Great Hotels of the World Expanding to the Americas and Appoints Former Leading Hotels Executive Team to Lead the Way

London, United Kingdom, May 24, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Great Hotels of the World (http://www.ghotw.com), one of the fastest growing hotel representation and technology companies in the industry, is expanding into the Americas. The London-based company has established an office in New York and appointed a seasoned team of industry professionals, all of whom are former senior executives with The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd.

Leading the team in the States is Marshall Calder, a 25-year veteran of the industry with vast experience building luxury brands across the globe. Calder is the former Sr. Vice President of Marketing and Brand Management at The Leading Hotels, the founder of The Leading Small Hotels and a former Sr. Vice President of Global Marketing for Preferred Hotel Group. Calder has been appointed Managing Director, The Americas.

Joining Calder is Nicole Lingos Spillane, another industry veteran with over 12 years of experience in both the hospitality and technology sectors. Spillane is the former Senior Director of Brand Marketing for The Leading Hotels of the World, a former Director of Sales for TravelCLICK and Regional Vice President of Sales at HotelRevMax. Spillane’s experience adds depth to Great Hotels’ knowledge base and its position as a leader in marketing and distribution technology.

Great Hotels is particularly pleased to have Paul McManus, who has come out of retirement to serve as Chairman of its newly appointed Advisory Board. McManus is a veritable institution in the hotel industry, best known for guiding The Leading Hotels to its zenith as a global luxury brand. In this newly created position, McManus will guide the worldwide expansion of Great Hotels of the World.

Founded just ten years ago, Great Hotels of the World now ranks as the sixth largest hotel representation company in the world. Great Hotels also owns and operates evolution, which provides an integrated suite of state-of-the-art distribution, yield management and digital marketing systems.

Commenting on what attracted the former Leading Hotels team to Great Hotels, Calder said, “Great Hotels of the World brings a new approach to hotel representation. We have dubbed it 'soft brand 3.0' because our business model goes far beyond the normal purview of other soft brand affiliations. Most soft brands only concern themselves with reservations through their own distribution channels. Great Hotels is different. We dedicate ourselves to increasing business through all hotel distribution channels, including a hotel’s own website, social and mobile channels. Great Hotels is able to do this because we own the technology, the marketing expertise and the vision to make it happen.”

Paul McManus says that the “traditional soft brand model has fully matured. It must evolve in order to provide sustaining value to its members. Great Hotels’ business model is a breath of fresh air. It skillfully blends the best elements of soft brand affiliation with state of the art technology solutions to enhance a hotel’s marketing reach and render distribution simpler, more efficient and less costly.”

Peter Gould, CEO of Great Hotels of the World comments, “We are both delighted and excited to expand our brand into the Americas. With such renowned and well-established figures in the sector leading the team, we have a new model for a sector that has failed to evolve in recent years and I am sure that it will be greeted warmly in the Americas.”