Sterling appoints Damian Niesel as CEO Resorts

Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited (SHRL), India’s leading holiday lifestyle company, has appointed Damian G H Niesel as Chief Operations Officer – Resorts.

In his new role Niesel will focus on delivering great customer experience and international service standards at Sterling Holidays as well as help bring international best practices to the company.

Educated at Cornell University, Niesel is an industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience in hospitality and management.

Damian Niesel

Commenting on his appointment he said: “Having seen changes in China’s hospitality industry and customer expectations over the last 25 years, I am keen to apply my learnings to India. These are truly exciting times to join Sterling Holidays during its expansion into some of the most recognised tourist destinations in India.”

Prior to joining Sterling Holidays, Niesel had been involved with some of the world’s leading hospitality and lifestyle companies including founding Events in the Sky Asia and holding several senior executive positions with Qatar National Hotels, Sofitel Luxury Hotels, IHG and Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts.

Ramesh Ramanathan, managing director, SHRL, said: “We are confident that Damian’s vast experience across markets will be of importance as we work towards making Sterling Holidays the largest holiday lifestyle company in this country.

“His global expertise and exposure to lifestyle management is an added advantage as we endeavor to provide our guests differentiated travel and holiday experiences.”

SHRL is a pioneer of vacation ownership in India and currently has 26 resorts – totalling 1,896 rooms – with plans to add 16 more. The company is a 100 per cent independently managed subsidiary of Thomas Cook (India) Limited (TCIL), India’s leading integrated travel and travel related financial services company.