Marcello Cicalò is a highly accomplished and extremely effective Director of Sales & Marketing with a wealth of experience in the luxury hotel market launching new hotels as well as developing brand awareness of existing facilities, with particular expertise in Europe, Russia, USA, and GCC markets. He is a resourceful and compassionate leader who builds, empowers, and motivates high performance, multi-cultural and cross-functional teams, creating empathy, shared vision and a drive for excellence, and drawing on excellent interpersonal skills coupled with natural authority.

Currently Corporate Director of Sales and Marketing for Italian Hospitality Collection – a worldclass hotel, resort and spa brand established in 2014 consisting of 5 hotels and c.720 rooms – Marcello provides strong leadership to a team of 40 FTEs across HQ and five hotels, as well as PR and Sales Representation Agencies in Russia, UK, Italy, Germany, France, USA, and Ukraine. Here he led a major rebranding project in collaboration with Latitude (a luxury brand agency in London and Dubai) and subsequently executed the successful launch of the new brand and corresponding relaunch of existing hotels. He is also responsible for the new 80 room 5* hotel “Le Massif” at Courmayeur in the Italian Alps which is due to open in December 2018, and has gained Leading Hotels of the World accreditation before opening.

Prior to this, Marcello was Director of Sales for the Waldorf Astoria Rome Cavalieri – one of Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts’ most legendary hotels and member of FH&R, Virtuoso, Signature, and Ensemble – with full responsibility for managing and developing the entire sales team for both MICE & Leisure Worldwide, and overseeing luxury network relationships with FH&R, Virtuoso, Ensemble & Signature, which has raised the hotel’s profile in the luxury network. He has developed business and Sales across the USA and Middle East markets, which involved extensive travel, and devised a new sales plan to attract royal families from the Middle East.

Previously, as Sales & Marketing Manager for Forte Village Resort, Sardinia – part of FH&R and Leading Hotels of the World, and 14 times awarded World Leading Resort with 8 hotels and 750 rooms – Marcello launched provision of a Private Jet from Moscow to Sardinia targeting top clientele to holiday at the resort. As a member of the Executive Team he led a comprehensive change management process, with full responsibility for sales, marketing and PR, as well as all strategic decisions and achieving outstanding ARR, REVPAR, and EBITDA.

Earlier career includes progressively more responsible roles at Delphina Hotels and Resorts, Sardinia during a tenure of nearly 9 years, and earned an Executive MBA from ESCP-Europe Business School in 2009. Marcello considers family extremely important and in his spare time pursues a wide range of interests including running and a love of wine.