Kate Jones

The Path:
Director of Marketing & Communications

Responsibilities including the development and implementation of all pre-opening hotel collateral material; overseeing the set-up and activation of social media and online distribution channels; creation of website content; development of launch advertising and public relations campaigns; organization of inaugural events; management of full menu content, design and production for all food and beverage venues; setting up local marketing partnerships; planning and direction of photography shoot, management and direction of all internal and exterior hotel signage.

The role also includes a team of two direct reports and managing the retained public relations, design and advertising agencies.

Notable Achievements:

o Successful creation of new social media pages for the hotel with countdown to opening and ongoing maintenance

o Design and implementation of all hotel’s food and beverage outlet menus

o Direction of design and placement of all interior and exterior hotel signage

22 November 2012 to 7 May 2015
AL NAHDA RESORT & SPA, SULTANATE OF OMAN, including THE JUNGLE RESTAURANT AND PRE-OPENING OF
DESERT RESORT DUNES BY AL NAHDA (Part of Al Bahja Group of Companies)

The Path: Marketing & Communications Manager
Responsibilities including the rebranding of the resort and positioning within the market; development and implementation of new advertising, marketing and public relations strategies; creation of new resort collaterals; organisation of annual events; marketing partnerships and sponsorships with key local brands; brand strategies for new developments within the group; management and direction of design agency and social media agency, development of brand strategy and guidelines for new desert resort.


o Successful creation, design input and implementation of new internal collateral and websites resulting in continued positive guest feedback on resort information and facilities

o Organisation of annual golf tournament (for two years) in partnership with local golf course resulting in increased brand visibility and market penetration into corporate clients and media

o Creation of joint corporate sponsorship and marketing partnerships for both the resort and The Jungle restaurant with key
companies including Muscat Hills Golf Club (sponsorship of tee boxes), Zouk model hunt (key sponsor and part of the judging panel),
National Bank of Oman, Bank Muscat, Visa Platinum and key regional airlines


o Implementation of month-long radio campaign to generate awareness of New Year's Eve event at the resort resulting in revenue of over OMR 7, 000 achieved on the night

o Collaboration with high-end shopping mall to create a 'pop-up restaurant' for The Jungle based in the shopping mall for one day

o Development and introduction of monthly e-newsletter detailing events and promotions - not done by other hotels in the market

o Creation of networking opportunities for sales colleagues at key events, eg. National Bank of Oman Golf Classic,
annual tournament as part of the European Challenge Tour

o Consultation, guidance and recommendation on proposed location of The Jungle restaurant project in Qatar based on experience of living in Doha

25 November 2011 to 8 November 2012
INTERCONTINENTAL DOHA THE CITY, DOHA, QATAR

The Path: Marketing & Communications Manager
Part of the pre-opening team for the hotel with responsibilities including brand positioning for the hotel's launch, managing the PR and advertising / design agencies; directing the corporate hotel photoshoot; implementation of all pre-opening collaterals for rooms, front office, sales and marketing, airport counter signage; creation, implementation and ongoing management of social media channels; media events.


o Successful introduction and positioning of hotel to the market through local media events and extensive local and regional media coverage

o Continued increase in social media presence with daily rise in numbers of followers of all channels

o Achievement of 100% IHG brand compliance for marketing collaterals in all quarterly brand audits

7 December 2009 to 31 March 2011
SHANGRI-LA'S BARR AL JISSAH RESORT AND SPA, MUSCAT,
SULTANATE OF OMAN

The Path: Director of Communications
Responsibilities including local and international media relations, strategic marketing and communications plans and budgets, internal communications for staff and guests, development of all resort collaterals, local and regional advertising, resort photography, direct marketing, development of social media brand awareness, cross department marketing strategies; food and beverage marketing and communications activities, international media hosting, high profile events and launches.

