Great Hotels of the World Appoints New Group Director of Sales & Marketing

LONDON, ENGLAND, June 08, 2011 (Press-News.org) Great Hotels of the World (http://www.ghotw.com) has announced the appointment of John Clarke as Group Director of Sales & Marketing. Based at the company's global headquarters in London, John Clarke is responsible for business development for member hotels in the meetings & incentives and leisure sectors. John's business development role encompasses a number of responsibilities including increasing the production of MICE and leisure business for member hotels, improving brand presence, and identifying & implementing new opportunities to generate demand for member hotels.

John joins Great Hotels from the Millennium Hotel London Mayfair where he held the position of Director of Sales & Marketing. John's 15 years experience in hospitality sales and marketing has seen his career journey through several senior positions including five years at Starwood Hotels & Resorts as Assistant Director of Sales and Marketing and a further year as Director of Business Development at the Westin Sydney Hotel.

Peter Gould, CEO at Great Hotels comments, "John's strong background in hospitality sales and marketing will be a great asset to our member hotels and will strengthen our presence in the meetings, incentives and leisure markets. His experience is particularly strong in the MICE sector - a well-known industry figure with strong relationships with a variety of buyers."

Great Hotels of the World (http://www.ghotw.com) provides global hotel reservation, sales and marketing services for an exclusive portfolio of primarily independent hotels and resorts worldwide. Great Hotels of the World provides a range of products, services and innovative technology solutions for over 250 hotels worldwide through trade shows, e-marketing, business travel sales, meeting and incentive sales, public relations, Meeting Forums and a private label GDS chain code (GW).
By acknowledging that each hotels core business is different, Great Hotels of the World help's hotels and consumers to "find their niche" by categorising member hotels into niche travel markets. Great Hotels' dedicated programmes are aimed at the leisure, meetings and incentive and corporate markets, whilst the individual leisure collections reach precise areas of the market in which the hotel specialises in including gourmet, spa, golf, honeymoon and many more.
Membership of Great Hotels of the World is split into three tiers: the Luxury Collection, the Premium Collection and the Classic Collection and is by invitation only. Hotels must meet strict criteria before being accepted into the brand.
Further information on Great Hotels of the World can be found at http://www.info.ghotw.com.