Key appointments at YOTEL
YOTEL has appointed Belinda Atkins as senior vice president of global operations and Keir Wingrove as assistant vice president for openings and transitions.
The appointments come after the recent opening of YOTELAIR at Paris Charles de Gaulle and the upcoming openings of YOTEL Boston, YOTEL Singapore Orchard Rd and YOTEL San Francisco later this year.
In 2018/2019 the group will open London (Clerkenwell), Dubai (Business Bay), Miami, Williamsburg (Brooklyn) and YOTELAIR Singapore Changi.
Atkins will be responsible for the company’s global operations including all existing and future YOTEL and YOTELAIR hotels, reporting directly to CEO Hubert Viriot.
She previously held senior positions throughout the hospitality industry, including brand CEO at Amba Hotels and VP of brand operations for the Wyndham Hotel Group.
She will be assisted by Wingrove 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 will be based at YOTEL’s headquarters in London.
YOTEL has also appointed Nikhil Manchharam as managing director of business development for Asia and Jurian Schouwe as vice president of business development for Northern Europe.
Based in Singapore, Manchharam 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 was previously VP of acquisitions and development at Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide.
Schouwe, based in Amsterdam, will focus on growing YOTEL in Northern Europe with an emphasis on key markets including Amsterdam, Brussels, Berlin, Munich, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Zurich.
He previously worked as VP of development at NH Hotels.
In addition to this new position, YOTEL has announced the promotion of Rohan Thakkar to the role of vice president of development focusing on the rest of the EMEA region and based at the London headquarters.
The hotel chain has four YOTELAIR properties – London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Amsterdam Schiphol and Paris CDG and one YOTEL city location in New York.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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