Meet the newest members of your sales and marketing team.
We’re the only representation agency for overseas hotels, resorts and DMCs made up of experts in every UK and European market - based in one centralised UK office.
The Team
If you want to break into a new European market, you need to do more than speak the local language. You need to be fluent in the needs of the market and have the right contacts to make a difference.
Suzanne Kelly
Founder and Co-Owner
Founder and Co-Owner
Suzanne founded Cara Hotel Marketing in 2004. She’s an industry expert with a vast experience of the travel industry across the UK, Irish and European markets. Suzanne cut her teeth in her family’s travel agency business in Dublin, Ireland, where she set up a very successful long haul division. After a brief encounter with the banking sector, she was drawn back to travel and spent almost a decade in senior sales roles for hotels and resorts in the Caribbean, Mexico and Africa.
Suzanne holds degrees in German, Economics and Business Studies from University College Dublin. She now lives in Singapore with her husband and three children. In her early years, Suzanne played tennis for Ireland and continues to send her opponents into crushing defeats!
suzanne@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)20 3959 0959
James Bell
Co-Owner and Managing Director
James Bell, Co-Owner and Managing Director
As Managing Director, James leads the strategic direction of the company and our clients in the UK and European markets. He began his career in travel at Thomson Holidays, initially on the Graduate Management Scheme, and ultimately in the long haul product department where he was responsible for the Caribbean and Mexico.
After a number of years working in representation and directly for hotels and resorts across the Caribbean, Mexico and Florida, he teamed up with Suzanne in 2005 to build the company to the success it is today. James enjoys a vast wealth of knowledge and long track-record of delivering success for partners and clients during his travel industry career.
After graduating from the University of Cambridge with a Masters in history, James spent almost 20 years living in London before heading for the green fields of Wiltshire in the UK, where he now lives with his partner.
james@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7793 539 119
Paul Bodart
Deputy Managing Director
Paul Bodart, Deputy Managing Director
Paul joined the team as Sales and Marketing Director in 2010 from UK tour operator, Trailfinders, where he held a number of roles in the sales, product and contracting departments. He has a great depth of knowledge about the UK and European markets to the Caribbean, Mexico and Indian Ocean. Now, as Deputy Managing Director, Paul works closely with our clients to develop top-line strategy and leads the team to ensure its effective delivery.
Paul is originally from South Africa and of French descent, giving him the insight necessary to lead our multi-cultural team. He has lived in London for the past 13 years and enjoys whizzing around the capital on his bicycle, travelling, and discovering the great outdoors with his wife and two youngs sons.
paul@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7952 880 738
Lizzie Parker
Director of Sales & Marketing
Lizzie Parker, Director of Sales & Marketing
Lizzie spent a number of years working in sales and client development for Tiffany & Co. before her passion for travel and all things Mexican led her to pursue a career in the travel industry. She joined the team as Sales and Marketing Executive in 2014 and after 3 very successful years in senior Commercial Management roles, was promoted to the position of Director of Sales & Marketing in February 2019. Lizzie leads a growing high quality, results driven sales, marketing & business development team. She has overall responsibility for increasing distribution, sales and market share for our portfolio of industry clients
When she’s not attending Royal Garden Parties at Buckingham Palace (and meeting the Queen), she loves to travel, particularly to Mexico where she had once spent a year living in Guadalajara. She has travelled extensively throughout the country, giving her a unique insight into the competitive environment.
lizzie@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7990 815 819
Edouard Maindon
Director of Commercial
Edouard Maindon, Director of Commercial
Edouard joined the team as Commercial Director in November 2015 from UK tour operator Kuoni, where he was the Contracting Manager for Mauritius, Seychelles, Spanish Caribbean and Middle East. As Commercial Director, Edouard works closely with our hotels to develop the annual rate strategy for all European markets and directs contracting with our partners, as well as leading the commercial team to ensure the delivery of promotional rates throughout the season.
