Best Holiday Lettings

Tag: chief executive officer

  • News: Royal Demeure Hotel Group singlas growth with investment

    Royal Demeure Hotel Group has opened new offices in Belgravia, London, moving its headquarters from Rome and appointing a brand new senior team to guide the Italian luxury hotel group.

    The company’s investment in a London-based headquarters demonstrates its desire and commitment for growth and investment, that specialize in boutique luxury hotels.  Because the luxury travel and hospitality industry continues to grow, the Royal Demeure team intends to capitalise in this trend, developing the emblem and future focus and building at the reputation of the famous Hotel d’Inghilterra in Rome whilst also watching opportunities for future expansion and investment in all the six properties that make up the gang of hotels.

    Part of TDA Capital Ltd, a non-public Italian-owned investment company that specialises in luxury hospitality, Royal Demeure is headed up by TDA Capital Group Chief Executive Officer Professor Luigi De Simone Niquesa, who has moved from Rome to be based in London. His newly appointed team includes Group Sales & Marketing Director Greg Ward, Chief Financial Officer Colin Castelino, and Marketing & Communications Manager Charlotte Gray.

    With an in depth and successful career in luxury hospitality, CEO Luigi De Simone Niquesa has held loads of hospitality industry and academic leadership roles including President of the Institute for Tourism Marketing and Research, President of UNICA (Union of Italian Hotel Chains), and Executive Advisor/Council Member of Federalberghi-Confcommercio (the leading association of hotels in Italy).

    Colin Castelino was appointed as Chief Financial Officer. With a successful career in finance Castelino spent 11 years with Deloittes before joining the Cliveden Group, where he took the company’s luxury hotel and clubs to an entire listing at the London Stock Exchange and eventual successful sale. He has also worked with Pacific Investments Ltd and ahead of TDA Capital Ltd was Financial Director for the ESPA Group.

    Charlotte Gray joins the hotel group as Marketing & Communications Manager. Gray has spent the past eight years with the historic Pall Mall private members’ club, The Royal Automobile Club and Singaporean-owned 5* COMO Hotels & Resorts.

    Greg Ward is the newly appointed Group Sales & Marketing Director and has an in depth international background with an emphasis on luxury sales & marketing.  Ward has held quite a few senior positions with international companies during his 20-year career, including Westin Hotels & Resorts, Rafael Hotels and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. More recently, Ward has hung out with Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, the von Essen hotel Collection and Clarenco.

    Greg Ward, Group Sales & Marketing Director said: “I’m thrilled to be working for such an iconic group of hotels as Royal Demeure. Situated in cultural capitals like Rome and Florence, each property has many individual qualities, which i glance forward to highlighting for the advantage of travellers searching for a very memorable luxurious experience, Additionally, with plans for future growth and investment, it really is an incredibly exciting time to enroll in the corporate.”

    CEO Luigi De Simone Niquesa said:  “We have created a dynamic and experienced new team with the intention to lead us during the next stages of our development plans. The experience in luxury customer experiences and robust commercial background that every new team member brings makes them instrumental in developing and shaping the expansion of the hotel group. They join us at a time after we want to strengthen the collection’s positioning in the industry.”

  • IHG plans major expansion in Russia

    IHG has signed a franchise multiple development agreement (MDA) with Regional Hotel Chain to develop 15 new hotels in Russia by 2019, which, when open, will double the dimensions of IHG’s estate there because it stands today, and could introduce the vacation Inn Express brand to the region for the primary time.

    The 15 new Holiday Inn Express hotels will add approximately 2,250 rooms, when signed, to IHG’s current Russia development pipeline of over 1,700 rooms (5 hotels).

    The locations for the 1st two of those hotels are Chelyabinsk and Voronezh. Holiday Inn Express Voronezh – Kirova is because of open within the second 1/2 2014 and

    Holiday Inn Express Chelyabinsk – Central Station, is scheduled to open in summer 2015.

    IHG’s chief executive officer, Europe, Angela Brav said:  “This is a breakthrough for IHG in Russia. It marks the debut of the vacation Inn Express brand there and, when the hotels open we’ll have doubled the scale of our system because it stands in Russia today, creating a significant step towards our ambition to be market leaders.”

