ALEXİS DELAROFF TO BE AWARDED

LONDON - Alexis Delaroff, Accor Russia - CIS chief operating officer, has been named the Russia & CIS Hotel Investment Conference (RHIC) 2013 Leadership Award winner.

The award will be presented to Delaroff at the Russia & CIS Hotel Investment Conference taking place in Sochi next week. The RHIC Advisory board chose to honor Delaroff in recognition of his contributions to the development of the hotel industry in the region.

Delaroff came to Russia in 1997 through an appointment by the InterContinental Hotels group to open the first Holiday Inn in Russia, the Holiday Inn Vinogradovo. He joined Accor in 2002 and opened the Novotel Moscow Centre, Accor’s second hotel in the region, as general manager and received the “Crystal Boat” award sponsored by Moscow City Government for the achievements of the hotel in 2002 and 2003. In 2006 Accor named him director of operations, responsible for overseeing the operations and development of Accor hotels in Russia. He was named chief operating officer of Accor Russia - CIS in 2009 and subsequently grew the network to 18 hotels under operations, another 25 under construction and a strong pipeline allowing a signinficant growth of Accor’s network in the region of up to 10 new hotel openings per year.

“I am honored to receive this award from the most authoritative hospitality conference in the region,” Delaroff said. “We believe RHIC offers a valuable platform for industry leaders to increase market knowledge, make new contacts and network with the who’s who of the industry. This definitely allowed Accor to raise the awareness and the strength of its brands, and as a consequence to build a healthy pipeline. This is placing Accor ahead of the competition within a dynamic market, which offers many opportunities.”

“It is a great pleasure for us to honour Alexis with this award.” said Jonathan Worsley, chairman of Bench Events and RHIC co-organiser. He is extremely well qualified as this year’s winner and his contribution over the years have truly made a difference to the hospitality industry in the region.”

The Russia & CIS Hotel Investment Conference will be held on October 22-23, 2013, at the Radisson Blu Resort & Congress Centre in Sochi.

For details, visit www.russia-cisconference.com.

Russia & CIS Hotel Investment Conference (RHIC) – 22-23 October 2013, Radisson Blu Resort & Congress Centre, Sochi, Russia. To register to attend this event, and for details of the conference programme, please visit www.russia-cisconference.com.

RHIC is co-organised by Bench Events and Questex Media Group, which also organises the International Hotel Investment Forum Berlin and the Turkey and Neighbours Hotel Investment Conference.

Founder Sponsor: Jones Lang LaSalle
Host Sponsor: Radisson Blu Resort & Congress Centre Sochi
Strategic Partner: Krasnodar region administration
Platinum Sponsor: Taghazout Bay and Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group
Gold Sponsors: Accor; AECOM; Airport City St Petersburg; Ministry of Tourism Argentina; AZIMUT Hotels; Best Western International; Cushman & Wakefield; Dentons; DLA Piper; EY; Hals-Development; Hilton Worldwide; Horwath HTL Hungary & Russia; HVS; InterContinental Hotels Group; JSC Special Economic Zones; Marriott International Inc.; Smarteq; Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.; STR Global; and Wyndham Hotel Group.
Sponsors: OASE GmbH; Schneider Electric and Synchrotel Group, Premium AV for Hotels

Supporters: Cornell School of Hotel Administration; Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne; Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation; International Tourism Partnership; Ministry for Investments and Innovations of the Moscow region; Russian Association of Business Travel; UNWTO; and World Travel & Tourism Council.

Media Partners: Destinations of the World News, EuropaProperty, frontdesk; HA+D; HIT Club; Hotel Analyst; Hotel & Restaurant Business Management; Hotel & Restaurant Ukraine; Hotel Management; Hoteliero; Hotel Planet; HotelNewsNow; Modern Hotel; Next Stop; VIP Hotelier; Russia Beyond the Headlines; Rway; Sleeper; Travel and Tour World; TTG Russia; Vedomosti and YourBusinessChannel.

About Bench Events

Bench Events has a long track record of delivering, with its partners, the premier hotel investment events in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Bench Events Chairman Jonathan Worsley is one of the organisers and founders of the highly successful International Hotel Investment Forum, now in its 17th year. In 2005, he was responsible for launching the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference in Dubai and in 2008 launched the Russia & CIS Hotel Investment Conference. In 2011 Bench Events added two events to the portfolio, co-hosting the Turkey & Neighbours Hotel Investment Conference and launching the Africa Hotel Investment Forum. In 2012 Bench Events co-hosted the British Hospitality & Tourism Summit in London and co-hosted the Morocco Tourism Investment Forum in 2013. For more information, visit www.benchevents.com.

About Questex Media Group

Questex Hospitality + Travel, the largest multimedia organization in the world dedicated to hospitality and travel, drives revenue, productivity and value creation for these related industries through strategic investment and deal-making forums, powerful lead-generation tools, interactive online business solutions, world-class events and industry-leading publications.

Questex Hospitality + Travel operates throughout the United States and Americas regions, EMEA and Asia/Pacific through a variety of market-leading properties and services including International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) Berlin, North America Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference, Asia Pacific Hotel Investment Conference, Asia Pacific Tourism Destination Investment Conference, Brazil Hospitality Investment Conference, Russia & CIS Hotel Investment Conference, Turkey & Neighbours Hotel Investment Conference, HOTEC Design North America and HOTEC Operations & Technology North America; lead generation portal HotelManagement.net; industry news delivery services in print, online and mobile worldwide via IHIF: Hotel Investment News along with Hotel Management and HA+D magazines. For more information please visit www.questex.com.

For more information, contact:
Sally Marwaha, Event Manager
sally.marwaha@benchevents.com