Edouard is originally from France, giving him the insight necessary to manage our multi-cultural team. After many years of London life, he now lives in Madrid with his wife and two young sons, but is a very regular visitor to Cara's UK offices. When Edouard was much younger, he completed a six-day trek in Venezuela. (And couldn’t walk for two days afterwards.)
edouard@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7879 994 874
Donna Sweeney-Simmons
Director of Groups and Incentives
Director of Groups and Incentives
Donna has worked in the travel industry for the past 30 years, with the last 24 focusing on the MICE and groups segment. She’s previously worked for Sandals and Superclubs and has a wealth of knowledge and expertise in groups and incentives. She joined us in August 2012. In her role, Donna works closely with incentive houses and smaller bespoke clients to create brand awareness to meet their and their client’s group and incentive requests.
Donna loves challenging herself with a daily early morning boxing session or cardio workout and is passionate about travelling. She also has a secret superpower: being able to eat nine crème eggs in one sitting without feeling queasy.
donna@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)20 3372 4810
Joanne Ellis
Sales & Marketing Manager – UK and Ireland
Joanne Ellis, Sales & Marketing Manager – UK and Ireland
Joanne and her team work to ensure there’s a proactive and results-driven approach to supporting all of the UK & Irish tour operators that we work with. She joined the team in September 2018 from UK tour operator, Best At Travel, where she was their Caribbean Product Manager. Having worked in the travel industry for over 20 years with the likes of Cosmos Holidays and Caribtours, Joanne brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience of the UK market.
Yorkshire born and bred, Joanne got the travel bug from her grandparents who filled her with stories of their adventures driving down to Spain in the 1960s. She loves getting back to nature, whether that's a traditional sheep festival in the Yorkshire Dales or trekking in the Costa Rican jungle in search of the quetzal bird and sleepy sloths!
joanne@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7796 898 683
Nicola Francis
Sales & Marketing Executive - UK and Ireland
Nicola Francis, Sales & Marketing Executive - UK & Ireland
nicola@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7825 082 297
Angela Read
Sales & Marketing Executive - UK and Ireland
Angela Read, Sales & Marketing Executive - UK and Ireland
Angela joined the team in November 2021. Having started her travel industry career as cabin crew, she comes with a wealth of experience from a variety of sales, contracting and account management roles with the likes of Virgin Holidays, Secrets Escapes, HotelsCombined and most recently, YouTravel.
In the role of Sales, Marketing & Business Development Executive, her primary focus is upon developing strong working relationships with our trade partners in the UK & Ireland in order to increase awareness and market share for AMR Collection in the Caribbean, Mexico and Latin America.
Born in Auckland, Angela moved with her family to Sussex in the UK when she was a child but still returns to New Zealand whenever she can to see her many relatives still living there. Like the rest of the team, she is a travel fanatic and wants to visit every country in the world. She has already clocked up 45 coutnries and whilst the challenges of recent years have put a temporary stop to her progress, Angela is eager to now conquer the rest!
+44 (0)7795 673 623
Lauren Mack
Business Development Manager, UK and Ireland
Lauren Mack, Business Development Manager, UK and Ireland
Lauren joined the team in 2019 from the trade sales team at Caribbean specialist tour operator Caribtours. Like all of the best, she cut her travel industry teeth as a Resort Representative for Thomas Cook before returning to the UK in a trade sales role with Greek specialist tour operator, Olympic Holidays.
Lauren works closely with the travel agent community and consortia in the UK & Ireland to raise awareness and build knowledge of the AMR Collection and its many destinations around the world. She loves flying the flag for AMR Collection and is always out on the road doing agency visits or attending events to ensure that their product is always front of mind with the teams selling to our future guests.
After a number of years enjoying everything that living in central London offers, she is now adjusting to a slower pace of life in the suburbs with her lucky husband to be! They always have at least one holiday in the diary, and as a lover of all things luxury, Lauren has many years of fabulous destinations to explore as she works her way around the world with the AMR Collection!
lauren.mack@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7884 385 338
Tasha Smith
Business Development Executive - UK and Ireland
Tasha Smith, Business Development Executive - UK and Ireland
tasha@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7766 655 578
Honorine Robinet
Sales & Marketing Manager - France, Benelux and Russia
Honorine Robinet, Sales & Marketing Manager - France, Benelux and Russia
Honorine joined as Sales and Marketing Manager in December 2015 from Accor Hotels, where she led the Sales and Marketing department for a 4* Mercure Boutique Hotel in London. She works closely with our commercial and marketing teams to implement strategies that will grow our clients' market share whilst she develops our relationships with tour operators and other trade partners in the French, Benelux and Russian markets.
