 Rachel Argaman
Chief Executive Officer, Toga HospitalityRachel leads one of Australia's largest accommodation groups and has more than 15 years experience at senior management level in the Travel and Hospitality Industry. With a passion for creating a results focused, sales culture within companies and a driving belief that the success of businesses depends on the quality of the people they employ, Rachel is committed to leadership development at all levels.
At the beginning of 1998, Rachel joined Medina Serviced Apartments as Director of Sales and Marketing, taking on the challenge of Group General Manager in early 2002, Chief Operating Officer in 2005 and Chief Executive Officer in 2007.
Goal oriented, Rachel is focused on the accelerated growth of the Toga Hospitality Group and their brands; Medina Serviced Apartments, Adina Apartment Hotels in Europe, Vibe Hotels and Travelodge. Rachel currently chairs the Australian International Hotel School Industry Advisory Council and is part of the Advisory Committee of various individual Hotel Schools.
Rachel's formal qualifications include a BA (Honours)(cum laude) from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, followed by an MBA specialising in Service Industries Management.  David Bayes
Managing DIrector, Choice Hotels AustralasiaDavid Bayes leads the region’s largest franchised accommodation group, Choice Hotels, which has more than 275 properties in Australia, New Zealand, Paua New Guinea and Singapore. The product mix includes hotels, inns, suites, resorts and apartments across the Comfort, Quality and Clarion brands.
David joined Choice in 2005 from home finance broker, Mortgage Choice, where he was Chief Operating Officer. He was also Chief Executive and a Director of Bakers Delight, presiding over 670 retail outlets in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Prior to that, David had a long association with McDonald’s, first as a franchisee running three McDonald's restaurants and then as Regional Director for the Southern Region of McDonald’s Australia in Melbourne. He was a member of the inaugural board of McDonald’s Australia.  Darrin Bird
Chief Executive Officer, CarbonzaDarrin Bird, originally from New Zealand, began his quest for adventure in 1992. Darrin worked for eight years in diverse adventure and eco-tourism roles between Mexico, USA and Costa Rica. Darrin arrived in Australia in 2000. He was employed by Backpackers Travel Centre and then Base Backpackers before starting 2D2T Consulting. 2D2T are specialists in IT strategic planning and project management services for hospitality, wholesale and retail travel clients.
In 2003 Darrin was confronted by the unavoidable and increasing evidence that discretionary travel was contributing to global warming. He experienced the urgency of global warming first hand after personally witnessing the impact on the Great Barrier Reef and the glaciers in South America. Becoming a father in 2004 further cemented his commitment to learn and explore solutions for the tourism sector. The resulting business - Carbonza P/L – was set up to provide climate change consulting to the hospitality and travel sector.
Darrin is knowledgeable and opinionated but by no means a scientist. The resources and tools necessary to deliver the quality, verification and ‘audit-ability’ come via Carbonza’s partnership with EC3 Global, a company owned by the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre. Darrin’s quest is now to seek out and deliver viable cost effective ways for the travel and tourism industry to exist and thrive without causative effects on global warming. Bradley Cocks
Senior Vice President Asia Pacific, Kiwi CollectionBradley Cocks, Senior Vice President of Kiwi Collection, Asia Pacific developed an intimate knowledge of his region while pursing a life-long passion for surfing. Bradley earned a Bachelor of Communication Degree from the University of Technology, Sydney and also a Diploma in Marketing Communications from the International Advertising Association (IAA), New York.
Bradley’s first business was a successful creative production company that supported a host of major Hollywood productions being released in Australia. Shortly thereafter, he returned to Canada and worked for several boutique Communications and Advertising agencies with clients across North America and Mexico.
His education and professional background have allowed Bradley to develop unique skills to anticipate and respond to his client’s needs. His ability to clearly articulate complex creative concepts, coupled with his aptitude for building strong professional relationships, and his extensive network of contacts throughout the south-east make him a tremendous asset for Kiwi Collection in the Asia Pacific region today.  Tessa Court
Chief Marketing Officer, HitwiseTessa brings to Hitwise extensive experience in global sales operations and marketing strategy.
Tessa began her career at Univision, a Spanish language television network based in New York City. Holding various account management positions at BBDO Worldwide and Ogilvy Mather Worldwide Advertising, she managed high-profile, multinational accounts such as Pepsi Co., FedEx and Kodak.
After joining Hitwise in August 2000, Tessa led the global sales operations roll-out in Asia, the UK and the US, and over four years, achieved year-on-year sales growth of 270%.
As Chief Marketing Officer for Hitwise, Tessa is currently responsible for global sales and marketing strategy, new product development and the creation of new revenue streams and channel partnerships for the overall Hitwise business.
