Prior to her current appointment, Pang, a graduate of Cornell University, held senior  marketing positions at various five-star hotels in Hong Kong and previously worked in both operations and marketing at Kowloon Shangri-La and Island Shangri-La.

Brendan Inns has been promoted to vice president corporate marketing from director  of  corporate marketing, a position he has held for three years. He will continue to be responsible for the brand management of the group including image advertising,  corporate collateral, loyalty marketing, partnership marketing and tactical promotions under the direction of Carmen Lam, group director of sales and marketing.

Previously, Brendan spent 14 years with Hyatt International, working in senior sales  and  marketing  positions in mainland  China,  Hong  Kong, Indonesia and Australia, and he was the opening director of marketing at the Grand Hyatt Shanghai in Pudong from 1997 - 2000.

Also based at Shangri-La's corporate office in Hong Kong and reporting to Carmen  Lam, Melanie Foo-Tiplady has been appointed as director of global business  development.  Melanie was most recently the group marketing manager of the Marco Polo Hotel Group for three years and prior to that she was the director of marketing at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong.

In her new role, Melanie will seek to increase Shangri-La's market share of major  corporate accounts and work closely with the group's 12 regional sales offices.

Also, Austin Frost has been promoted to vice president of international sales for Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. With  immediate  effect, he oversees the sales and marketing operations of  the group's worldwide regional sales offices, with the exception of China. Frost's new areas of responsibility include the sales offices in  Tokyo,  Singapore and Hong Kong. He was previously regional director of sales  and  marketing  responsible for Shangri-La's sales and marketing bases in London, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, and the two new regional sales offices in Dubai  and  Melbourne. Based in Shangri-La's European regional sales office in London, he continues to report to Hong Kong-based group director of sales and marketing, Carmen Lam.

Frost joined Shangri-La in 1992 as director of sales for Western Europe and was  promoted  a few years later to director of marketing, Europe. In this role, he has steadily raised Shangri-La's profile in Europe and developed business for the Shangri-La and Traders brands, particularly from the UK, Germany, France, Italy  and, more recently, the Middle East prior to the opening of the Shangri-La Hotel, Dubai.

Frost comments: "Despite recent challenges, this is a very exciting time for Shangri-La. The opening in spring of two new regional sales offices in Dubai  and  Melbourne  (as  well  as the launch last month of two hotels in Dubai and Sydney)  clearly  indicates our faith in the potential of these outbound  markets. Now that we  have  the  sales support of 12 dedicated regional sales and marketing offices in key locations, I am looking forward to  spearheading  product awareness and developing more business to some of the  world's  most sought after leisure and business destinations where our properties are located."

Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts is the largest Asian-based luxury hotel group in the region and currently manages hotels in Australia, mainland China, Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan,  Thailand  and  the  United Arab Emirates, with a rooms inventory of over 20,000.

Judy Reeves
Public Relations Manager, North America
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts
1501 Broadway, Suite 502
New York, NY 10036
Tel: (212) 382-3155
Fax: (212) 382-3329
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website: www.shangri-la.com