The option of franchising a major hotel brand will be the topic of the presentation to be made by Dr. Aris Ikkos during the Athens Hotel Branding Seminar. Based on his expertise in the fields of franchise development and hotel consulting, Dr. Ikkos will elaborate on the practical aspects of brand affiliation through franchise agreements.

This three-day event scheduled for September 22-24, 2005, is organised by TravelDailyNews.com. The objective of the Seminar, the first of its kind to be held in Greece, is to educate hoteliers about the different options of branding their hotels and the alternative choices such as franchising, management contracts or hotel consortia membership.

Dr. Ikkos is General Manager of JBR Business Consultants, member of the Horwath network - Horwath are world leaders in Franchise as well as in Tourism and Hospitality Consulting.

His tourism and hospitality experience includes projects for the positioning and branding of various types of hotels (e.g. 6 star hotel or hotel with facilities for disabled people) and in e-marketing. He is the only Greek member of International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC), a by-invitation-only network of tourism and hospitality consultants with no more than 200 members worldwide.

He was one of the pioneers of franchising in Greece, having organised and chaired the first international franchising conference in Greece in 1992. He has since participated in numerous projects for the desig and development of franchises. He has also made presentations on the Greek franchise market during the International Franchise Association and the International Bar Association conferences.

The Athens Hotel Branding Seminar`s impressive line-up of speakers includes experienced hospitality industry experts such as Berno Feuring of the German consulting firm Feuring Hotelconsult, Sven Gade of Dubai-based Middle East Strategy Advisors and Marco Peter Nijhof, Director of Operations & Development at Serena Hotels, a division of the Aga Khan Fund for Economical Development. Dr. Dimitris Koutoulas, Tourism and Hospitality Consultant and Lecturer at the Greek Open University, is the Scientific Chair of the event.

The Athens Hotel Branding Seminar is organised by Travel Daily News, the leading and most influential tourism industry publication of Greece. Travel Daily News produces a daily e-newsletter both in Greek for the Greek and Cypriot markets TravelDailyNews Greece & Cyprus (http://www.traveldailynews.gr) and in English TravelDailyNews International (http://www.traveldailynews.com) for the International market. The Greek edition is read daily by 8,000 senior travel and hospitality professionals. The readership of the international edition is even larger, with 15,000 professionals from throughout the world receiving the daily e-newsletter. Travel Daily News also operates a separate consumer site and e-newsletter aimed at the Greek public under the travelforall.gr brand.

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