Preferred Hotels and Resorts names first chief revenue officer

Preferred Hotels and Resorts – the independent hotel brand – has announced the appointment of Cheryl Williams as its new chief revenue officer.

In the newly created executive position, Williams will lead the brand’s commercial efforts, working with department leaders to drive revenue to its expanding global portfolio, which encompasses more than 700 hotels, resorts, and residences across 80 countries.

Based out of the company’s corporate headquarters in Newport Beach, California, she reports to Michelle Woodley, president of Preferred Hotels and Resorts.

Preferred said Williams’ “dynamic, creative leadership style”, coupled with a “consistent record” of accomplishment, has been developed over more than 20 years of varied and progressive industry experience, both on-property and in group executive positions.

In her role at Preferred, she is tasked with overseeing and fine-tuning the group’s sales, revenue optimisation, marketing, e-commerce, loyalty, distribution, events, and customer relations teams, working with departmental and regional leaders already in place to ensure global alignment and to support the “successful execution and evolution” of the company’s growth plans.

Prior to joining Preferred, Williams served as regional vice president of sales and marketing in Hawaii for Highgate, leading an integrated sales, marketing, and revenue organisation while overseeing the company’s expanding portfolio of properties in the state, which includes Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach, a member of the Preferred Hotels and Resorts Lifestyle Collection.

She also held several progressive sales and marketing leadership positions for Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. These included divisional director of leisure sales and distribution, leading new business efforts with a particular focus on development in Brazil, Russia, India, and China and regional VP of sales and marketing for Hawaii and Tahiti, having oversight of several properties such as the St. Regis Bora Bora and the Moana Surfrider – a Westin Resort.

Woodley said: “As we continue to embrace all the opportunities that industry changes have sparked, we are excited to welcome Cheryl to our global leadership team through this strategic new position designed with her commercial skillset in mind.

“Cheryl has been a much-valued extension of the Preferred family as a hotel partner for several years, and her multi-disciplinary expertise will strengthen our position and provide a fresh, solutions-focused approach to optimising business and routes to market for our hotels globally as they recover from recent setbacks.”