The role also includes a team of five direct reports, including the graphic studio and managing the retained advertising agency.


o Successful creation, design and implementation of new internal collateral resulting in continued positive guest feedback on resort
information and facilities

o Extensive internal and external communications activity, as well as local and regional advertising and public relations campaign for the first ever Michelin-star chef promotion in Muscat; widespread newspaper and magazine feature coverage in both Arabic and English-speaking media

o Organisation of two high profile art exhibition launches at the resort's art gallery, attended by Muscat high society, Ambassadors and Ministers, resulting in wide-ranging media coverage and increased exposure of art gallery and Omani culture within the resort

o Contained media coverage and story angles following strategic crisis communication with media and third parties, as a result of a
severe cyclone passing through the country; this ensured minimising sensational headlines and maintaining brand reputation

1 September 2004 to 4 December 2009
SHANGRI-LA HOTELS & RESORTS, REGIONAL SALES OFFICE, LONDON

The Path: Public Relations Manager, UK, Europe & Middle East

Responsibilities including all media liaison, press familiarisations, event organisation, participation in annual communications workshop and ongoing brand awareness of 70 existing hotels and over 40 new international developments.

Experience also includes the pro-active media launch of hotels in new destinations for the group in the Sultanate of Oman, Maldives, Vancouver, Japan and Abu Dhabi, as well as 'teasing' the market with the announcements and trailer stories of new properties to come in The Seychelles, Paris, Vienna and London.


o Strategic positioning and pro-active pitching of new 'three hotel in one resort' concept in Oman to all national and regional UK
media in order to differentiate product offering - positive media reaction with a clear understanding and resulting in all key national
UK newspapers and consumer magazines visiting the destination in the first year of opening

o Long-term media relationship and pro-active pitching with Condé Nast Traveller UK resulted in three cover stories for the opening of the new resort in the Maldives

o Successful introduction of hotels and resorts in new destinations for the group - streamlining the transition of the brand and its
values into new markets

o Coverage in key society and 'party' pages in Hello!, OK! and Mail on Sunday columns, among others, from high profile, London
celebrity-attended events to introduce the brand to the UK in the build-up to the opening of Shangri-La Hotel, London

o Extensive coverage in Middle Eastern media titles following attendance at key trade show Arabian Travel Market for all hotels within the group and a series of media interviews both in print and broadcast outlets

o Increase in broadcast exposure with the arrangement of Inside Luxury Travel TV series visiting Shangri-La hotels in Oman and
Vancouver - created wide interest, feedback and increased booking enquiries.

o Introduction of 'alternative' media visit to resort in Oman - successful pitching of fashion shoot with the Daily Telegraph, resulting in extensive coverage in the main newspaper's travel and fashion pages, as well as luxury supplement UltraTravel and the newspaper's online blog as written by the fashion editor - the impact of the results was reinforced by the encouraging comments and feedback from the newspaper's editorial teams and, in turn, by readers' feedback direct to the newspaper

January 2003 to July 2004
The Path: Freelance public relations consultant

Freelance PR consultant, including work for the State of Colorado and a senior marketing contract at the Government of Dubai
Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing focusing on a specific project to create and launch travel trade agents' online training programme, Dubai Expert.

September 1995 - December 2002
WEBER SHANDWICK PUBLIC RELATIONS CONSULTANCY

The Growth Path: Started as an Account Executive advancing to Senior Account Executive, Account Manager and then as Account Director in 2001.

For October to December 2002, I was on an exclusive secondment to P&O Cruises, based in the marketing department, to set up an in-house press office function, manage the transition and media perception from PR agency to in-house and deliver the ongoing PR programme.


During my agency experience, I promoted the interests of a range of clients including P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Swan Hellenic
Cruises, Anheuser Busch Adventure Parks, The Bahamas Tourist Office, Jumeirah International, Clothes Show Live, International Confex exhibition and Cathay Pacific Airways. For the last year, I led the accounts for P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Swan Hellenic and lifestyle cruise brand Ocean Village.



o Successful launches to the UK media of cruise ships Aurora in 2000 for P&O Cruises and Golden Princess in 2001 for Princess Cruises

o Launch of interactive marine park Discovery Cove (2000) and rollercoasters at both Busch Gardens and SeaWorld (1999 & 2000),
all in Florida, for Anheuser Busch Adventure Parks

o Introduction of new cruise brand Ocean Village in 2002

o Lead member of the team in May 2000 that handled the award-winning crisis management of Aurora’s aborted maiden voyage.
This included being the first point of contact for all media calls; arranging a press conference, which was attended by national,
regional and broadcast media; briefing all senior P&O Cruises personnel involved in the press conference and preparing anticipated media questions and answers. This led to the win of both ‘Crisis Campaign of the Year’ and ‘Campaign of the Year’ awards at the UK PR Week Awards that year