Tessa has a bachelor's degree with honors in International Relations and Spanish from Tulane University and has a Master's degree in Latin American Politics from New York University.  Olivier has 20-years of professional experience gained in the travel, hospitality and tourism marketing technology consulting field. He is currently an appointed Board Advisor to Derbysoft, a leading Chinese technology company serving the hospitality distribution industry, which mission is to create a worldwide online hotel global distribution network (GDN).
Prior to that, Olivier was Regional Vice President Asia Pacific for Pegasus Solutions and Utell Hotels and Resorts. He was responsible for all commercial activities for the region with teams in Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney and China. Concurrently, Olivier held a Board position on the Global Board of HEDNA (Hotel Electronic Distribution Association) and also chaired the HEDNA ASPAC Committee; as the industry representative and the voice for Asia Pacific, Olivier was very much involved in enabling industry best practices and standards. More...  Bob East
Chief Executive Officer, Stella Hospitality GroupBob has guided the Stella Hospitality Group since early 2006. Stella boasts over 130 properties in Australia and New Zealand under the Peppers, Mantra, Saville and BreakFree brands. In Africa Stella operate 126 properties under the Protea brand.
Previously, Bob spent seven years working for Mirvac, both in an operational capacity opening and managing substantial resorts/hotels, and in a commercial capacity acquiring and developing properties for the group. Prior to this Bob worked extensively in the tourism sector including local resorts, remote areas and international postings.
Bob holds tertiary qualifications in Education and an MBA. With over 3000 staff in Australia and 15 000 rooms under management, Bob has established the Stella Hospitality Group as the second largest operator within Australia.  Russell Farr
Managing Director, Australian Online TravelRussell Farr is the founder and Managing Director of Australian Online Travel – the online consumer business of the AOT Group. Websites include Need It Now, Travelmate and Need To Escape.
Russell came to the travel industry after an extensive career in the oil industry, during which he held positions in retail, marketing, new business development, IT and corporate strategy.
In 1999, Russell convinced Caltex that internet travel was a growth opportunity too good to miss. This led to the development of the road travel website, Travelmate.com.au, in 2000, followed by the last minute accommodation site, Needitnow.com, in 2001.
The Australian Online Travel businesses were purchased by the AOT Group in 2004, where they have continued to expand, both through organic growth and acquisition.
Russell’s formal qualifications include a BA (Hons) and an MBA.  Paul Fisher
Marketing Director, Total TravelBio pending...  Jeff Floyd has a long background in the Tourism Industry going back to his role as a Director of the former Australian Tourism Industry Association.
As the former CEO of Parks Victoria, Australia’s largest parks and recreational management agency, Jeff played a major role in tourism, as an operator of both major attractions and tour operator businesses.
Jeff followed this role as CEO of Tourism Victoria at a critical time in the industry with the emergence of on-line tourism. He conceived and led the Victorian Tourism on-line project which has put Tourism Victoria on the forefront of online destinational marketing.
Jeff is currently Group CEO of a group of companies owned by Australia’s Auto Clubs – including AAA Tourism Pty Ltd – the Australian STAR Rating Scheme provider and publisher of accommodation guides.
Jeff is a former Director of See Australia Pty Ltd and is currently Director of the CRC in Sustainable Tourism.
Jeff holds an Adjunct Professorship in Tourism with Victorian University.  Mike Ford
Founder and Managing DIrector, SiteMinderMike Ford is the Founder and Managing Director of SiteMinder, one of Australia leading online distribution channel managers.
Having previously led the development of Australia's largest e-health transaction switch, Mike recognised a similar integration need within the hospitality industry. A huge technology void existed between the accommodation providers and the channels that sold their inventory - a void which surprisingly had not effectively been addressed by any organisation at the time .
At the time of starting SiteMinder, Mike was a shareholder in a large accommodation provider, and got tired of hearing from his manager how time consuming and costly the manual updating of internet booking sites was. In order to get some peace and quiet, Mike quit his job and started SiteMinder. His manager doesn't complain anymore, and she, along with hundreds of other accommodation providers across Australia and New Zealand are now happy and sleep well at night.
Mikes formal qualifications include a Bachelor Of Commerce degree in business management and information systems, and an MBA.  Martin Kelly
Director, TravelTrends.bizMartin Kelly is a passionate travel industry commentator and the founder of No Vacancy conference, which he started last year. Apart from No Vacancy, Martin writes all the stories for the Travel Trends website and regularly files hotel and property yarns for The Australian newspaper. He also owns the TRAVELtech and Search Engine Room conferences.
Based in Sydney, Martin has been involved in the travel industry for almost 20 years, starting as a PR Manager with Australian Airlines following a career as a daily newspaper journalist with News Limited and a couple years’ backpacking. Martin has also worked as a Communications Consultant for some of Australia’s best-known corporate brands, most notably Macquarie Bank, where he toiled for three years at the coalface of capitalism.
