Hotel industry veteran
Don Fennerty is bringing his years of hotel industry experience to Accent Inns,
Inc., British Columbia’s fastest growing independent hotel chain, as vice-president of operations. Returning to Victoria,
Fennerty will lead the team of general managers in day-to-day operations for
both the Accent Inns value brand across B.C., and the daring Hotel ZED division, which
operates in Victoria, Kelowna, and opening soon in Tofino. Fennerty has more than 25
years of hospitality experience, including nearly 15 years with the Fairmont
Hotels & Resorts chain at cornerstone properties in Washington, D.C.,
Edmonton, Calgary, and Victoria. Hiring a hotel
veteran like Fennerty is a classic move by Mandy Farmer, CEO of Accent Inns, who
strongly believes in building a team of experts.
Radisson Hotel Group
has announced the appointment of Kristen Richter as vice-president of revenue optimization in the Americas. In this role, Richter will drive the overall revenue optimization vision and strategies in the Americas, working closely
with global partners to define new best practices.
Prior to joining Radisson Hotel Group, Richter
spent 11 years leading the global revenue management department for Wyndham
Hotels & Resorts, where she oversaw all facets of revenue management.
During her time heading the department, Richter led the re-engineering and
re-launch of the franchise revenue management service program and directed the
creation of the strategic promotions program. She has also held leadership
positions at Hilton and Avis Budget Group, where she was responsible for
driving top-line revenue for portfolios of hotels and car rental
locations.
Adam Laker, the newly appointed general manager of Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, has moved up in the world — to the northern hemisphere for the first time in his career. Born in the U.K., he moved as a teen with his family to Australia and has worked in swoon-worthy destinations for the past 25 years. Laker arrives just in time to start plans for hotel's 80th anniversary in 2019. He will also oversee the Fairmont Gold floor renovations – the last of the $55+ million makeover at the “castle in the city” that is restoring the hotel to a new era of luxury. In 2003, Laker became general manager of the Stamford Grand Hotel in Adelaide; two years later he joined Sofitel Gold Coast and in 2006 became general manager of Sofitel Reef Casino in Cairns, Australia. Following the devastation of the tsunami, Laker moved to Thailand and was responsible for the construction and opening of the beachside J.W. Marriott Resort & Spa Khao Lak. In 2010, he rejoined Accor as general manager of Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa in the Fiji Islands and was transferred to Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila, Philippines as general manager before being appointed to Accor area general manager for the Philippines.
Hotelbeds Group, the world’s leading bedbank and business-to-business provider of services to the travel industry globally, has provided a further update on the appointment of senior management positions across its group.
Lauren Volcheff Atlass has been appointed the regional director of wholesale sales for the whole of the Americas, reporting directly to Sam Turner, the wholesale sales and sourcing director with global responsibility. In this role, she will be responsible for managing relationships and driving growth with wholesale clients, including tour operators, airlines, points redemption schemes, online travel agents, and re-sellers. Previously, Atlass had been with Tourico Holidays for over 10 years and was most recently the Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing. Tourico joined Hotelbeds Group in the summer of 2017.
The Group has additionally confirmed the regional management positions that will report into Atlass, combining the best talent from across the three bedbanks, Tourico Holidays, GTA, and Hotelbeds. Deborah Kenton will be the regional manager for North America – East, Sevil Arnavutoglu Le will cover North America – West, Emmanuel Labstida has been appointed to Central Latin America, and Alexandre Vanzella for Latin America – South, all as regional managers; meanwhile Lev Koutamonov will take the role of regional manager of client technical solutions in the Americas.
Cyrus Cooper has joined Centennial College School of Hospitality,
Tourism and Culinary Arts as Professor and Program Coordinator for the Hotel,
Resort and Restaurant Management Graduate Certificate.
This summer Cyrus was
instrumental in helping the College launch the “How to Create a Positive and
Inclusive Workplace” program in partnership with Restaurants Canada.
Cyrus was most recently director of food and beverage operations for Pusateri’s
Fine Foods and previously director of F&B at the Granite Club in
Toronto. Prior to that he worked at Oliver & Bonacini Restaurants
including Auberge du Pommier, O&B Café Grill and Jump Restaurant all before
becoming director of restaurant operations for the brand.