Senior Reservationist

Wild Dreams Hospitality; White River; On-site; ZAR 360,000 - 480,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Live-out position

Job summary

Wild Dreams Hospitality in White River, Mpumalanga, seeks a hands-on senior Reservations Manager to establish and maintain an efficient central reservations function, oversee daily booking activity, and support a Reservations and Sales Consultant.

This role combines reservations expertise, sales ability, and team leadership within a luxury lodge environment, with weekend standby and office duties in White River.

Qualifications

• Proven senior reservations experience within luxury lodges or central reservations.
• Strong reservations system skills and commercial awareness.
• Excellent written communication with attention to detail.
• Accurate calculation of quotations, deposits and balances.

Responsibilities

• Manage direct, travel agent, and DMC enquiries from quotation to booking.
• Maintain rates, availability and guest records across properties.
• Calculate quotations, commissions, deposits, and balances accurately and timely.
• Manage provisional bookings, amendments and cancellations within policy.
• Coordinate with lodge teams for seamless guest handovers.
• Guide and support the reservations team, prioritise workloads and maintain service standards.
• Provide regular reporting on booking activity and sales performance.

Skills

Senior reservations

Reservations system

Commercial awareness

Written communication

Quotation calculations

Independent work

Team supervision

Booking conversion

Workload prioritisation

Weekend standby

Job description

This is a hands-on senior role reporting to the Sales and Marketing Manager. The successful candidate will help establish and maintain an efficient central reservations function, oversee daily booking activity, and support a Reservations and Sales Consultant. The role requires a strong combination of reservations expertise, sales ability, and team leadership within a luxury lodge environment.

Core Criteria

• Proven senior reservations experience, preferably within luxury safari lodges, a lodge collection, or a central reservations environment
• Strong reservations system skills and solid commercial awareness
• Excellent written communication skills with careful attention to detail
• Ability to calculate quotations, commissions, deposits, and outstanding balances accurately
• Comfortable working independently and supervising daily reservations activity
• Strong ability to convert enquiries into confirmed bookings while maintaining accurate financial and operational records
• Ability to guide, support, and prioritise workloads within a small reservations team
• Comfortable with weekend and after-hours standby on a rotational basis
• Office-based in White River; daily attendance required

Core Responsibilities

• Manage direct, travel agent, and DMC enquiries from initial quotation through to booking confirmation
• Maintain accurate rates, availability, booking records, and guest information across both properties
• Calculate quotations, commissions, deposits, and outstanding balances accurately and timeously
• Manage provisional bookings, follow-ups, amendments, and cancellations within approved policies
• Coordinate with lodge teams to ensure complete and accurate guest handovers
• Guide and support the reservations team, prioritise workloads, and maintain service standards
• Provide regular reporting on booking activity, sales performance, and outstanding enquiries

Remuneration & Benefits

• Live-out position, office-based in White River
• Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 16:30
• Weekend and after-hours standby on a rotational basis