Cycas strengthens European team with four senior appointments

Hospitality management company Cycas has boosted its regionally-based operational teams through four key appointments. Cycas has welcomed two new regional general managers (RGMs) to support the company’s “ambitious” growth plans, including the opening of its first two French properties this autumn. France is now a “major focus market” for Cycas and, as RGM for France, Luc Vicherd will lead Cycas’s growing operations in the country. Vicherd joins Cycas from French operator OLETIS, where he was director of operations for 12 properties, and brings 15 years’ experience working with Accor, IHG and Marriott. Based in Paris, he will oversee Cycas’s fast-growing French business, currently five hotels, including Hyatt’s first European dual-branded hotel: a Hyatt Place and Hyatt House development due to open by Charles de Gaulle airport in late 2020. Bill Burnett also joined Cycas’s senior operations team in January, taking up the role of RGM for North UK and Ireland. An experienced operator, with “unparalleled” knowledge of the Scottish hotel sector, Burnett has spent 35 years opening, managing and rebranding hotels for leading hospitality companies and multiple hotel brands across Scotland. He joins from DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Westerwood Spa and Golf Resort, where he was general manager for two years. In London, Cycas has appointed Chris Thomas as GM for Cycas Hospitality’s first Courtyard by Marriott hotel, a 196-room property at London City Airport scheduled to open in summer 2020. Thomas joined the Cycas five-years ago, progressing from director of sales at its dual-branded property in Stratford to GM of Staybridge Suites London-Vauxhall in August 2017. In addition, Cycas also revealed James Gardiner has re-joined the company as GM for the 96-suite Staybridge Suites London – Vauxhall. He brings 15 years’ hospitality experience, and has held GM positions in several IHG hotels, including the Holiday Inn Brighton – Seafront and the Crowne Plaza Reading. Wayne Androliakos, Cycas Hospitality’s COO, said: “Whilst Cycas’s portfolio has grown significantly over the last few years, our focus on building industry-leading hotel teams that create memorable guest experiences has always remained at the heart of our company. “Talented leaders are the lifeblood of our business, and we’re delighted to be both welcoming and welcomed back such high calibre hospitality leaders to the team. With our new, regional operations structure now firmly in place, and even greater local expertise embedded within our team, Cycas is in a stronger position than ever.” He added: “I look forward to working with all four recruits to capitalise on Cycas’s exciting momentum and deliver the best guest experience and industry returns across Europe.”