After many years in London, Honorine now lives in her home city of Lille in northern France with her partner and their young family. She loves discovering new countries and can’t wait to travel around the world with her family, discovering new cultures and traditions.
honorine@carahotelmarketing.com
+33 (0) 6 64 42 02 93
Myriam Mengouchi
Sales & Marketing Executive - France and Benelux
Myriam Mengouchi, Sales & Marketing Executive - France and Benelux
myriam@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7502 433 476
Pauline Pham
Business Development Executive - France and Benelux
Pauline Pham, Business Development Executive - France and Benelux
pauline@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7482 452 937
Sandra Timmermanns
Sales & Marketing Manager – Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Scandinavia and E. Europe
Sandra Timmermanns, Sales & Marketing Manager – Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Scandinavia and E. Europe
Sandra joined the team as Sales & Marketing Executive in 2013 and was promoted to Sales & Marketing Manager for Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Eastern Europe & Scandinavia in 2015.
She holds a BSc in International Hospitality and Tourism Management and has previously worked as Online Marketing Manager for the German South America specialist Viventura. After nearly 10 years of living, studying and working abroad, Sandra moved back to Germany in 2015, where she since lives with her family near Aachen/Cologne.
It goes without saying that she is passionate about travel and Latin America in particular. However, with two small kids, she currently prefers spending her holidays on campsites across Europe, while still getting to enjoy travelling to places a little further afield through her work with AMR Collection.
sandra@carahotelmarketing.com
+49 (0) 157 5309 2175
Amina Mahood
Sales & Marketing Executive - Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Amina Mahood, Sales & Marketing Executive - Germany, Austria & Switzerland
Sandra Jaskulla
Sales, Marketing & Business Development Executive – Germany, Austria & Switzerland
Sandra Jaskulla, Sales, Marketing & Business Development Executive – Germany, Austria & Switzerland
Sandra’s career in the travel industry started as a travel agent for DERPART in Germany followed by a BA in Business & Tourism Management. After a year of working as Reservation & Sales Coordinator for Stray Travel in New Zealand, she moved back to Germany where she extended her knowledge in marketing and event planning before joining the team at Cara in May 2021 as Sales, Marketing & Business Development Executive, based in Bottrop, Rhine-Westphalia.
Sandra loves travelling, meeting new people and tasting her way around the globe. Her passion has already taken her to every continent of the world - except Antarctica.
sandra.jaskulla@carahotelmarketing.com
+49 (0)163 864 3158
Jana Taufenbach
Business Development Executive - Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Jana Taufenbach, Business Development Executive - Germany, Austria & Switzerland
+49 (0) 163 136 6085
Claire Hutson
Sales & Commercial Manager - Maldives
Claire Hutson, Sales & Commercial Manager - Maldives
Claire joined Cara’s team from British Airways Holidays where she had spent 18 years as Destination Manager looking after product and contracting for a global portfolio of destinations stretching from Europe to the Caribbean. She brings with her a vast amount of experience and now works with our clients in the Indian Ocean to manage partner relationships, define and implement commercial strategies, and to maximise distribution and sales growth.
Hailing from Eastbourne, Claire is a busy mum to her children Daisy and Albie. On the rare occasions she gets time to herself and she can't head with friends to the spa, she loves a simple walk on the seafront with her lovely dog Hatton!
+44 (0)7795 568 659
Kieron Sellens
Senior Marketing & PR Manager – UK and Europe
Senior Marketing & PR Manager – UK and Europe
Bringing with him a wealth of travel knowledge, passion and marketing experience to the role, Kieron joined the team in March 2013 tasked with developing our marketing function. He has been instrumental in launching many of the successful marketing campaigns and initiatives that have so successfully positioned our clients in the UK & Europe, and after 9 years in the role, he is a fully fledged veteran of the team.
