NAME:
Katie Sharples
JOB TITLE:
Director of Global PR
COMPANY:
BIO:
Katie is an expert brand builder and communications aficionado. After kicking off her career agency-side, she was emancipated into the world of hospitality at LE Miami, a global trade event that brings together more than 1,600 leaders from the lifestyle travel space. Here, Katie led the show’s boundary-breaking marketing and thought leadership programming for four years, before taking the reins as Co-head for the event’s 2019 edition.
In 2020 Katie moved in-house to edyn, where she spearheaded brand marketing and PR for its lifestyle aparthotel brand, Locke. In two years Katie opened seven new Locke locations across Europe, eventually rising to Head of Group Communications & PR – overseeing the platform’s consumer and corporate communications.
Now as Director of Global PR at Design Hotels, Katie is responsible for raising the profile of the internationally recognised brand and its portfolio of more than 300 independently owned hotels.
Oat flat white please (conforming to millennial stereotypes off the bat).
Strong perspectives on aesthetics and experience are helpful when building a distinctive brand and defining its point of difference; though the team behind the brand is more important to me.
In my view, the most successful brands are those built on genuine passion and feeling, so being surrounded by open minded, creative and curious people is essential – it also helps if you’re the target psychographic of the end consumer, too.
I came across Thierry Teyssier during my time at LE Miami and I’ve kept an eye on what he’s been up to ever since.
Thierry is the owner of Dar Ahlam (which I’ve not been to, but it’s on my list), which takes the top hotel spot of everyone I know who’s visited. Alongside Dar Ahlam, he also has 700,000 hours - a zero impact wandering hotel.
A friend of mine, Juliet Kinsman, recently experienced his latest project Tizkmoudine, which has been created in partnership with the Global Heritage Fund in a Berber village in Morocco. It’s a tiny three-room community-led hotel that has been created in partnership with the village – allowing travellers to *truly* immerse themselves in the local culture.
Seeing such a thoughtful project come to fruition I hope is a blueprint for the future of conscious travel.
I wholeheartedly believe that travel can be a force for good and hotels should be educational, immersive spaces that enable cultural exchange. In-line with that, the programming and partnerships that hotels foster should open guests’ minds, provide some kind of new insight – big or small – and aspire to create some sort of positive behavioural change.
I count my lucky stars that the folks at LE Miami took a punt on me and enabled my emancipation into hospitality. We don’t work in travel for the money: but the experiences, knowledge and people you meet along the way are so enriching that it’s a joy to wake up and go to work every single day.
There’s always a new story to tell, new project to work on, new challenge to address, so there’s never a dull moment – plus I absolutely love what I do, so work is never a chore.
WOW. Honestly, if we weren't so blown away by her insight and knowledge (and the fact that she's just really lovely!), then we'd probably hate her for her unbelievably cool, creative and fulfilling job! Jokes...we could never! Having worked with Katie during her time at Edyn, we're so excited to see what she does with Design Hotels moving forward!
Stay tuned for more Brews & Qs heading your way, and as always if you'd like to feature or want to put any ridiculously interesting and inspiring people you know forward, get in touch!
NAME:
Katie Sharples
JOB TITLE:
Director of Global PR
COMPANY:
BIO:
Katie is an expert brand builder and communications aficionado. After kicking off her career agency-side, she was emancipated into the world of hospitality at LE Miami, a global trade event that brings together more than 1,600 leaders from the lifestyle travel space. Here, Katie led the show’s boundary-breaking marketing and thought leadership programming for four years, before taking the reins as Co-head for the event’s 2019 edition.
In 2020 Katie moved in-house to edyn, where she spearheaded brand marketing and PR for its lifestyle aparthotel brand, Locke. In two years Katie opened seven new Locke locations across Europe, eventually rising to Head of Group Communications & PR – overseeing the platform’s consumer and corporate communications.
Now as Director of Global PR at Design Hotels, Katie is responsible for raising the profile of the internationally recognised brand and its portfolio of more than 300 independently owned hotels.
Oat flat white please (conforming to millennial stereotypes off the bat).
Strong perspectives on aesthetics and experience are helpful when building a distinctive brand and defining its point of difference; though the team behind the brand is more important to me.
In my view, the most successful brands are those built on genuine passion and feeling, so being surrounded by open minded, creative and curious people is essential – it also helps if you’re the target psychographic of the end consumer, too.
I came across Thierry Teyssier during my time at LE Miami and I’ve kept an eye on what he’s been up to ever since.
Thierry is the owner of Dar Ahlam (which I’ve not been to, but it’s on my list), which takes the top hotel spot of everyone I know who’s visited. Alongside Dar Ahlam, he also has 700,000 hours - a zero impact wandering hotel.
A friend of mine, Juliet Kinsman, recently experienced his latest project Tizkmoudine, which has been created in partnership with the Global Heritage Fund in a Berber village in Morocco. It’s a tiny three-room community-led hotel that has been created in partnership with the village – allowing travellers to *truly* immerse themselves in the local culture.
Seeing such a thoughtful project come to fruition I hope is a blueprint for the future of conscious travel.
I wholeheartedly believe that travel can be a force for good and hotels should be educational, immersive spaces that enable cultural exchange. In-line with that, the programming and partnerships that hotels foster should open guests’ minds, provide some kind of new insight – big or small – and aspire to create some sort of positive behavioural change.
I count my lucky stars that the folks at LE Miami took a punt on me and enabled my emancipation into hospitality. We don’t work in travel for the money: but the experiences, knowledge and people you meet along the way are so enriching that it’s a joy to wake up and go to work every single day.
There’s always a new story to tell, new project to work on, new challenge to address, so there’s never a dull moment – plus I absolutely love what I do, so work is never a chore.
WOW. Honestly, if we weren't so blown away by her insight and knowledge (and the fact that she's just really lovely!), then we'd probably hate her for her unbelievably cool, creative and fulfilling job! Jokes...we could never! Having worked with Katie during her time at Edyn, we're so excited to see what she does with Design Hotels moving forward!
Stay tuned for more Brews & Qs heading your way, and as always if you'd like to feature or want to put any ridiculously interesting and inspiring people you know forward, get in touch!
