John Johnston, president of Raffles Hotels & Resorts, announces the appointment of well known hotelier, Simon Hirst, as general manager of Raffles Praslin Seychelles. Hirst brings to Raffles Praslin Seychelles hotel, extensive experience in luxury hotels and resorts. He began his career with the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, holding management positions with the group’s hotels in Hong Kong and San Francisco over 11 years.
In 1988, he joined Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts as Resident Manager of the Four Seasons, Park Lane, London. He returned to Asia in 1991 as Hotel Manager of Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, re-joining Four Seasons in 1994 as General Manager of The Regent Chiang Mai (a Four Seasons hotel) opening Chiang Mai’s first luxury resort.
In 1997, he was appointed General Manager of One Aldwych, London and successfully opened the hotel with visionary hotelier Gordon Campbell Gray, with whom he has been working since. In 2008, he became Operations Director of CampbellGray Hotels where he oversaw the hotel collection including Carlisle Bay, Antigua - Dukes Hotel, London and the recently opened Le Gray in Beirut. He was also responsible for the operations planning of new hotel projects.