Robert
Pratt is now president and CEO of Sandman
Hotel Group & The Sutton Place Hotels. Pratt was previously president
of ONE Lodging Management responsible for management contracts for 119 hotels
generating revenues of $400 million USD. Prior to that, he was president of
Coast Hotels which offers a full slate of branding services to 40 franchised,
full-service hotels in Western North America. During that time, he was a
director of American Hotel Income Properties REIT for three years. He has also
held the positions of COO of Westmont Hospitality Group and president and COO of
SilverBirch Hotels & Resorts, where he worked for more than 11 years. He is
a graduate of Cornell University.
Pratt takes
over from Taj Kassam who has been
appointed to a senior role with Northland Properties Corporation, Sandman Hotel
Group’s parent company as senior vice president. Kassam was president and COO of
Sandman Hotel Group since 1995 where he saw the organization grow from 19
hotels to 56, the introduction of Sandman Signature Hotels & Resorts, the
acquisition of The Sutton Place Hotels brand, the expansion into both the
United Kingdom and the United States, countless acquisitions, the organization
winning Hotel Company of the Year twice (2007 & 2017), and the company
establishing itself as the fastest growing privately-owned hospitality group in
Canada. He began his hospitality career with Reo Stakis Hotels and Inns in
Glasgow, Scotland and is a graduate of the Scottish Hotel School at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.