotiation. I've achieved President Circle recognition and have enjoyed working with larger accounts who host meetings in several different cities on a national level. Looking ahead to the next five years, I'm actually looking to retire and possibly start my own business in meeting planning, where I would be on the other side of the coin - instead of booking and contracting meetings, I would be the person sending meetings to the hotels and assisting customers who need to host a meeting.