Who’s Where in Travel: Asian Hotel Hires, Celestyal Adds BDMs

Park Hyatt Tokyo has announced the appointment of Fredrik Harfors as general manager. In his new role, Harfors oversees operations of the 177-room hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Harfors knows Hyatt Hotels well after 22 years of experience with the brand, starting his career at Hyatt Regency Chicago and moving to Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt properties in Hong Kong, Sydney, Vietnam and China. In 2016, he headed the pre-opening phase of Park Hyatt Bangkok as hotel manager before being appointed GM of Park Hyatt Jakarta from its pre-opening in 2017 until his move to Tokyo.

Hervé Mazella has been named the managing director of Andaz Bali and Hyatt Regency Bali. In his new role, he oversees the operations of 512 rooms, seven restaurants and nine meeting rooms across the two resorts. Born in southeastern France into a hospitality family, Mazella studied hospitality management at École Hôtelière et de Tourisme Paul Augier in Nice. He has held roles in front desk, F&B, event sales, event and hotel operations and management roles with Relais & Châteaux and and Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts in France, the U.K. and Egypt. He joined Hyatt in 2012. Prior to joining Andaz Bali and Hyatt Regency Bali, Hervé was the GM of Park Hyatt Tokyo from 2016 to 2022.

The Jamaica Tourist Board this week announced that it has appointed Philip Rose to serve as its deputy director of tourism, Americas, with responsibility for the U.S., Caribbean and Latin America. This follows the retirement of Donnie Dawson, who held the role since 2003.

Most recently, Rose served as regional director for the Jamaica Tourist Board in the U.S., responsible for overseeing sales and marketing in the Northeast (which delivers the largest share of visitor arrivals to the island). He has previously held senior-level positions within the organization, including regional director of Canada, during which time the country recorded its highest visitor arrivals to Jamaica. 

Rose grew up in the tourism and hospitality industry, having worked in city hotels and beach resorts across Jamaica since his first summer job at 14 years old. Upon his recruitment by the Jamaica Tourist Board, he has thrived in different roles in the U.S. and Canada and has been promoted in every position he has held. Philip has lived and studied tourism in Jamaica, Canada, U.S., Singapore and Italy.

On the cruise front, Celestyal has added to its sales and marketing team (now includes 12 executives—the most in the company’s history). Recent hires include Richard Sandoval, business development manager, west coast, based in California; Stephanie McDonald, business development manager, Canada; and Morgan Hatfield, marketing executive, North America, based in Virginia.

Sandoval and McDonald will collaborate to grow Celestyal's market share in North America, by expanding the company's visibility in the Canadian and Western U.S. Their main responsibilities will include developing strong relationships with key travel advisors, group and tour operators, increasing trade awareness, providing training and marketing support in their respective territories, and representing the company at significant industry events. Hatfield will be responsible for developing and executing both B2B and B2C marketing campaigns throughout the U.S. and Canada. 

Crystal, in addition, announced the return of shipboard leaders as the brand continues to prepare for its inaugural season under new ownership. Cruise veterans Rick Spath will bring out Crystal Serenity when it returns to service on July 31 and Russ Grieve will lead the team aboard Crystal Symphony starting with its inaugural voyage on September 1. Raphael Derkson will also be returning, first to serve as the start-up musical director for Crystal Serenity and then take over as druise director following Spath.

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