Q&A With Ovolo Hotels Marketing Manager Merren Lynch

Award-winning Ovolo Hotels has made quite a name for itself in the world of Australian hospitality, positioned in iconic locations across the country and boasting world-class interiors.

To find out more about Ovolo and the hardworking team behind it, B&T sat down with Ovolo Hotels marketing manager Merren Lynch.

What part of your professional life is keeping you up at the moment?

To be honest I put pressure on myself to constantly be on top of my game so for me it’s about making sure I not only get the must do’s done but that I am constantly thinking ahead – this definitely does make me think of very random things at all hours.

What’s the top of your to do list at the moment?

Next week I’m launching a series of global monthly tactical offers exclusive for our database so this is very much top of my to do list at the moment – coordinating pricing, partner offers, creative and activity directly with stakeholders across the business + with our agencies.

How has your role changed in the past few years?

The Marketing function has become absolutely crucial to the company with the expansion of the brand. The brand was in its infancy when I started so my role has changed from actually developing a direction and guidelines for our brand through to managing more established brand activity + communications.

We’re taking a new approach with our comm’s activity and really focusing on an ‘always on’ strategy. To cement this we’ve made some key agency appointments across PR & Brand including a new focus on our F&B offerings with our all new restaurants & bars that have recently launched across the group.

What is the biggest opportunity for Ovolo Group?

For Ovolo group literally the world is our oyster – with a great product offering we are ready to take the world by storm.

Our CEO Girish Jhunjhnuwala has some big plans including a desire to expand to London, LA and New York as well as wanting to buy a portfolio of hotels.

We recently launched our new micro hotel concept Mojo Nomad in Hong Kong with our first property Mojo Aberdeen opening its doors in December 2017 and our second property Mojo Central opened just last week. We would love to bring this new brand into the Australian market in the near future.

Definitely expect to see a bigger Ovolo footprint in the coming months + years!

And what do you see as the biggest threat?

The threat probably comes less from competition but more from a change in consumer travel patterns or consumer needs/desires. We really need to ensure we are at the forefront of technology innovations so that we are always one step ahead.

How to juggle work and home?

It is absolutely difficult to juggle work and home priorities especially when working across different time zones. Our HK office often needs feedback and info into the evening so I have learnt to be efficient with communication outside the office and it’s surprising what you can get done on whatsapp!

What’s the one thing nobody at work would know about you?

Hmm I’m pretty much an open book so probably not much ?.

What do you do to blow off steam?

Have a glass of wine or a cocktail with colleagues or friends

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Merren Lynch Ovolo Hotels