Fresh off a rousing success in 2021, SiteMinder’s Partner of the Year Awards are back bigger and better in 2022.
The latest exciting development is the announcement of this year’s judges, who will be overseeing the four awards on offer in the Excellence category.
Let’s get to know them…
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SiteMinder Partner of the Year Awards 2022 Judges
Leah Rankin, SiteMinder
Leah Rankin is a seasoned executive with a passion for people, technology and delivering customer-driven products to market. Over the past 20 years, Leah has gained local and international experience across the telecommunications, travel and technology industries, holding numerous product and engineering leadership roles at Vodafone, Wotif Group (now Expedia), Community Engine, and Nearmap.
Today, Leah brings that expertise to SiteMinder, where she leads a global team of more than 80 professionals across product and design to create unique experiences for users of SiteMinder’s hotel commerce platform.
Following over three years leading SiteMinder’s customer success and onboarding teams, she is ideally positioned as Chief Product Officer to ensure that the user experience and practical needs of SiteMinder’s customers are the primary focus of every product touchpoint.
Rob Paterson, Grind Equity
Rob is an energetic business leader with over 25 years of experience in the Hotel industry and startup organisations.
Rob was CEO for one of the largest hotel brands in the UK through the worst crisis of our lifetimes before stepping away from full-time hospitality to follow his passion for helping entrepreneurs change the world.
Rob is now the Founder of Grind Equity and host of the Grind Academy podcast, sharing practical life skills and experiences not taught at school.
Tina Sanchez Aguas, Vincci Hotels
Tina Sanchez Aguas is the Head of eCommerce & Digital at Vincci Hotels, and a Travel Tech evangelist, who previously developed her career at Melia Hotels International and Idiso Distribution.
In her current position she also plans and supervises digital marketing campaigns and content optimization, using vast knowledge of the hospitality sector, both as a client and as an agency.
In her free time she enjoys flipping furniture and cooking Galician cuisine with her family.
About the awards
SiteMinder’s Partner of the Year Awards recognise hospitality businesses and individuals whose contributions and support are invaluable to hoteliers and accommodation providers. The aim is to highlight the impact they have and showcase the success they drive for their customers and communities.
Just like its inaugural year, the 2022 awards will give SiteMinder Partner Program members and Hotel App Store members a chance to win awards in two categories: Excellence and Performance.
There is one special difference however, with the introduction of a new award in the Excellence category…
People’s Choice Partner of the Year
The People’s Choice award is an exciting new addition celebrating the partner that consistently goes above and beyond to fulfil the needs of their customers.
All nominations for this award are submitted by the customers themselves, before the panel of judges decide who has the strongest entry.
“When launching the partner awards in 2021, we saw a large number of nominations coming in from the customers of our partners, who wanted to show their appreciation for the work being done for their properties,” explained SiteMinder’s Global Director of Partner Marketing, Heather Hollis.
“This was unexpected but such a great surprise as partners provide such value to their customers in so many ways. So we launched this new award for 2022 – one that would allow these customers a forum to highlight their champions. And SiteMinder is pleased to be able to provide the platform to be able to reward them.”
Full list of awards and entry details
Missed the 2021 edition? Check out the winners here.
In 2022 there will be seven awards in total on offer for entrants across the two categories.
Check out the full list as follows:
Excellence Awards
- Innovation Partner of the Year – Awarded to the partner program member that has created a new process, idea, product or solution that changes the way they do business.
- Industry Champion of the Year – Awarded to the partner program member who has shown dedication and commitment to the industry through their work.
- Rising Start of the Year – Awarded to the partner that has pioneered new technology, solutions or services with clear potential for growth.
- People’s Choice Partner of the Year
Performance Awards
- PMS Partner of the Year – Evaluation of a PMS partner’s performance against a points-based criteria.
- Expert Partner of the Year – Evaluation of an Expert partner’s performance against a points-based criteria.
- App Partner of the Year – Evaluation of an App partner’s performance against a points-based criteria.
Ready to apply? Entries close 10 October so don’t delay!
Visit the event page for full details.
