In hotel sales, the numbers are always the first thing anyone sees — occupancy, revenue, targets hit or missed. But behind every closed deal is something the spreadsheet never shows: the years of showing up, the relationships built one handshake at a time, the willingness to start with absolutely nothing. Reza Acibron Macarayon knows this better than most. When she walked into the UAE market in 2012 as a Sales Executive at TIME Ruby Hotel Apartments, she had no network, no business connections, and no shortcuts. What she had was persistence — and a conviction that in sales, trust matters more than any figure on a page.
Thirteen years later, that same conviction has carried her to the top of the sales function at TIME Oak Hotel & Suites, the very hotel where her career in the Emirates took shape.
Starting from zero
The phrase comes up again and again when Reza talks about her early days, and she says it without a trace of bitterness. “One of my biggest challenges when I first came to the UAE was starting from zero,” she recalls. “I had no established network, had to adjust to a new culture and working environment, and needed to prove myself in a highly competitive hospitality industry.”
Her route into the field had begun long before Dubai, though. Back in 1999, she took her first hospitality job at Shangri-La Mactan Resort & Spa in Cebu, working in tele-sales for VIP Club Membership. Two-year stints followed at Cebu City Marriott Hotel and then at Cebu City Waterfront Hotel & Casino, both in club membership sales. It was unglamorous, foundational work — the kind that teaches a young salesperson how to read a client, how to keep a conversation alive, how to turn a cold call into a warm one.
Still, none of that guaranteed anything abroad. The decision to leave the Philippines was deliberate, and it came down to something restless in her. “I wanted to challenge myself, build a better future, and grow professionally in an international environment,” she says. “I saw working overseas as an opportunity to step outside my comfort zone, gain international experience, and prove that I could build a successful career through my own hard work and determination.”
So she built it the only way she knew how — one client at a time. At TIME Ruby, then as Assistant Sales Manager at TIME Oak covering the Jebel Ali area, she developed a niche in corporate, industrial, contracting, and long-stay business. A two-year run as Senior Sales Manager at the Golden Tulip Media Hotel pre-opening, from 2014 to 2016, stretched her further, handing her both corporate and leisure segments and forcing her to shift strategy depending on the market in front of her.
The year everything closed
Then came the return that mattered most. In 2019, she rejoined TIME Oak as Assistant Director of Sales — coming home, in a sense, to where it all started. For a saleswoman who had built her reputation from nothing at that hotel, the homecoming carried real weight. “Returning to the same hotel in a senior leadership position represents more than career progression,” she says. “It reflects a journey of growth, resilience, trust, and proven performance.”
The timing, though, could not have been crueler. Within months, COVID-19 swept through the hospitality industry and left it unrecognizable. Hotels shuttered. Demand collapsed. Across the sector, professionals watched their salaries shrink or vanish entirely.
The former club-membership seller who had once cold-called strangers in Cebu now faced a market with no obvious openings at all. She kept working it anyway. “Despite the uncertainty and many hotels reducing operations or closing, I remained focused on my clients and business opportunities and continued to deliver results,” she says.
The results, in that environment, were startling. She hit her sales target during a period when almost no one was hitting anything — and among the sales team, she was the only member to retain her full salary through the worst of the crisis. For Reza, the number itself was almost beside the point. “It demonstrated that even during a crisis, determination, strong relationships, adaptability, and a positive mindset can create opportunities when the market appears to have none.”
That stretch became the defining chapter of her professional life, less for what it added to her portfolio than for what it settled in her own mind. The pandemic tested her career, she says, but it also confirmed something she had suspected since 2012: that she could deliver under almost any pressure.
What keeps her in the game
Ask her why she has stayed in sales for more than two decades, and the answer has nothing to do with commissions. “I don’t just enjoy selling,” she says. “I enjoy the challenge of winning the business and the relationships that come with it.”
There is a genuine curiosity in the way she describes the work. Every client is a different puzzle, every deal a fresh negotiation. “Every client is different, every opportunity requires a different approach, and there is always something new to learn,” she says. “For me, sales is not simply about selling a room or a service — it is about building trust, finding the right solution, and creating value for the client.”
The payoff she chases isn’t the signature on the contract so much as the arc that leads there. “The most satisfying part of my work is turning a new connection into a trusted relationship and eventually into successful business,” she says. “That is what keeps me passionate about sales after all these years.” The hotel, for her, has always been a place to meet people from other industries, cultures, and backgrounds — and to walk away from each meeting having learned something.
Her promotion to Director of Sales in 2025 formalized what the pandemic years had already proven. Today her brief spans strategic business acquisition, corporate and government accounts, long-stay and food-and-beverage business, market expansion, and sustainable revenue growth — working alongside the hotel’s commercial and operational teams to turn opportunity into measurable results.
The road that leads to Spain
For all her forward momentum, Reza has a clear picture of where the road eventually ends, and it isn’t the Gulf. She wants to retire in Spain — drawn to its culture, climate, and pace of life. There’s a practical logic to the choice, too: as a Filipina, she can pursue Spanish nationality after just two years of legal residence rather than the standard ten. Her plan is to keep building, prepare financially, and eventually trade the intensity of hotel sales for something quieter. “Retirement is not about stopping,” she says. “It is about enjoying the life I have worked hard to build, staying active, and appreciating the opportunities and experiences that life has given me.”
To the kababayans grinding through their own overseas chapters, her counsel is grounded in everything she’s lived. Stay strong, work hard, and never lose your values, she tells them — protect your reputation, manage your money, and choose carefully who you trust. Above all, don’t fear the empty starting line. “I came to the UAE without an established network, but through hard work, persistence, and genuine relationships, I was able to build my career.”
She has watched enough challenges turn into openings to believe the pattern holds for anyone willing to endure it. “When you believe in yourself and never give up,” she says, “every challenge can become a stepping stone to something greater. If I made it, for sure you can do it.”
