Job SummaryThe Senior Manager, Client Relations leads the day-to-day relationship management of priority guests and helps operationalize The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection's luxury clienteling strategy. The role ensures high-value and high-potential guests receive personalized, coordinated, and thoughtful engagement across the sales journey and between voyages. Combining commercial instinct with exceptional discretion and service judgment, the Senior Manager develops relationships, identifies opportunities to deepen engagement, coordinates complex needs, and ensures relevant guest intelligence is captured and activated. The role also helps establish consistent client-relations standards, coaches team members, and partners across Sales, Marketing, Guest Experience, and yacht operations to create genuine connections that strengthen loyalty and lifetime value.
Essential Functions - Manage and develop relationships with an assigned portfolio of priority, high-value, and high-potential guests in accordance with the client-development strategy.
- Create individualized relationship plans using guest preferences, booking history, engagement, travel interests, and relevant relationship intelligence.
- Conduct proactive, personalized outreach before, between, and after voyages to strengthen engagement, identify future travel opportunities, and support rebooking.
- Coordinate with Sales to ensure commercial opportunities are handled seamlessly and with appropriate ownership and follow-through.
- Respect and protect travel advisor relationships, coordinating with Trade Sales when a priority guest is represented by an advisor.
- Partner with Guest Experience and yacht teams to ensure appropriate recognition, preference awareness, special arrangements, and continuity for priority guests.
- Handle sensitive or complex client situations with discretion, urgency, sound judgment, and appropriate escalation.
- Maintain accurate, useful, and compliant CRM records, relationship notes, preferences, follow-up commitments, and next actions.
- Support curated client events, experiences, gifting, surprise-and-delight moments, and other relationship-building initiatives within approved guidelines.
- Track portfolio health and KPIs including engagement, repeat booking, reactivation, referrals, retention, and incremental revenue.
- Identify emerging client needs, service gaps, and commercial opportunities and share insights with Client Development leadership.
- Help develop client-relations playbooks, service standards, templates, and best practices.
- Coach and support Client Relations team members as assigned and contribute to a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
- Protect guest confidentiality and comply with data privacy, consent, and information-security requirements.
Other Duties Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Functions, duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.
Competency Education: Bachelor's degree in Hospitality, Business, Marketing, Communications, or related field preferred; equivalent luxury relationship-management experience considered.
Experience: - 7+ years of experience in luxury hospitality, client relations, clienteling, luxury sales, concierge, guest relations, private client services, or a comparable high-touch environment.
- Demonstrated success developing long-term relationships with discerning or high-value clients.
- Experience with CRM systems and disciplined relationship documentation.
- Luxury travel, cruise, yachting, private aviation, luxury retail, wealth/private client service, or five-star hospitality experience strongly preferred.
- Prior supervisory or team-lead experience preferred.
Skills: - Exceptional emotional intelligence, discretion, judgment, and relationship-building ability.
- Commercially aware without being transactional; able to identify opportunities while preserving trust.
- Highly personalized communication style with strong written and verbal skills.
- Meticulous follow-through and ability to coordinate complex requests across multiple stakeholders.
- Calm, resourceful, and solution-oriented when handling sensitive situations.
- Strong CRM discipline and comfort using guest insight and data responsibly.
- Embodies Candor, Care, Curiosity, and Connection in every interaction.
Work Environment Primarily office-based/hybrid role in a professional environment with regular use of computers, collaboration technology, and standard office equipment. The role requires effective collaboration with global shoreside and shipboard teams and may include visits to yacht operations, industry events, partner locations, or other company facilities.
Physical Demands Requires sitting, standing, walking, bending, and reaching. May require lifting or pushing up to 25 pounds. Requires manual dexterity sufficient to operate standard office machines such as computers, presentation equipment, telephones, and other office equipment.
Expected Hours of Work The position is full-time and may require evening or weekend availability for priority client needs and events. Domestic and international travel, including yacht visits, is expected up to approximately 15%.