Souce: SOFITEL
Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa has welcomed international hotelier Simon Jinks to the role of general manager.
He takes over the top job from Adam Laker who has departed to become general manager at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Manila.
Originally from Britain and boasting a 19-year career that commenced in Dubai with Le Royal Méridien Hotels & Resorts, Simon brings a wealth of hospitality experience to his new Fiji role.
Experience in the industry
In many ways an Asian hospitality specialist, Mr Jinks had his first taste of Asia in Vietnam, accepting a role with the Caravelle in Saigon.
This began in the mid 1990s before moving to Hong Kong in 1999 to join Accor Hotels.
Since then Mr Jinks has worked as general manager for the Novotel Chiang Mai in Thailand, and at the Headland hotel Hong Kong.
On top of his various general manager roles, he was also part of the Accor Operations Support team in 2011 for the Pullman Oceanview Sanya Resort in China.
His role was 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, he first worked for the brand in Bangkok as director of Rooms and resident manager for the Sofitel Silom Bangkok.
Travelling
He then continued his career with Sofitel’s parent company Accor across South East Asia, China and India.
Immediately prior to moving to Fiji, he 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, Mr Jinks said: “Asia has been wonderful, but I am very excited to be embarking on my first general manger role in the Pacific, and of course returning to the Sofitel Luxury Hotels family.
His view of Fiji
“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,” Mr Jinks said.
“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.”