Banyan Tree names global marketing VP

Former chief marketing officer of Huawei Singapore, Jonathan Ye (pictured) has joined hospitality group Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts as VP of global marketing starting October 2019.

In this role, he will be responsible for growing and leading headquarter's marketing leadership and strategic direction for all integrated marketing. Duties span across offline and online channels for multi-brand, digital performance marketing, content, direct channels and branding objectives for Banyan Tree's hotel brands and spas across the globe.

Banyan Tree owns about 47 resorts and hotels across 24 countries in the globe. Earlier this year, the group signed on 26 new hotel agreements across its four brands in Greater China, Fiji, Palau, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Spain. According to Banyan Tree, it aims to expand globally in Americas, Europe and Africa continents while creating a stronghold in Asia Pacific.

Ye told Marketing in a statement: “The Banyan Tree is a brand I grew up with and saw flourish to become one of the leading brands in global hospitality in this last decade so this is both an honour and opportunity which I’m looking forward to.”

Ye was last with Huawei Consumer Business Group for near to three years. He joined as the APAC head of digital marketing and was promoted to take on the CMO role in 2017. Prior to his stint at Huawei, Ye was in digital marketing with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. He headed up Starwood's social, mobile and emerging digital platforms for performance, content and brand marketing. Among his responsibilities with the hospitality group included digital product development and driving digital innovation for upscale and luxury lifestyle brands.

Before this, he was with creative agency The Secret Little Agency (TSLA) as the digital business director between 2013 to 2014. He was part of the core team driving TSLA's digital capabilities and worked directly with the agency's regional planning and creative officers in Singapore to drive new businesses and deepen existing relationships.

Ye has also spent five and a half years at Singtel in his early days. He was in the product and new business development division with the telco and spearheaded the expansion and launch of online food guide HungryGoWhere Asia. As the regional product lead, he also led several launches for the telco to further drive engagement and showcase Singtel’s digital abilities to a global audience.