ADVISORY BOARD

Kate is the Public Relations Manager, South and South-East Asia for Tourism New Zealand, based in Singapore.
Prior to her current role Kate was based in London for 5.5 years as Tourism New Zealand's Public Relations Manager UK/Europe.
Before joining Tourism New Zealand she worked in agency and in-house PR roles in Australia and New Zealand.

Kissa Castañeda is an Asia-based editor, moderator and creative consultant. She is currently the Strategic Content Director at Edipresse Media Singapore, overseeing Tatler's food, travel and design verticals across print, digital and event platforms.

Since 2005, she has worked in Tokyo, Manila and Hong Kong, and contributed to publications such as ELLE Decoration, Travel + Leisure, Wallpaper* City Guides and more.

Freelance specialising in luxury travel and food, writing mainly for CNN.com but also for BBC Travel, South China Morning Post, Forbes Digital, Cathay Pacific´s inflight magazines, The Robb Report, Billionaire and many more. Always keen to receive thematic pitches and ideas. Follow me on Twitter for best insights into my coverage and travel plans.

Paul Hicks is an experienced journalist, broadcaster and luxury lifestyle PR professional with over 25 years experience in Asia.

Paul is one of the founding partners of GHC Asia, the region's leading luxury lifestyle & hospitality PR consultancies. Their growing team of 70+ are located throughout Asia in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore and Bangkok. Since September 2014, we are now part of the Hakuhodo Group, which is Japan's second-largest advertising agency and the seventh biggest in the world.

They provide holistic communications solutions for some of the world's leading names in the fields of hotels, hospitality, tourism, property and luxury lifestyle.

Paul has also been Associate Editor for the American Express 'Centurion' & 'Departures' magazines in Asia for the past fifteen years.

There are 19 Luxury Lodges of Australia. But this is no ordinary hotel group, rather a gathering of like-minded entrepreneurs, each passionate enough about a special Australian region to invest deeply in creating the kind of upscale lodging and bespoke experiences global travellers seek. These experiences define the new Australian luxury.

Gaynor Reid is Vice President ACCOR Asia Pacific, based in the company’s Singapore regional head office. She has worked for ACCOR for 18 years, starting in the group’s Sydney office as Media Relations Manager and moving to Asia in 2013.

She oversees the group’s Communications strategy, Corporate Social Responsibility and Crisis Management to consistently articulate ACCOR’ messaging to both internal and external audiences.

Prior to joining ACCOR, Gaynor was Manager of Communications and Community Relations for the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) and managed SOCOG’s Welcome the World project to prepare Australia to welcome all visitors from across the world for the 2000 Olympics.

With a background in journalism, she was also a reporter and editor for ten years before moving into Public Relations.

An award-winning communications professional, Gaynor was awarded Best Hotel PR of the Year 2013 (Hotel Management Awards), Communicator of the Year 2011 (Australian Society of Travel Writers), Best Hotel PR 2009 (HM Awards) and Best PR Member 2004 (Australian Society of Travel Writers) as well as being a multiple finalist in similar awards over the past decade.

She oversees communications for ACCOR’s 1,100 hotels across Asia Pacific in 20 countries. Gaynor also sits on the group’s Executive Committee for Asia Pacific.

ACCOR is a Group united by a shared passion for hospitality and driven by a shared promise to make everyone Feel Welcome. Over 280,000 women and men in 4,800 ACCOR establishments look after thousands of guests every day in over 100 countries.

Nick Walton is a Hong Kong-based travel journalist and magazine editor with 18 years full-time magazine and newspaper experience.

He is a former travel editor for the South China Morning Post and is currently group managing editor for Artemis Communications' titles as well as contributing editor to quarterly experiential travel magazine Jetsetter and a regular contributor to travel magazines and newspapers globally and TV guest speaker.

Artemis presently produces the following print and online titles: Mirandus (bi-annual print custom travel title); Ikhlas (quarterly print custom travel and lifestyle title); Alpha Men Asia (online men's lifestyle); The Edition (quarterly print men's lifestyle); The Journal (online men's lifestyle); Explorer (bi-monthly digital travel magazine); and The Art of Business Travel (online business travel in Asia-Pacific).

An Oxford-educated, Hong Kong-based writer and editor with over a decade of experience, mainly in the financial, luxury and wealth sectors. Tara has written for publications including The Wall Street Journal in both London and Hong Kong, Dow Jones Financial News, Tatler, The South China Morning Post, The Financial Times, The Business Times of Singapore, among others. Tara worked for five years in London and moved to Hong Kong in October 2011, where she is now editor in chief for Billionaire, a luxury lifestyle magazine.