Our hotels at Castlewood Hotels & Resorts are supported by our Head Office team. Our values and our actions are shaped by open and honest communication as well as a family-like atmosphere. Team spirit and solidarity are very important in our family. Behind a successful company there is always a strong team. In the following we would like to introduce ourselves and our competencies and show you how we combine our individual strengths into an advantage.
CEO
Kateryna Smura
Kateryna Smura, certified business economics graduate of the Humboldt University of Berlin, has been with Castlewood Hotels & Resorts since the company was founded. She is the Chief Executive Officer of the hotel group. Kateryna Smura has studied in Lausanne and specialised in the coordination of acquisitions and the subsequent configuration and implementation of transnational HR-, reporting- and controlling structures, during her time working in controlling and corporate development at the Capgemini Group in Central- and Eastern Europe. Since 2010 she has also been working as a self-employed entrepreneur in the real estate and hotel services sector.
CEO
Walter C. Neumann
Walter C. Neumann, the current Chief Executive Director of Seetelhotels, will become the CEO of Castlewood Hotels & Resorts Group and Grand Metropolitan Hotels starting January 2024. Neumann, a trained hotel management professional, has an extensive career in the hotel industry. In the early years of his career, he worked in various specialized areas and held senior positions both domestically and internationally. He was part of renowned hotel groups such as Lindner Hotels and Rocco Forte. In 2006, he took on the role of Managing Director at Travel Charme. His career eventually led him to Azimut Hotels, where he served as CEO from 2013 to 2018, contributing to the company’s growth and development.
CFO
Richard Eder
Richard Eder joins us having previously worked in different capacities with the Hyatt group and IHG in controlling and finances. Initially staring his career working in different fields of operations including time on the ship MS Astor, Richard soon started focusing on the field of finance in which he worked for several top addresses including Crowne Plaza Hamburg, Crowne Plaza Heidelberg and at Hotel Park Hyatt in Hamburg.
COO
Michaela Fricke
Michaela Fricke, Chief Operating Officer of Castlewood Hotels & Resorts, has more than 35 years of experience in the hospitality industry, including 28 years in senior leadership roles in Germany, Europe, and international markets. She has made a significant contribution to optimizing operational processes, increasing revenue, and successfully developing both resort and city hotels. With her international profile, strong expertise in revenue management, and her ability to sustainably inspire and lead teams, she represents first-class operational excellence within the group.
CCO
Janin Blaser
Janin Blaser, a graduate in business administration from the University of Bayreuth, has been the Chief Commercial Officer at Grand Metropolitan Hotels and Castlewood Hotels & Resorts Group since January 2024. Through her previous role as Chief Commercial Officer at Castlewood Hotels & Resorts Group, she possesses the necessary expertise in the commercial sector. As CCO, she now oversees the areas of Sales, Marketing, E-Commerce, Revenue Management, PR & Communications, and Branding. Prior to that Janin Blaser used to work in the field of brand development for Kempinski and Dorint. Initially coming from business consulting, she focussed on the sector of e-commerce for several years before managing a content manufactory in Bremen, the biggest fashion photography and film studio of Europe, with well-known clients like Hugo Boss, Adidas, About You and G-Star.
CDO
Alexey Slesar
Alexey Slesar is an experienced international executive in the hospitality and real estate industry, with over twenty years of experience in hotel and real estate development, acquisitions, and project financing. He began his career in the international hospitality sector as Vice President of Development and Acquisitions in Russia, the CIS countries, and Eastern Europe at Hyatt, where he played a crucial role in the company’s expansion in the region and was responsible for Hyatt’s highly successful entry into the Russian market with the top-tier Park Hyatt brand. Alexey Slesar has held key positions for Fortune 500 companies and has held significant development roles in large international public and private hospitality investment firms, reporting directly to shareholders and global management.
CSO
Wilhelm K. Weber
Wilhelm K. Weber, Chief Strategy & Digital Officer, is an internationally experienced hospitality manager with a strong focus on digital transformation and revenue management. He is a managing director and motivational speaker with over 20 years of experience in business development and sales. Weber has worked with a variety of clients, including large multinational corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as startups. Among his esteemed clients are Kempinski, Melia, Dorint, Steigenberger, as well as other renowned hotels such as the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz, Cinnamon Grand Colombo, and Omnia Zermatt. In addition to his consulting work, he is also a highly sought-after speaker and lecturer, holding degrees from Cornell University and the University of Lucerne.
