Francis Killory has been appointed director of development for Asia Pacific for Carlson Hotels Worldwide with the aim of driving the expansion of the Regent and Radisson brands in key cities in the region.
Carlson has opened an office in Hong Kong as the strategic centre of operations, which will work closely with company management and development officials based in Sydney and Minneapolis.
Carlson has targeted the region as a top priority for the continuing globalisation of the organisation, with the initial focus on development in China, Japan and Thailand.
Killory, a veteran of hospitality development in the region and fluent in Chinese and Japanese, was most recently VP development Asia Pacific for Meridien Hotels & Resorts.
Prior to this, he was a hospitality consultant with TransAct Asia for leading hotel companies in the region, and advised Goldman Sachs on key China hotel-investment markets. He was also director of development for China for Holiday Inns Worldwide.
Carlson won the developmental rights to Regent from Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts in 1996, but has not been able to move the brand forward much in the region.
Carlson has to date opened four Regent hotels: the Regent Almaty, Kazakhstan; the Regent, Las Vegas (previously the Grand Palms and the Grand Spa); the Regent Mumbai, India; and the Regent Wall Street, New York. It has also announced plans for a new hotel in Boston and two fractional ownership projects, Club Regent, Park City, Utah and Club Regent, Fort Lauderdale Beach, Florida.
Four Seasons, which bought Regent in 1992, continues to manage eight Regent hotels in Singapore, Bangkok, Chiangmai, Jakarta, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei and Los Angeles. These contracts were secured before the developmental rights were sold to Carlson.
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