Sean Worker - Wyndham Hotel Group

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Written by Staff Reporter

Wednesday, 03 October 2007

Name: Sean Worker
Occupation: MD and Senior Vice President, International Operations, Wyndham Hotel Group
Location: Lydican, Oranmore

As a managing director with the Wyndham Hotel, Sean Worker’s job has taken him all over the world but it all began many years ago when he attended Galway’s Colaiste Iognaid.

After doing his time in Colaiste Iognaid or ‘The Jes’ as it is most well known, Sean arrived at Leaving Cert with no idea what career he wanted to pursue. After much thought, he decided to attend GMIT and complete a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management, as he felt it was quite a broad course and would allow him to travel.

He chose wisely, and now has one of the top jobs with the Wyndham Hotel Group, an international franchise operation with over 6,400 franchised and managed hotels and 534,000 hotel rooms worldwide.

During his 23-year hospitality career, he also held operations and sales positions with Maxxim Hotels and Resorts, Bristol Hotels and Resorts and Marriott Hotels. Worker also trained and held management positions at hotels in Germany, England and Ireland before emigrating to the United States where he worked for many years.

But when he got the chance to return to Europe and work with Wyndham Hotel Group in January, he jumped at the chance. As Managing Director and Senior Vice President of International Operations, Worker oversees all international operations functions for Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as the Asia Pacific. In addition, he is responsible for the communication, coordination and execution of all international initiatives.

This high-flying job means that a large proportion of Sean’s year is spent travelling around the globe, clocking up 200,000 air miles so far this year. One of the reasons for this is his belief that “you don’t get close to people over the internet”. He instead likes to meet as many of his customers as possible, which can impact on his personal time. Luckily, thanks to the encouragement of his “wonderfully supportive” American wife Andrea, this has not proved to be too much of an issue.

The most recent addition to the Wyndham Group’s operations in Ireland is the Ramada Ballina, whose recent launch afforded Sean another trip back home. The new four star 87-bedroom Ramada hotel is located one mile from the thriving town of Ballina. Newly opened, the Ramada Ballina will play host to senior executives from the Ramada group nationwide where the hotel group will be discussing business strategy at a local level and brand development globally, with Ireland playing a large part in its growth in Europe.

“Ireland will play a huge role in our strategic growth through Europe. We have a lot of relationships with Irish developers and we will be taking a balanced approach in expanding through Ireland and the UK,” he says.

While Sean may spend most of his time travelling around the world, he is still a Galway man at heart. Sean returns regularly to his home in Oranmore, with many of his family still living in the area. He says that the energy and vibrancy of the city creates an “extraordinarily unique identity”.

“There are two very different cultures in Galway, it is vibrant and full of energy but at the same time there is this laissez-faire, chilled atmosphere. You’ll always have the craic in Galway!”

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