    The Holiday Inn Express brand is designed to be the smart choice for value-conscious business and leisure travellers.

    IHG previously announced plans to have 100 hotels across Russia and the rest of the CIS open and within the pipeline by 2020.

    The company said it’s going to work with local investors to introduce managed and franchised hotels around the country, where there’s a need for internationally branded hotels.  Its expansion would be driven by growth in regional centres and new fast-growing cities with well-established business communities and tourist attractions.

    IHG has 13 hotels (3,894 rooms) open in Russia, with another 5 hotels (1,773 rooms) within the pipeline with a purpose to open inside the next 3 to five years.

  • News: IHG plans major expansion in Russia

    IHG has signed a franchise multiple development agreement (MDA) with Regional Hotel Chain to develop 15 new hotels in Russia by 2019, which, when open, will double the scale of IHG’s estate there because it stands today, and can introduce the vacation Inn Express brand to the region for the 1st time.

    The 15 new Holiday Inn Express hotels will add approximately 2,250 rooms, when signed, to IHG’s current Russia development pipeline of over 1,700 rooms (5 hotels).

    The locations for the primary two of those hotels are Chelyabinsk and Voronezh. Holiday Inn Express Voronezh – Kirova is because of open within the second half 2014 and

    Holiday Inn Express Chelyabinsk – Central Station, is scheduled to open in summer 2015.

    IHG’s chief executive officer, Europe, Angela Brav said:  “This is a breakthrough for IHG in Russia. It marks the debut of the vacation Inn Express brand there and, when the hotels open we shall have doubled the dimensions of our system because it stands in Russia today, creating a significant step towards our ambition to be market leaders.”

    The Holiday Inn Express brand is designed to be the smart choice for value-conscious business and leisure travellers.

    IHG previously announced plans to have 100 hotels across Russia and the rest of the CIS open and inside the pipeline by 2020.

    The company said it’ll work with local investors to introduce managed and franchised hotels around the country, where there’s a need for internationally branded hotels.  Its expansion shall be driven by growth in regional centres and new fast-growing cities with well-established business communities and tourist attractions.

    IHG has 13 hotels (3,894 rooms) open in Russia, with another 5 hotels (1,773 rooms) within the pipeline so that it will open within the next 3 to five years.

  • News: Pegasus reports surge in corporate bookings

    Corporations welcomed the brand new year by booking more travel, in step with Pegasus Solutions, the one largest processor of electronic hotel transactions. After holding steady at 2011 levels in December 2012, January 2013 surged ahead with booking gains of nearly +8% for the worldwide corporate market, a performance that was exceeded within the leisure sector.

    Accompanying global growth in reservations, rates paid by corporate travelers increased by +2.1% over prior year. In North America, corporate bookings climbed +5.4% over 2012 as rates grew slightly more by +2.3%. However, business travel showed probably the most significant improvement over prior year outside North America, where growth was fueled by Asia. Reservations for all other regions combined surpassed 2012 by +11.2%, as rates inched +1.0%.

    “We began 2012 heralding a climb in global corporate and leisure rates, despite a lull in booking volumes for both channels,” said David Millili, chief executive officer of Pegasus Solutions.

    “But in 2013, we’ve seen growth in bookings and rates for both corporate and leisure segments. Companies were anxious to get to business in January, while some consumers rallied for brand new Year’s, and others made the foremost of more cost-effective off-peak travel. The important question was which hotels positioned rates to harvest probably the most make the most of those bookings that came through a various range of channels.” Added David.

    Leisure bookings, that are those made predominantly through online channels, including mobile, also delivered a slight rate increase of +1.8% over 2012 in January. North America saw volumes grow significantly by +9.8% as rates delivered gains of +4.6%. Elsewhere, bookings moved from a dramatic drop of -10.8% in December 2012 to coming within -2.7% of prior year in January. Rates also narrowed the distance against prior year from -6.4% in December 2012 to within -2.5% of last year in January.

    Looking forward, global corporate bookings are expected to continue strong growth over 2012 into May, though at more moderate margins for many months. These bookings show rates will deliver marginal growth through March, potentially softening in April and can against prior year. Leisure bookings will likely sustain January’s momentum through March, perhaps easing in April but possibly approaching gains of +10% over prior year in May.

    Data reported by Pegasus Solutions comes from billions of transactions processed monthly for almost 100,000 hotels, facilitating greater than $16 billion a year. The Pegasus View, produced quarterly, is the only real industry report back to reflect data drawn from both GDS and ADS transactions, representing the business and leisure markets respectively. Pegasus’ recently introduced PegasusView Market Performance business intelligence is a monthly reporting product augmenting the worldwide data provided quarterly within the Pegasus View.

  • Air Seychelles and Seychelles Tourism Board ink deal

    Air Seychelles and the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) geared toward increasing Seychelles’ visibility all over the world by leveraging the airline’s expanding international network and growing collection of airline partners.

    The agreement was signed by Cramer Ball, Air Seychelles’ Chief Executive Officer, and Mrs. Elsia Grandcourt, STB’s Chief Executive Officer, at a ceremony held on the Ministry of Tourism and Culture on the National Library building, within the presence of Minister for Tourism and Culture, Alain St. Ange; Minister for Home Affairs and Transport, Joel Morgan; and Principal Secretary for Tourism, Sherin Naiken.

    Under the recent agreement, both parties will jointly explore how you can interact to advertise Seychelles around the globe, providing more opportunities for visiting journalists, travel agents, and tour operators.

    Mrs. Grandcourt said: “I am grateful we’ve been ready to sign this MOU today which reaffirms our engagement with the national carrier in promoting the Seychelles destination. We’ve already been working very closely together, and that i believe with this signing today, we will only take a look at more positive things one day.”

    Cramer Ball said the airline’s expanding international schedule and partnership strategy could be a key enabler of boosting tourism and contributing to the growing diversification of tourists arriving to Seychelles.

    “This is a thrilling time for Air Seychelles. We’ve had an immense year. We took delivery of our first Airbus A330-200 last year, and next week we’re going to welcome our second. We’re trying to expand our network to over 750 destinations weekly to and from Seychelles. We see great opportunities in markets like Hong Kong, Greater China, Europe, South East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa. All year long we can be expanding our airline partnerships and expanding our links to those destinations.”

    “The signing of this MOU, our partnership with STB, is key to the way forward for how we recommend Seychelles around the globe. This new bond is a huge section of the way forward for Air Seychelles, and we’re delighted.”

    Minister St. Ange added: “The Ministry of Tourism and STB have always been committed to the national airline, and formalizing this agreement today ties our two organizations together and provides us an exceptional way forward to interact. We’re enthusiastic of the support being offered by the Air Seychelles within the marketing of the destination, which remains the core role of the STB. We shall work hand in hand with the hot Air Seychelles and its partners, similar to airberlin, and people to come back, who’re opening up new avenues and opportunities for Seychelles, because the world continues to diversify.”

    Minister Morgan said: “Today marks a vital moment for Seychelles. This agreement not just reflects the goodwill and motivation of the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Tourism and STB to interact however it presents the chance for a brand new synergy in going forward in relation to our planning between tourism and transport sectors for the continuing development of Seychelles as a tourism destination. i need to claim thanks to everyone at who worked so hard to make this event happened today. Air Seychelles today has taken on a completely new dimension. We’ve access to an enormous variety of destinations through our partnership with Etihad Airways, but additionally in our own right as an airline, and we are going to seek more partnerships in Africa, South East Asia, Europe, and Eastern Europe.”

    Minister Morgan added that this new agreement will guarantee the ongoing development of this industry that’s so vital for the economy of Seychelles and its people.

    “The relationship that exists between Air Seychelles, STB, and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and Ministry of Home Affairs and Transport has now attained a brand new and better level of collaboration, and henceforth we are going to see an enhanced product for the selling of Seychelles,” Minister Morgan said.