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Hans J. Keller
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Hans Keller brings to The Ascona Group a wealth of International experience, both in hotel consulting and hotel and resort operations. He has provided his expertise and directed a wide range of projects. Some of his clients include Park Plaza Hotels, BV, London, where Hans created a franchise division and actively managed acquisitions and franchising for the Group. For the Lancaster Hotel Group he restructured several hotels including the Lodge and Spa in Breckenridge, Colorado. He also provided technical assistance and restructured the Hotel Los Tajibos in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. For Millennium Hotels he opened the Royal Palms Hotel in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador - an ecologically very sensitive project. For the 400-room J.W. Marriott in Cairo, Egypt, Mr. Keller designed a luxury Wellness Institute. This 70,000 square feet Center included a combination of eastern and western modalities, as well as a Spa Institute. He has also conducted feasibility studies for projects in various Latin countries (Peru, Costa Rica, etc.). Prior to starting his consulting career, Hans Keller was Vice President of Penta International (a Lufthansa subsidiary) and CEO of the New York Penta. During his tenure he managed to entirely restructure this 1700-room, 1,000 employee New York City Hotel. This restructuring included, among others, the reduction of the management structure by 200 positions, and also creating a fully integrated computer system. The property returned to profitability under some very difficult circumstances. The Hotel was subsequently sold to a partnership. Additional significant contributions included stints with Sonesta International Hotels (twelve years) as Vice President International, where he added the Orlando, Cairo, Jerusalem, and Eilat properties to their portfolio. As President of the Amsterdam Sonesta Corp., he built and operated this luxury downtown 300-room hotel in The Netherlands. With Rock Resorts, Inc. (six years) he managed the Cerromar Beach Hotel, Dorado, Puerto Rico (500 rooms, Casino, 4 golf courses, 800 employees), and also was Director of Systems analyses in New York, where he created the first on-line real time hotel computer system with Ecco computer systems out of California. Hans Keller built and owned Hotel Vanessa in Verbier, Switzerland, a four-star Resort Hotel. He was educated in Switzerland, attended the Hotel School in Lucerne, Switzerland. He speaks English, German, French, Spanish, and some Dutch. He has dual citizenship: Swiss and American.
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