Opodo
has announced the appointment of several senior members, to its expanding in-house hotel team.Maria Walters joins as Business Development Director, with responsibility for the UK, Middle East and Africa regions and will head the London-based team. Maria has over 17 years experience in senior sales and marketing roles within the international hospitality sector including Forte Hotel Group, Best Western Hotels, UK, and Jarvis Hotels. Most recently she was Senior Account Director - Leisure and Airline sales for Le Meridien Hotels.

In France, Jean-Olivier Huet has been appointed Business Development Director with responsibility for Southern Europe and the Mediterranean regions.  Jean-Olivier joins Opodo from Le Meridien where he held several senior positions, most recently as Director of Leisure Sales Continental Europe.  Prior to this he was at the Forte Hotel Group.  Jean-Oliver will head-up the team based in Opodo’s Paris office.

In the Opodo German office, Tom Breckwoldt joins as Business Development Director, responsible for Central and Northern Europe.  Prior to joining Opodo, Tom was Director of Corporate Sales & Business Travel Agencies, Central & Eastern Europe, representing the Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn brands. Tom will head-up the team based in the Opodo Hamburg office.

In order to provide customers with a comprehensive hotel offering, Opodo has also branched into the USA, appointing Karen Stephens and Barbara Shapiro, as Business Development Directors with responsibility for the US West Coast and US East coast, respectively.

Finally, Phillip Turner has been appointed Director of Hotels, Distribution, Rates & Database.  Phillip has over 30 years experience in the hospitality industry including roles at Resolutions Support International, Regus, Hilton International and the Ladbroke Group and will be based in the Opodo London office. 

All new members of the Opodo Hotels team will be reporting into Director of Hotels, John Ryan.

“Our new team brings a wealth of both online expertise, and hotel industry knowledge to Opodo, and we aim to expand even further over the next few months.” said Ryan.  “Opodo is already one of Europe’s top online travel services and we are ideally placed to develop our hotel and accommodation portfolio, providing discerning travellers with inspirational ideas and unique hotels, at preferential rates. We appreciate how key it is for hotels to manage their own rates and inventory and are looking forward to working with our partners, using a supplier-friendly model, to the benefit of both parties.”

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