Fiji April 10, 2013 – Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa has welcomed international hotelier Simon Jinks to the role of general manager, taking over the top job from Adam Laker who has departed to become GM at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Manila.
Simon Jinks
Originally from Britain and boasting a 19 year international career that commenced in Dubai with Le Royal Méridien Hotels & Resorts, Simon brings a wealth of hospitality experience to his new Fiji role.
In many ways an Asian hospitality specialist, Simon had his first taste of Asia in Vietnam, accepting a role with the Caravelle in Ho Chi Minh City in the late 1990s before moving to Hong Kong in 1999 to join Accor Hotels.
Since then Simon has worked as general manager for the Novotel Chiang Mai in Thailand, and at the Novotel Hyderabad Airport hotel in India. On top of his various GM roles, he was also part of the Accor Operations Support team in 2011 for the Pullman Oceanview Sanya Resort in China, overseeing a range of standards and system implementations related to revenue, crisis management and internal control audits.
No stranger to the Sofitel Luxury Hotels brand, Simon first worked for the brand in Bangkok as Director of Rooms and Resident Manager for the Sofitel Silom Bangkok before continuing his career with Sofitel’s parent company Accor across South East Asia, China and India.
Immediately prior to moving to Fiji, Simon was general manager at the Hanoi Horison Hotel, which was recently rebranded to become the Pullman Hanoi in late 2012.
On his most recent move, Simon says, “Asia has been wonderful, but I am very excited to be embarking on my first general manager role in the Pacific, and of course returning to the Sofitel Luxury Hotels family.
“Like many other Europeans before me, I consider Fiji the ultimate pacific paradise, and the Australian and New Zealand markets obviously agree making it their holiday haven of choice year on year.
“After my time in Asia and India I feel I am in a great position to engage and inspire these markets to visit Fiji. I am confident that I come armed with the business acumen and cultural knowledge to help grow Sofitel’s strategy on further attracting and catering to the needs of these travellers in the coming years.”
PRESS RELEASE
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