Mariano faz
CEO
Mariano brings over twenty years of expertise within the hospitality industry, where he has held several management, finance, consultancy and operational roles
Mariano Faz was Vice President for The First Group Asset Management in Dubai for ten years. He was responsible for the operations and asset management of the company’s hospitality portfolio which comprised over 4,000 units.
Before joining The First Group, Mariano was the Director of Operations of Ilunion Hoteles, where he led the operations of the company. Previously, he was Senior Vice President at JLL Hotels in Spain and Dubai where he focused on investment and advisory in Middle East and Europe.
Mariano worked for Barceló Hotels & Resorts for five years as a Development Manager where he led European development.
Mariano is a Certified Hotel Asset Manager (CHAM), an active HAMA (Hotel Asset Management Association) member and part of the HSMAI (Hotels Sales & Marketing Association International) Advisory Board.
Mariano is a Spanish national and holds a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from the International University of Catalonia Spain, and a Masters in Finance from EADA, Barcelona.
Mariano is a regular speaker at prominent hospitality conferences and actively collaborates in multiple publications related to hotel asset management and hotel operations.
Javier Gella
Javier brings seven years of experience in hospitality combined with 10 years in the financial sector, where he held different responsibilities at global asset managers out of London.
In his previous role, Javier was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for Hoteles Saint Michel(HSM) in the Balearic Islands. During his tenure, Javier managed a total of 16 hotels with more than 800 employees. He led all the corporate departments directly reporting to the BoD. He was also responsible for banking relations, finance, investments, divestments, licenses, relationship with local authorities and other Asset Management responsibilities.
Before joining HSM Hotels, Javier was an investment analyst for eight years at Jupiter Asset Management’s European desk in London, where he researched
equities for an investment strategy with combined Asset Under Management of seven billion euros.
Previous to Jupiter Asset Management, Javier worked at M&B
Capital Advisers and Banco Banif in Madrid.
Javier holds a Bachelor’s in Law and Business Administration from
CEU University of Madrid and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) since 2014.
Operations Director
Szilard has more than 23 years of experience in the hospitality industry, where he has held different operational and senior management positions in the three, four and five star segment.
Before joining Acerca Hospitality, Szilard worked as a Director of Operations at Aguas de Ibiza 5* GL and Nativo Hotel 4* in Ibiza. Previously, Szilard was the Director of Asset Management at HI Partners, where he was responsible for the Balearic Island portfolio. Prior to HI Partners, he was Director of Operations at OD Hotels where he managed 8 hotels.
Szilard has in-depth knowledge of all operational aspects of hotel operations and guest service, having successfully managed hotels of more than 600 rooms in Spain, Italy, Cuba and Mexico for Hotetur, Insotel and Melia Hotels. He began his hospitality career in Southern Italy working for a Mallorca-based hotel operator.
Born in Budapest and educated at Universitat de Barcelona, he holds a post-graduate degree in hotel management and an MBA.
NEUS TARRES
Director Concept Branding, Sales & Marketing
Neus concentrates more than 23 years of experience in the Hospitality industry, where she has held different management positions in the fields of branding, marketing, distribution, planning, technology, and concept creation.
Neus was deputy CEO for Sandos Hotels & Resorts for five years. She was responsible for all the sales & marketing for the group along with the redesigning of all the brand identity, repositioning, the implementation of a new IT ecosystem and the growth in digital marketing.
Before assuming this position, Neus worked for ten years as the Director of Sales & Marketing for Sandos where she implemented and led all the strategic commercial vision for the company with hotels in Spain and the Caribbean.
Neus also worked for Bahia Principe Hotels as a Director of Sales for approximately seven years in the Caribbean area where she was key in increasing the revenue through opening new source markets for the company.
Neus holds a degree in Hotel Management, a Senior Executive Program in Tourism & Travel by IESE and a degree in Interior design. She completed her studies in Harvard University where she focused on Sustainable and disruptive strategy.
GERARDO IZCO
ASSET MANAGER
Gerardo has 30 years of management experience, mostly in the hospitality sector. A lawyer by training, Gerardo, has a long and proven track record as a hands-on asset manager.
He started his career at regional catering company Tallunce (Spain), where he led the purchase, refurbishment and reopening of a 3-star hotel in Navarra, and some other retail and hotel assets in the region for 5 years.
For the next 5 years, Gerardo led the business development of F&B retailer Cafe & Te in Northern Spain.
He then established, managed and successfully sold his own catering and F&B retail business.
In 2015, he joined Calma Capital, Spain’s hospitality subsidiary of Miami-based real estate group Elandis, where he asset managed the Miramar Playa Hotel in Gandia and lead the investment and successful re-opening of the 285-key hotel apartment resort Alborada Ocean Club in Tenerife.
Gerardo holds a Law degree from University of Navarra, Spain and, an MBA from IE Business School, Madrid, Spain.
CARLOS CASTILLO
Project Manager
Carlos has more than 30 years of experience in real estate development, including project management, urban planning and construction, where he has directly lead projects totaling 120 million euros.
As General Manager of various real estate companies, his responsibilities included urban planning, regulations, licensing, project management and contracting. He sponsored and lead a full mixed-use real estate development in Southern Spain.
More recently, he was involved in master planning in the Andalusian region, advising different governmental authorities.
Carlos holds a degree in Urbanism and Accounting, an MBA in Sales Management by EIG Granada Business School and, has attended several specialized courses on Urbanism, becoming one of the most prominent advisors in the field.
JOSÉ ROIG
Revenue Manager
Jose has more than 23 years of experience in Revenue Management positions.
He began his professional career in aviation, for more than 18 years he was managing routes together with large teams of analysts, assuming large-scale budget objectives. He was a participant in the evolution from manual control to automated control with advanced revenue systems, he finished that stage as Head of Revenue at Air Europa.
Later he made the leap to Hotels, first at BlueBay Hotels & Resorts with a great international presence as Director of Revenue and later at Smy Hotels as Global Director of Revenue and Distribution, in both chains he began with the objective of implementing Revenue Management policies. In total almost 5 years in which he has also gained experience in areas such as Sales, E-commerce and Online Marketing.
He studied Tourism Intermediate Management at the Felipe Moreno University School in Palma de Mallorca.
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