Born with a passion for escapism, travel to far flung corners of the world has always been high on his bucket list. More recently though during lockdown, Kieron has had time to explore the deepest corners of his garden. Having become a budding horticulturist, BBQ chef extraordinaire and craft ale enthusiast, he is once again looking forward to getting out into the world again soon!
kieron@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7920 827 040
Carmen Scherl
Commercial Manager - Dominican Republic, Curacao & St. Martin
Carmen Scherl, Commercial Manager - Dominican Republic, Curacao & St. Martin
After studying International Tourism Management, Carmen gained considerable experience working in hotels across Germany and the UK. Prior to joining Cara Hotel Marketing in August 2016, she was working for an Accor Hotel Group hotel in London as Revenue Manager.
She brings strong commercial acumen to her role as Commercial Manager where she is responsible for working with our client portfolio of hotels in the Caribbean, Mexican Pacific and Latin America to manage their commercial strategy, maximising yield and revenue growth.
Carmen loves travelling and takes every opportunity to swim with whatever sea life she can find – sting rays, turtles and dolphins were particular highlights and now she has her sights set on swimming with a whale!
+44 (0)7769 272 451
Silvia Catena
Sales & Marketing Manager - Italy and Commercial Manager - Jamaica, St. Lucia, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia & Mexican Pacific
Silva Catena, Sales & Marketing Manager - Italy and Commercial Manager - Jamaica, St. Lucia, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia & Mexican Pacific
Originally from Italy, Silvia studied Foreign Languages at the University of Bologna before moving to the UK in January 2015. She gained invaluable experience working in hotels and latterly at Tripadvisor before joining Cara's team in October 2017. Having initially joined as Commercial Executive, she was promoted in 2019 and after a stint as working as Sales & Marketing Manager supporting our partners in France, Benelux & Russia, she is now Commercial Manager for AMR Collection in Latin America, Caribbean & Mexican Pacific.
Born and raised in central Italy, Silvia has always been passionate about different cultures and visiting new countries. It is for this reason she decided to pursue a career in the travel industry so that she could nurture her passion for travel both at work and whilst travelling during her spare time.
silvia@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7876 872 855
Richard Gamber
Commercial Manager - Mexican Caribbean South
Richard Gamber, Commercial Manager - Mexican Caribbean South
Richard joined the company in September 2021. He has enjoyed a long and successful career in travel that started over 25 years ago as a Ski Rep in the French Alps before he moved on to roles in Product, Marketing and Commercial with Tour Operators in the UK including Crystal Holidays, Sovereign, The Holiday Malta Company, Youtravel and JAC Travel.
As Commercial Manager, Richard works closely with our client hotels in Mexico to increase revenue, maximise ADR and grow their market share. He ensures that they are always one step ahead of their competitors and that we are maximising the promotional opportunities available to them through our vast network of distribution.
Richard is happily married with teenage children and 3 dogs. When he’s not skiing or showing off his ballroom dancing, he can be found challenging himself to raise money for charity. Sponsorship has seen him jumping out of an aeroplane, racing in Triathlons, and most recently cycling from London to Paris!
richard@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7887 945 013
Karlis Mucins
Commercial Executive
Karlis Mucins, Commercial Executive
karlis@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7825 563 341
Claire McGowan
Commercial Executive
Claire McGowan, Commercial Executive
claire.mcgowan@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7482 458 332
Martina Karayaneva
Commercial Executive
Martina Karayaneva, Commercial Executive
Martina joined the team in July 2018 and comes with a degree in Economics with Banking. Initially in the role of Office & Executive Assistant she supported our executive team whith responsibility for administrating accounts, payments, invoicing, and managing the smooth running of the office. However in March 2019 she was promoted to the role of Commercial Executive, and now contributes to the commercial strategy of our client hotels across all AMResorts properties in the Caribbean, Mexico & Latin America.
Since a young age, Martina has loved crunching numbers and from that developed a love for maths & accountancy. However, her real passion lies in travelling the globe and top of her hobby list is collecting stamps in her passport!
martina@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)7825 563 341
Naman Goel
Contracting & Administration Assistant
Naman Goel, Contracting & Administration Assistant
contracts@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)20 3959 0966
Anna Ruse
Administration & Sales Support Executive
Anna Ruse, Administration & Sales Support Executive
anna@carahotelmarketing.com
+44 (0)20 3959 0959