‘These are exciting times for YOTEL and the acquisition of these industry talents to our team is testament to the strength and attraction of the YOTEL brand in the industry’, YOTEL CEO, Hubert Viriot commented.
SINGAPORE – Following the recent opening of YOTELAIR at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and the upcoming openings of YOTEL Boston, YOTEL Singapore Orchard Rd and YOTEL San Francisco in 2017, YOTEL, the affordable luxury hotel brand has announced the appointments of Ms. Belinda Atkins as Senior Vice President of Global Operations and Mr. Keir Wingrove as Assistant Vice President for Openings and Transitions.
In this newly established role, Belinda will be responsible for the company’s global operations including all existing and future YOTEL and YOTELAIR hotels, reporting directly to Hubert Viriot, CEO of YOTEL. Belinda previously held senior positions throughout the hospitality industry, including Brand CEO at Amba Hotels and Vice President of Brand Operations for the Wyndham Hotel Group. Belinda will be assisted by Keir whose main focus will be to manage and co-ordinate the pre-opening and transition programme, managing support for all new YOTEL hotels under development. Both Belinda and Keir will be based at YOTEL’s headquarters in London.
YOTEL CEO, Hubert Viriot commented: “We are thrilled to have Belinda on our team as Senior Vice President of Global Operations. Her wealth of experience, industry knowledge and leadership skills will be essential to lead our recently appointed and future General Managers with the direct support from our HQ functional teams. We are also delighted to welcome Keir in such an important role, preparing for the openings of multiple new hotels in the US, Europe and Asia.”
Furthermore, to capitalize on the openings of these new flagship properties and further expand the company’s rapidly growing hotel portfolio, YOTEL announced the appointments of Mr. Nikhil Manchharam as Managing Director of Business Development for Asia and Mr. Jurian Schouwe as Vice President of Business Development for Northern Europe.
Based in Singapore, Nikhil will oversee the sourcing of new opportunities and develop the YOTEL and YOTELAIR brand throughout Asia, as well as manage relationships with investment partners in the region. He joins YOTEL from his position as Vice President of Acquisitions and Development at Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide.
Jurian, based in Amsterdam, will focus on growing YOTEL in Northern Europe with an emphasis on key markets such as Amsterdam, Brussels, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Vienna and Zurich. He previously worked as Vice President of Development at NH Hotels. In addition to this new position YOTEL announced the promotion of Mr. Rohan Thakkar to the role of Vice President of Development focusing on the rest of the EMEA region and based at the London headquarters.
Hubert continued: “We are currently in a position where we are experiencing global expansion at an unprecedented pace, it is therefore fantastic to welcome Nikhil and Jurian as part of our global development team and further expand our pipeline in Asia and Europe.
These are exciting times for YOTEL and the acquisition of these industry talents to our team is testament to the strength and attraction of the YOTEL brand in the industry.”
The tech-centric hotel chain has four YOTELAIR properties – London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Amsterdam Schiphol and Paris CDG and one YOTEL city location in New York. In 2017 YOTEL will open 3 new city centre hotels in Boston, Singapore and San Francisco, followed in 2018/2019 with London (Clerkenwell), Dubai (Business Bay), Miami, Williamsburg (Brooklyn) and YOTELAIR Singapore Changi.
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