SRS-WORLDHOTELS appoints Michael J Ball as its new CEO and Managing Director

SRS-WORLDHOTELS, one of the world’s leading and most dynamic hotel marketing and representation consortia, has announced that Michael J Ball will take over as its new CEO and Managing Director, effective 7 January 2001.

The Supervisory Board of the global sales, marketing and reservations organization has appointed Mr Ball, who most recently held a senior management position with Shangri La Hotels & Resorts, based in Hong Kong, to succeed the current CEO, Mr Reinhard Przybilski, one of the founders of SRS-WORLDHOTELS, who retires on 31 March 2002.

Michael Ball has a long and distinguished career in sales and marketing and particular expertise in global sales and reservations solutions. As Marketing Director of Utell International from 1984, Ball played an active role in the organization's development from a primarily European hotel representation company to a global reservations service provider.

Following the acquisition of Utell by the Murdoch group and its later acquisition by Reed International and the merger with Anasazi to form REZsolutions, he has held key sales and marketing positions in New York and London, which culminated in his appointment in 1997 as Executive Vice President of the company.

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Ball said "SRS-WORLDHOTELS has a long and successful history in this challenging field of hotel sales, marketing and reservations technology. I look forward to joining the company and to helping continue that success."

A Graduate in Hotel, Catering and Tourism Management from the UK's Surrey University, Michael Ball (46) is married and has three children.

Currently, SRS-WORLDHOTELS has more than 400 member hotels in its portfolio, representing over 70,000 rooms in 65 countries and 250 destinations worldwide. In 2000, SRS-WORLDHOTELS generated over 1.2 million room nights for its members and a total turnover of US$192 million – an increase of 17% over the previous year.

SRS-WORDLHOTELS’ Asia/Pacific operation has grown dramatically to 20 staff in four offices around the region. The company has over 50 properties in Asia/Pacific and SRS-WORLDHOTELS saw an increase of over 40% in it room night production from the Asia Pacific region in 2000.