Martin still dreams of getting paid to do nothing but now realises this is not going to happen. So he will continue to develop conferences and write stories so his family can eat and the mortgage gets paid. In the meantime, he will continue persisting with the notion that his next idea will be the Big One.  Shannon Knapp
Group Revenue and Distribution Manager, Mirvac Hotels and ResortsShannon brings to Mirvac extensive experience in yield and pricing strategy as well as distribution management. After holding various revenue and distribution management positions with Carlson Hotels Worldwide in the United States, she moved to Sydney in 1998 to lead the expansion of their reservations and distribution services centre for the Asia Pacific region.
Since joining Mirvac in March 2006, Shannon has led the Central Reservations Services operations roll-out for the group’s hotels in Australia, New Zealand, and Vanuatu.
As Group Revenue Manager, Shannon is currently responsible for pricing strategy and the management of new revenue distribution streams and channel partnerships for the overall Mirvac Hotels business. She also leads the central Yield, Reservations Services, and Central Systems teams, with a strong focus on RevPAR, training, and shared knowledge.  Gary Knowles
Global CEO, Roamfree GroupAs the Group CEO of Roamfree, Gary has the following responsibilities:
1. Execute the business strategies to deliver a profitable and sustainable business platform in the Pacific Region.
2. Drive enhanced ROI – through acquisition and organic growth.
3. Evaluate ongoing M&A opportunities in terms of business fit and minimum hurdle rates.
4. Support and embrace the team based culture of the Group.
Gary has fourteen years of post qualification experience in the travel, retail, finance and wholesale industries with exposure to operations of a broad spectrum of organizations both locally and internationally.
Much of his early career was spent with RCI, which he joined in 1996 as Finance Director - South Africa. By the end of 1998, Gary was responsible for Finance and Group Development – Africa.
In 2003, Gary was promoted to Senior Vice President and Managing Director for the Pacific region. He was also a key executive of the Asia Pacific team responsible for driving growth in the broader region.
Gary joined Roamfree as Global CEO in 2007. Gary is a qualified Chartered Accountant (SA) and has successfully completed an Honours degree in the Bachelor of Accounting Science majoring in Finance, Tax and Economics.  Andrew Maurer
Manager Forecasting and Analysis, Tourism Research AustraliaAndrew Maurer manages the Forecasting and Analysis Unit at Tourism Research Australia.
Tourism Research Australia (TRA) is responsible for producing and disseminating timely, relevant and accurate research information to the tourism industry and government stakeholders. TRA manages key tourism surveys including the International and National Visitor Surveys and undertakes a range of analysis projects.
Recent reports include: Changing consumer behaviour: Impact on the Australian domestic tourism market and Tourism’s contribution to the Australian Economy The Forecasting and Analysis team also prepares the reports released by the Tourism Forecasting Committee.
Before joining TRA, Andrew managed the commodity forecasting section at the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics (ABARE). He has a Bachelor of Economics degree from the University of Queensland.  Chloe Lim
Managing Director, HotelClubChloe Lim is responsible for overall management of HotelClub businesses globally, including business strategy for its websites, including HotelClub.com, RatesToGo.com and Asia-hotels.com. These sites receive around nine million visitors a month from customers living in more than 200 countries.
Chloe has a passion for the internet and a strong marketing background. Before her promotion to Managing Director, Chloe worked at HotelClub as Senior Director of Global Marketing with responsibility for search engine marketing, affiliate marketing, public relations, branding, strategic partnerships and product development. Chloe is originally from Singapore and now lives in Sydney. Martin McConnachie is the founder and President of Allotz.com Limited. Martin has extensive experience in Information Technology from the Stock Market to Travel Technology.
Martin’s achievements include consulting on the complete redesign and successful launch of a web based accounting solution; the development and launch of a Stock Market trading site in Central America.
Martin owned his own successful IT manufacturing company in the field of network based optical storage systems which was successfully awarded a long term multimillion dollar supply contract to the Australian Federal Government.
Before embarking on the design and development of Allotz.com Limited, Martin spent four years directly consulting with Hotel online reservation companies which culminated in the development and launch of a market leading online reservation solution for Hotels and Chains.
Martin’s entrepreneurial and business skills have combined to formulate the revolutionary business and technical solution that will make Allotz.com the world leader in online travel technology. Nick McCaw
Chief Executive Officer, Hotel SOA relative newcomer to the hotel industry Nick has spent the past three years developing the product and business of Hotel SO.
