Marriott appoints Three New Area Directors of Sales & Marketing - Europe

Marriott International has made three new area sales and marketing appointments in Continental Europe: Theo Ocks for Western Europe, Vicky Varfis for Eastern Europe, and Iris Baugatz for Central Europe.

All three area directors of sales and marketing are based in Eschborn, Germany, and are together responsible for nearly 100 properties in 22 countries, across five lodging brands: JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts in the luxury tier; Marriott Hotels & Resorts and Renaissance Hotels & Resorts in the upscale-deluxe tier; Courtyard by Marriott in the select-service category; and Marriott Executive Apartments in the extended-stay category.

Theo Ocks has been named area director of sales and marketing for Western Europe. He was previously cluster director of marketing in Jakarta responsible for two Ritz-Carltons, the JW Marriott and the Mayflower (Marriott Executive Apartments) in Jakarta. His previous assignment was country director of sales and marketing for 35 Accor hotels in Indonesia.

Ocks also has experience as director of sales and marketing in the Accor Hotels and Resorts National Sales Office in Luxembourg. Prior to joining Accor, he was with Radisson SAS Hotels in the United Arab Emirates as director, worldwide accounts and manager Travel Industry and Global Distribution Systems.

He has a Bachelor's degree in hotel administration from The Hague with a major in marketing.

Vicky Varfis is the new area director of sales and marketing for Eastern Europe. Varfis started her hotel career at the Athens Ledra Marriott Hotel as sales coordinator in 1984. Over the following years, she was promoted to sales executive, sales manager and finally senior Sales manager at the same property.

From 1993 to 1998, Varfis held assignments with Business Circle, as director of conference and incentive; with Hotel Pentelikon, as director of sales and marketing; and as Greece's representative for ISL Worldwide for the FIBA World Basketball Championships Athens 98 Hospitality program.

In November 1998, Varfis rejoined Marriott as director of sales and marketing at the Athens Ledra Marriott Hotel. She was awarded the Sales Leader of the Year for Marriott Continental Europe Region out of 37 hotels in the year 2000. Two years later, in 2002, Vicky and her team were named Global Sales Team of the Year for Marriott International worldwide out of 1,800 hotels.

In March 2006, Varfis transferred to the Cairo Marriott Hotel & Omar Khayyam Casino and took over the position of director of sales and marketing there. Since February 2008 she has been deputy general manager at the Elounda SA Hotels & Resort & Spa on the island of Crete, Greece.

Varfis also is a certified trainer for Marriott sales.

Iris Baugatz has been appointed area director of sales and marketing for Central Europe. In this position, she will be responsible for the sales and marketing activities of currently 38 hotels in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Baugatz joined Marriott in 1997 as sales representative at the Courtyard by Marriott Berlin-Teltow. She then held assignments at the Stuttgart Marriott Hotel Sindelfingen (sales manager, director of sales and director of sales and marketing). In 2003, Iris transferred to Berlin and became a member of Berlin Marriott opening team as a director of sales.

After a successful launch of the Berlin Marriott, Baugatz moved to Hamburg in October 2004 and took over the sales and marketing responsibilities at the Hamburg Marriott Hotel. She did an outstanding job there, and in 2006 her team was recognized as Sales & Marketing Team of the Year.

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