Management

David is now Executive Chairman of Western & Oriental, a luxury and specialist tour operator that under David’s leadership has successfully completed 2 rounds of financing (IPO plus share capital increase) from AIM for a sum of approximately GBP 20m. Before that he was CFO of lastminute.com for four years until the sale of that business to Sabre Inc. The market capitalization of lastminute.com improved from a low of £15 m. to £600 m. during that period. Prior to that David was Group Finance Director of First Choice Holidays plc. for four years. David is a chartered accountant who has operated at director level for the past 35 years.

is a graduate of the Mass Media and Communication from Athens University. Till recently (June 2008) he has been a television journalist for a number of years on one of the most successful Greek private TV networks (ALPHA). Posts held include Executive Consultant for a large hotel chain (N. Soulounias S.A.), Public Relations/Press Liaison Officer with the Greek Ministry of Education, Newspaper Journalist for "Aggelioforos" (newspaper), and Newspaper Special Correspondent on Cultural and Education Affairs liaising with the Greek Ministry of Culture.

Karim Garranah is the founder and chaiman of Garranah Touristic Group, one of the biggest and most reputable companies in Egypt. The group activities are divided into, Tarot Tours Garranah Tour Operator, Mirotel for Floating Hotels, Azur Hotels & Resorts & Tarot Tour Garranah for Transport. He also serves as Board Member of Orascom Hotels and Development (OHD)- a global town developer specializing in planning, building and operating integrated, self-sufficient leisure and residential towns around the world and one of the largest resort operators in Egypt. Karim is a graduate of the University of Helwan in Egypt, He holds a degree from the faculty of Tourism.

Yiannis John Kent is the Founder and CEO of youtravel.com and the founder of Aquis Hotels and Resorts. He has a strong track record in the tourism and travel industry mostly as a serial entrepreneur within the online and dynamic packaging sector. He has managed to build value both as an executive and as an entrepreneur in six major companies, four of which were involved in Mergers & Acquisitions in a period shorter than 24 months from establishment. He founded MedHotels.com and TravelBargains.com revolutionizing the package holiday model and introducing dynamic packaging for holidays in the UK market. Both companies were then acquired by Lastminute.com, after two very successful years of operations. Yiannis was then appointed as UK Managing Director of Lastminute.com with global responsibility for the procurement of hotels. Since leaving Lastminute.com he has generated a range of dynamic projects. Recently Yiannis invested in Aquis Hotels and Resorts which aims to build a portfolio of wholly owned hotels and hotels under management in the Mediterranean area.

Yiannis John Kent is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the University of Surrey, a Fellow of the UK Institute of Directors and Visiting Senior Fellow at the University of Bournemouth.

Read more about Yiannis John Kent on his personal website www.johnkent.com

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis is an innovative tourism and hospitality researcher, teacher and adviser that conceptualises technology-enabled strategic management and marketing solutions for tourism and hospitality organisations on a global scale. He is currently Established Chair in Tourism, Deputy Director of the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research at Bournemouth University and Professorial Observer at the Bournemouth University Senate. He was previously Programme Leader MSc in Tourism Marketing and MSc in eTourism, Reader in Business Information Management, Leader of eTourism Research and member of the Senate at the University of Surrey. He has been Adjunct Professor at ESSEC in Paris, Visiting Professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China, Professor Associado at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, and Visiting Professor and Member of the University Assembly at Modul University in Vienna, Austria. He has written or co-edited a total of 12 books whilst he has served as Vice President of the International Federation of Information Technology for Travel and Tourism (IFITT) of which he is a founding member.

Read more about Dr Dimitrios Buhalis on his personal website www.buhalis.com

is a practising solicitor in England and an attorney in Greece. He is a Law Lecturer with the University of Hertfordshire, and a Visiting Fellow at Southampton Solent University. He is also the Honorary Consul of Greece for Southern England, Vice-President of the Greek Seafarers’ Pension Fund, and the Law Examiner to the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, and the Institute of Export. He was awarded his Ph.D. in Law from Southampton University, Master of Laws (LL.M.) from University of Wales, and as an author has published widely over the last 17 years in various fields of law. Posts held include, Legal Adviser to the Minister of Mercantile Marine of Greece, Senior Law Lecturer (Southampton Solent University), Strategic Development-Legal Consultant (Med Hotels Ltd.), Law Lecturer (University of Southampton), Associate Law Lecturer (Open University), and Insurance Claims Adjuster (Richards Hogg Ltd.).

Andreas moved to London and joined Amathus UK Ltd in 1969. During the period 1987 – 2001 he was the General Manager of Amathus UK Ltd. Since 2001 he has been appointed as the Managing Director of Amathus UK Ltd. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Travel and Tourism, board member of the Cyprus – British Chamber of Commerce which is based in England, and Member of the board in various companies of the Lanitis Group which are located in the United Kingdom and Cyprus. During the period 1988 – 2002 he served as the Chairman of AGTA (Association of Greek Cypriot Travel Agents).

Andreas Antoniou is appointed as from October 1st as Aquis Hotels & Resorts Director of Operations. Andreas was acquired from Louis Hotels Greece where he spent nine years as General Manager. Before his employment with Louis Hotels, Andreas spent 10 years in Hilton Athens. Previously Andreas served as General Manager in Golden Bay Hotel, Aeneas and Forum by Intercontinental in Cyprus.

Alkiviades Sotiriou assumed the position of Director of Operations of Aquis Hotels & Resorts as from August 1st. Alkiviades started his career in Greece and abroad with Intercontinental SA and SunWing SA in different managerial positions. In 1992, he was employed from Grecotel SA / Classical Hotels,where he spent 18 working years i as General Manager in Rhodos Imperial, General Manager in Makedonia Palace, General Manager in Athens Imperial and his latest position was Regional Operations Manager in Classical Hotels. During the period of October 2008 till June 2009, he had also the position of General Manager at the Sheraton Sofia Balkan Hotel in Bulragia.

George Athanassiou assumed the position of the Finance Director of Aquis Hotels & Resorts in October 2008. George has previously worked for big multinational companies such as Alcatel, Henkel and Maillis Group and also possesses working experience form the banking sector, where he started his career at Ergobank. He is a graduate of the Athens University of Economics and Business, BA in Economics, and holds a master degree (MSc) in Banking and Finance from the University of Stirling, UK. George is also a certified chartered accountant.

George Papadopoulos cooperated with the company since day one. His academic background was established in graduate and post-graduate levels in Central London Universities, the Thames Valley University and the South Bank University within the sectors of Hotel and Catering Management as well as Tourism and Hospitality Marketing Institutional Management.
He has a proven record of professional experience during the last 15 years, consisting of a successful combination of both sectors of Hotel Management and Tour operating, contracting and product management in all Mediterranean Resort destinations of Europe and North Africa. George gained experience both in the UK and Greece as he has been an executive of international Hotel chains in London such as Hilton, Sheraton, Millenium and Copthorne and in Greece in Starwood Luxury Collection and Sani Resort, specializing in upmarket Hotel industry management. He was appointed in senior management positions in distinguished Tour Operators namely Thomson Holidays-TUI UK and youtravel.com

Rania Deimezi is Marketing Manager of Aquis Hotels & Resorts since July 2008. Her industrial experience includes tourism and hospitality positions gained both in the UK and in Greece. Rania graduated in International Hospitality and Tourism Management from the University of Surrey, where she gained as well her postgraduate degree MSc in e-Tourism.