‘Our simple mission with Hotel SO was always to solve as many of the problems that plague hotels as we could, to pack the room and the hotel with features, and to deliver it all at a rate the would surprise and delight our guests”
Nick’s background has been in start-up business development and property development. He represents a new generation of hotel executive with a strong focus on innovation and efficiency. Having now opened the first 283 room Hotel SO in Christchurch, New Zealand, Nick is focussed on expanding Hotel SO into new markets.  Michael Meade
Senior VP Sales and Marketing, Rendezvous HotelsMichael Meade is one of Australia’s most experienced and respected accommodation marketers. He recently returned to Australia, joining Rendezvous Hotels as Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, after several years in similar role with Jin Jiang Hotels, China’s largest accommodation operator with more than 130 properties.
Before moving to Shanghai, Michael had been Regional Director Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific for the InterContinental Hotels Group. In this job he had responsibility for sales and marketing for 45 hotels across five brands. He is now looking forward to playing a key role in the ambitious growth plans of Rendezvous Hotels.  James Merchant
Director of Revenue, Pacific Region, Accor Asia PacificJames has been in his current role with Accor since October, 2007. He has had a varied high-level career with the accommodation giant, with his roles including:
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Director of Distribution and Information Systems, Asia - Accor AP based in Bangkok.
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International Project Manager - Accor, based at Accor's corporate headquarters in Paris, responsible for the worldwide implementation of BtoB Sales, database and contracting tools
Befoe joining Accor in 2000, James woked in various managerial roles in hotel operations and corporate support functions at the Disneyland Resort, Paris.  Laurel Papworth
Online Communities Strategist, World CommunitiesLaurel Papworth is a consultant specialising in educating companies in how to maximise value from social networks, social media and web 2.0 technologies.
In the past she had lead roles in digitising Fairfax Newspapers and establishing Optus Convergent media and now Laurel lectures on marketing into social networks at the University of Sydney and advising clients such as Channel 10 (Australian Idol community) and Telecom New Zealand.
Laurel frequently presents on Web 2.0 technologies and how they can best be used at a business level including corporate blogging, RSS feeds, user documentation wikis and vibrant customer communities.
 Terry Schwamberg-Kaljo is a Boutique Hotelier and Accommodation Specialist. She is the founder of the Contemporary Hotels + Beach Houses +Villas Collection – which includes the boutique hotel Medusa (named as one of the coolest hotels of the 21st century by Conde Nast Traveller UK) and a growing number of design focused beach houses, villas and urban apartments.
Schwamberg-Kaljo’s first foray in to the hotel business began in the early 90’s when she transformed a run down backpackers in Sydney’s Darlinghurst into a guest house for the young corporate creative market under the name Sydney Star Accommodation. With a love of the Darlinghurst location which she likens to New York’s SoHo and a fascination of modernist design her next venture was the award winning boutique hotel, Medusa, The Kirketon Hotel with Salt Restaurant (now sold) followed. With three kids in tow she has now expanded the group with a collection of chic urban apartments, Luxury Beach Houses and Villas.
Whilst continuing to operate her growing collection properties, Schwamberg-Kaljo’s who was awarded the 2006 Travel Innovator Award by Travel and Leisure Magazine has a busy schedule as a speaker. Her viewpoints reflect her aspiration and her ambition to create unique contemporary accommodation which promotes Australian style and modern relaxed living. More...  Grahame Tate
Managing Director, Asia Pacific, IDeaSGrahame Tate has been involved in Hospitality Technology for past 19 years where he has held technical, product planning and Sales Marketing Roles with various multi–national companies.
In the early 1990’s Graeme worked in Telecommunications Hospitality Technology for Alcatel Australia before moving to NEC Australia, where he was responsible for their Hospitality Technology Vertical with a focus on voice and data technologies.
Grahame joined IDeaS in 1997, building a market-leading operation over the past decade. He is now the Managing Director of IDeaS Asia Pacific and Sub Continent.
IDeaS provides yield management services and technology for more than 70,000 rooms in Asia Pacific and has many of the region’s major hotel brands as clients.  David Upton
Director, Accommodation GuruDave has an extensive background in the travel industry, starting his career as a key member of the team that developed Trailfinders into Britain's largest independent travel agent, ultimately joining its Board of Directors.
Looking for a better lifestyle, Dave emigrated to Australia in 1983 where he founded The Travel Specialists, bringing international airfare prices within reach of the average person.
In 1997 Dave merged his company with Sydney Flight Centre to form travel.com.au and concentrated his efforts on the technical development of the business.
As CIO he was responsible for the development of the travel.com.au web site, booking engines, fares search engines, back office systems, corporate sites, conference sites, dynamic travel package builder and wholesale booking engine. Travel.com.au has recently been sold to Wotif.com for around A$55 million.
After leaving travel.com.au Dave started his own internet development company, ITbyus, which has built almost 500 websites over the past few years, including 150 for travel companies, many of them well-known.
It was during this work – which continues apace – he saw the opportunity for AccommodationGuru.com, which has taken two years to develop. |
