Raffles confirms the new ‘A-team’ in Cambodia

Sept. 27, 2011 - PRLog -- (September 2011):  Raffles Hotels & Resorts has announced the appointment of Christian Sack as General Manager of Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor in Siem Reap and Gareth Walters as  Director of Sales & Marketing for both Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor and Raffles Hotel Le Royal, Phnom Penh.  

Christian Sack joins Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor, Siem Reap from the Shangri-La Tokyo, where he was Resident Manager.  Mr. Walters joins from Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, where he was the Director of Sales.

Just last August, Raffles Hotel Le Royal, Phnom Penh announced the appointment of Richard Schestak as General Manager.  Previously Hotel Manager/Director of Operations of Fairmont Bab al Bahr, Abu Dhabi, Mr. Schestak has 20 years of international hospitality experience in Europe, North America, the Middle East and North Africa.

Mr. Sack and Mr. Walters join at an exciting time for these two French Colonial  masterpieces.  Both are being subtly, yet inspirationally, refurbished and updated  - to give them new vitality, elegance and comfort.  The work will be completed by November – including the transformation of two large private villas in Siem Reap.  

Commenting on the new team, John Johnston, President of Raffles Hotels & Resorts said:

“We now have exactly the right team to give these two incredible heritage hotels the recognition and care they deserve.  These are safe hands that will take these hotels -  that are part of Cambodia’s history -  into the next chapter of their stories.”  

Mr. Sack, originally from Vienna, is an internationally experienced manager with over 22 years working in five star hotels and resorts.  Before joining the Raffles team in Siem Reap, he was  Resident Manager at Shangri-La Tokyo.  Here his role involved creating and implementing a business recovery plan, following the earthquakes and the tsunami crisis.   Prior to Tokyo, he held prominent positions at the Shangri-La Sydney, Australia; Banyan Tree – Angsana Resort & Spa Maldives;  Hilton Trafalgar Hotel, London and the Le Meridien Grosvenor House Hotel, London.

Gareth Walters brings extensive sales and marketing experience to Raffles.   During his tenure as Director of Sales for Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, the hotel strongly led the market and secured numerous international awards and prestigious events.  Gareth has also held strategic sales positions at The Monarch, Dubai and the Langham Hotel in London.

Richard Schestak and the Cambodian teams warmly welcome Christian and Gareth to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, in the country so often described as the ‘Kingdom of Wonder’.

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Further information:  Lucinda Buxton/Victoria Coombes, Mango PR
Telephone +44 (0) 207 421 2500
Lucinda.buxton@mangopr.co.uk | victoria.coombes@mangopr.co.uk

RAFFLES IN CAMBODIA:    Opened in 1929 and 1932 respectively, Raffles Hotel Le Royal, Phnom Penh and Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor in Siem Reap  are the only luxury hotels in Cambodia that pre-date the civil war and the Khmer Rouge era.  They were brought into the Raffles portfolio in 1997 after thorough and sensitive modernisation.   The hotels were the work of a French Colonial architect based in Hanoi, responsible for the design of many buildings constructed in French Indochina in the early 20th century.  So it is appropriate that French interior designers based in Ho Chi Min City should be playing a starring role in the next chapter of the hotels’ lives.  The design company was given the brief to breathe new vitality, elegance and comfort into the interiors by subtly updating the hotels’ much-loved French Colonial, Art Deco and Khmer style and ambiance.