Kor Names Luis Fernandes Sr VP, Operations

International Hospitality Veteran Joins Los Angeles-Based Kor in Newly Created Regional Operations P

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. October 14, 2008

LOS ANGELES, CA, August 29, 2006. Brad Korzen, CEO and founder of the Los Angeles-based hotel, real estate development and management firm, The Kor Group, is pleased to announce the appointment of Luis Fernandes to the newly created position of Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations for Kor Hotel Group. In this new management position, Fernandes will oversee Kor's properties in Mexico, the Caribbean, Florida and the East Coast. He will be based out of the company's regional office in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

"Luis brings to Kor Hotel Group's management team an extensive knowledge of the operation and management of international properties," said Korzen in announcing the appointment. "His experience at a number of prestigious, high-end resorts around the world, including Las Ventanas, will be a tremendous benefit in operating Kor's international and east coast properties, as well as expanding our customer bases in each of those markets."

Born in Portugal and raised in South Africa, Fernandes joins Kor Hotel Group with a twenty-year-plus career in the luxury hospitality industry at high-end properties all over the world. Most recently he was Chief Operating Officer of Santa Barbara-based Ty Warner Hotels and Resorts, where he oversaw all operational aspects of the company's ten-strong portfolio of highly-rated international resort hotels.

Fernandes commenced his professional hotelier career with Southern Sun Hotels in South Africa, working his way through a series of ascending positions within the company. In 1989, he obtained the position of Food & Beverage Manager for Orient Express Hotels' famous Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town. Among numerous notable accomplishments exacted during his tenure there, he produced a wine list hailed by Diners magazine as the best in South Africa. In August 1992, he transferred to his first overseas position as deputy General Manger for the stunning colonial hotel Polana in Mozambique and a year and a half later to the distinguished Copacabana Palace, grande dame of Rio de Janeiro.

By then broadly recognized for his accomplishments and atypical vision, in July of 1995 Fernandes was recruited by the prestigious Rosewood Hotels and Resorts group to become Executive Assistant Manager for the renowned Hotel Al Khozama in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The multi-faceted and multi-cultural nature of the position prepared him well for his next role as a member of the opening team for Rosewood's Dharmawangsa in Jakarta. With an infectious personality and progressive management style, his credibility soon earned him the position of Managing Director for the opening launch of The Dharmawangsa. Under his direction, the property emerged as the country's top hotel and a social hub for Indonesia's society-elite.

In 2003 Rosewood appointed Fernandes Managing Director of Las Ventanas al Paraiso in Los Cabos, Mexico, the property which Andrew Harper's Hideaway Report dubbed "Top International Resort" for 2004 and 2005. The resort is known for pioneering amenities that are industry standards today, such as iPods and WiFi, dinners aboard yachts, personal butler services and luxury auto partnerships, many of which Fernandes was instrumental in implementing. In September 2004 the hotel was purchased by Ty Warner Hotels and Resorts, which hired Fernandes as COO a year later.

Fernandes leads with a philosophy grounded in the importance of relationships and of developing staff to become self-acting managers. He is a dedicated professional, a perfectionist by nature and a believer in persistently pushing service standards to the next level through a combination of unconventional strategies, creative thinking and technological innovation. He is fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch.