Northstar

PEOPLE www.travelweeklyweb.com PATA promotes Montgomery and Chee The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has promoted Ben Montgomery and Ivy Chee to regional director – Greater Mekong and regional director – East Asia, respectively. Montgomery is responsible for PATA's progressive Next Gen range of membership benefi ts to the travel and tourism companies and organisations. Mainly focused on the Mekong Region, she will be engineering opportunities for PATA and its members in fi ve key destinations; Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Her Mekong responsibilities have been added to her existing role for PATA Chapter development. Prior to this, Montgomery worked for international five- star hotels in Bangkok such as the Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Shangri-La and The Oriental Hotel, in the sales and marketing department. Chee's role as regional director – East Asia, will see her involve as PATA Chapter Coordinator for Brunei, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. Before joining PATA, Chee was regional senior business development manager at online travel aggregator Wego Pte Ltd in Singapore and Digital Ad Sales Manager at Singapore Press Holdings. Chee also worked with clients such as Malaysia Airlines, Air Asia, IHG, Starwood, Hilton, Accor Hospitality, American Express, Tourism New Zealand Ben Montgomery and Tourism Western Australia. She speaks English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Malay and basic Japanese. Commenting on the promotions, PATA CEO Martin J Craigs said: "Ben and Ivy are Ivy Chee the key contacts and liaison for PATA members in different regions in Asia. They have strong connections with many Chapters around the globe. They will drive PATA's Next Gen philosophy across Asia." RateTiger restructures sales and support team RateTiger has reorganised its frontline customer support team and business development units to support ongoing growth and personalise its customer support provision. Sunaina Jagtiani who has been with RateTiger for over four years has been promoted from senior sales manager (UK) to vice-president , customer support, overseeing all global front line support te ams . "Sunaina's strong commercial focus and understanding of customer needs will provide i nva l u abl e expe rienc e as we strive towards the highest levels of customer support ." said Keith Watson, Head of Commercial Op er a t io ns , RateTiger. Former s a les manage r Cristina Hernandez is now responsible for RateTiger's 6 | ■ TRAVELWEEKLY ASIA | 19 JUNE 2012 Sunaina Jagtiani largest European markets – Spain and Germany, in her new role as regional sales manager. "Cristina was the leading sales person in RateTiger for two years running, she has brought in many key clients to our portfolio including Euros tars , Silken Hotels and Iberostar," said Casey Davy, vice-president , sales, EMEA. Cristina Hernandez "She is excited to be working in her second home, Germany, and developing our profile in the Austrian market. We are currently recruiting a business development team to support her." In the UK, Crist ina Blaj has been appointed to sales manager. She will be responsible for expanding RateTiger 's Cristina Blaj presence throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Cristina comes with firsthand experience in travel agency hotel sales across Europe speaking multiple languages including French, Spanish and Romanian. RateTiger will also be developing i ts te am i n and Or l ando of f ice dur ing 2012. www.travelweeklyweb.com t he Lo nd o n

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