New roles for the industry’s movers and shakers
Aiana Hotels & Resorts LLC
Aiana Hotels & Resorts LLC has appointed Murlidhar Rao as senior vice president, operations. Based out of the Qatar Financial Centre in Doha, Qatar, he will utilise his 30 years of expertise in hotel operations, project development, renovation, pre-opening processes and owner relations to support the brand’s growth strategy. His last project was The Sanchaya in Bintan, Indonesia. He holds a first class honours diploma in Hotel Management from Bombay’s Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition and an Honours Certification for Intermediate Level of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points).
Courtyard by Marriott, Gurgaon
Courtyard by Marriott, Gurgaon has appointed Chef Deepak Yadav as the new pastry chef for the hotel. He will be responsible for the overall bakery and confectionary section of the hotel ensuring quality and excellence in the department. He holds a Diploma in Bakery & Confectionary from Centaur Hotel, New Delhi and has worked with quality hotels and restaurants such as Courtyard by Marriott, Kuwait City, Marriott Jaipur and SETz at DLF Emporio Delhi.
JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar
Chef Amitesh Virdi has been appointed as the executive sous chef at JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar. Chef Virdi began his culinary journey in 1999. With 14 years of experience in the industry, he brings to the table, his expertise in kitchen operation, deployment and training, equipment planning, F&B standard operating procedures and understanding and implementing food safety compliances. Prior to this appointment, he served as executive sous chef at Grand Hyatt, Mumbai.
Brigade Hospitality Services
Brigade Hospitality Services has appointed Jyoti Dogra as its new head of marketing with immediate effect. She will be responsible for promoting and advertising all brands directly under the parent brand with a major focus on convention centres, clubs, industrial catering, club resort and a soon to be launched baking venture. Prior to this, she worked with The Mövenpick Hotel & Spa Bangalore, where she was the director of the MICE segment. Prior to this, she was a part of the pre-opening team of The Ibis & Novotel Techpark Hotel Bangalore and also headed the north Mumbai sales for The Leela Hotel in Mumbai.
Le Cordon Bleu School of Hospitality at G D Goenka University
Prof Tharakan has been appointed as the dean of Le Cordon Bleu School of Hospitality at G D Goenka University, NCR, New Delhi. He has been actively involved with the research education and training for the past 35 years in various capacities at Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Manipal and abroad. He was awarded the fellowship of the prestigious Institute of Hospitality, UK (FIH) in 2001 and is a member of the Royal Society of Health, (MRSH).UK. He has triple Masters in marketing, tourism administration, philosophy and also pursuing the Doctoral Degree in hospitality and tourism.
Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi
Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi has appointed Aditya Singh as director for sales and marketing, who will be spearheading the room sales, catering sales, marketing and revenue divisions in addition to building and honing a dynamic sales team. Recently, he was associated with Kempenski Ambience Hotel, Delhi as director of sales and marketing. Prior to that he also headed sales and marketing for properties like The Grand, JW Marriott (Chandigarh), Hyatt Regency Delhi, etc.
Ascott
Myla Caceres has been appointed by Ascott as director of sales and marketing for its Thailand properties. Caceres has over 20 years of experience working with numerous hotels in the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Prior to joining Ascott, she was director of sales and marketing for Dusit Thani Bangkok. She has completed her Bachelor of Science in Hotel & Restaurant Management from La Consolacion College, Mendiola Manila, Philippines and Master of Communication Arts in Public Relations from Bangkok University, Thailand.
New World Saigon Hotel
New World Saigon Hotel has appointed Miguel de Melo as director of food and beverage. With over 15 years’ professional experience in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and United States, Melo speaks six languages – Portuguese, English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. Before joining New World Saigon Hotel, Melo held a variety of positions, such as director of food and beverage, assistant director of food and beverage, consultant and assistant operation manager, and spent the last eight years working with a range of international groups, such as Hyatt, Hilton and Starwood.
Anantara Vacation Club
Anantara Vacation Club has appointed Ivy Chee as director of marketing alliances – travel and leisure and Paul Lim as director of marketing alliances. In her new role, Chee will seek out new opportunities for Anantara Vacation Club to develop partnerships with travel agencies, tour operators, attractions, luxury travel networks and others. She will also work to evolve Anantara Vacation Club’s dynamic digital platform. Lim will be based out of Anantara Vacation Club’s corporate office in Bangkok. Lim has more than ten years of industry experience developing strategic affiliate marketing programmes and partnerships, most recently with the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.
Sabre
Sabre has appointed Hani Joakim as senior vice president of hospitality solutions product development. Joakim has been with Sabre for 19 years, serving Sabre Airline Solutions in a senior technology leadership role for the last eight years. He was most recently vice president of the e-commerce digital platform and technology services for Sabre Airline Solutions. In support of Sabre Hospitality Solutions, he will serve as the technology lead for large-scale hotel migrations to the SynXis Enterprise Platform. Prior to joining Sabre, he was with Air Canada, where he led several large software development initiatives.
Etihad Airways
Etihad Airways has appointed Sajida Ismail as vice president service and hospitality. Ismail will be responsible for the design of Etihad Airways’ signature service at all customer touch points. She will also be responsible for the development of training standards for all staff working inflight and at airports, lounges, and crew training centres. Prior to joining Etihad Airways in 2007, Ismail worked for Gulf Air for 20 years.