CHRO
Stephanie Blinken
After successful completion of her international Hospitality & Tourism studies at the IU Bad Honnef, Germany, Stephanie started her career with Kempinski Hotels. While shaping her career in Human Resources, she was working for the group in destinations as Berlin, Geneva, Bahrain and Rwanda. In 2015 Stephanie moved back to Germany and held the position of Director Human Resources for the Althoff Hotels at lake Tegernsee, South of Germany. Her last professional step before joining CWHR was leading the HR & Training department at the Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof from 2019 until June 2022.
Group F&B Manager
Rasmus Bildtoft
Rasmus Bildtoft, a native of Denmark, decided to leave his home country to pursue his studies in Switzerland. He completed his Bachelor of International Business in Hotel & Tourism Management at the renowned César Ritz Colleges Switzerland and Washington State University, receiving the “Outstanding Leadership Award.” During his studies, Rasmus gained valuable hands-on experience at Bürgenstock Hotels & Resort, where he initially worked as a sommelier and later in room division management.
Director of Revenue
Annika Bretschneider
With more than 16 years of experience in international hospitality, Annika Bretschneider is recognized as an expert in revenue management. She has a strong track record in developing innovative pricing strategies, accurate forecasts, and data-driven decision-making. Before joining Grand Metropolitan Hotels, she was responsible for strategic revenue optimization for multiple properties at H World International. She began her career at Steigenberger Hotels, where she advanced through various revenue management roles into a senior leadership position, supported by a master’s degree in Leadership & Management.
Sales
Susanne Heyl
Susanne Heyl began her career in the hospitality industry after completing her studies in hotel management with a focus on sales & marketing at the International University in Bad Honnef. Her career initially led her into convention sales at the Althoff Seehotel Überfahrt on Lake Tegernsee and at Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa in Baden-Baden, before she went on to work as a project manager at Europa-Park Erlebnis-Resort. Over the past two years, she has supported the company as an Executive Assistant. With her broad experience in the upscale hospitality sector, Susanne brings valuable expertise in event organization and sales support.
Senior Group Marketing & E-Commerce Manager
Lara Beiler
Since 2017, Lara Beiler has been a member of the Castlewood team in the Marketing & E-Commerce department. After her graduation in Business Management in Mannheim, Lara Beiler followed her studies with a master’s degree in International Management, focussing on Marketing & Sales. During her studies, she gained international experience through a total of 8 months in South Africa. Here, she worked in the field of marketing and sales for the 5-star golf resort “Plattner Golf”. Since then, she has been responsible for the Marketing & E-Commerce division of all hotels within the Castlewood Hotels & Resorts group.
Senior Group Sales Manager
Vanessa Wachel
Mario Kalbfleisch has been IT Group Administrator at CWHR since October 2020. While studying electrical engineering in the early 1990s at the University of Applied Sciences Gießen-Friedberg, he was already able to gain experience in the IT field and subsequently worked for over 23 years as a self-employed IT consultant for mid-sized corporate clients. In addition to his diverse responsibilities in the IT department of Castlewood Hotels and Resorts Group and its eight hotels, he also serves as the Data Protection Officer for the group.
Group F&B Project Manager
Thorsten Sonntag
Thorsten Sonntag, gelernter Hotelfachmann, hält seit 2019 die Position des Group F&B Project Manager für Castlewood Hotels & Resorts inne. He supplemented his career in the hotel business with an apprenticeship to become a professional international bartender. The following three years he spent working in the luxury hotel industry close to Hameln. After three years, he took on the responsibility of two bars in the area of Göttingen, followed by joining the shipping company Hapag Lloyd when they first launched the MS Europa and then the Compass Group where he worked in F&B management.
IT
Mario Kalbfleisch
Mario Kalbfleisch has been serving as the IT Group Administrator at CWHR since October 2020. During his studies in electrical engineering at FH Gießen-Friedberg in the early 1990s, Mario Kalbfleisch gained experience in the IT field. Subsequently, he worked as an independent IT consultant for over 23 years, serving medium-sized corporate clients. In addition to his diverse responsibilities in the IT department of the Castlewood Hotels and Resorts group and its hotels, he serves as the data protection officer of the group.
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