TORONTO — Michael Beckley is the new director of CBRE Hotels. Beckley joins the expanding platform after serving as senior VP of Development for Marriott International in Canada.
“Michael is truly an iconic figure within Canada’s hotel industry and his experience and network are second to none. We’re incredibly excited to be able to tap into his wealth of industry knowledge that has been amassed over the course of a highly distinguished career,” says Bill Stone, executive vice-president of CBRE Hotels in Canada. “In a very real sense, Michael is a part of the fabric of the Canadian hotel industry and he will be a fantastic resource for our clients and team to call on.”
Over 34 years, Beckley has held various senior positions within the industry in Europe, Bermuda, The West Indies and Canada where he was the president of Commonwealth Hospitality — formerly Commonwealth Holiday Inns of Canada, previously the largest hotel company in the country. His involvement in the industry includes serving as Chairman of Experience Canada, which led to the foundation of the Canadian Tourism Commission. He also served as Chairman of Ontario’s Tourism Strategy.
After joining Marriott International in 2001 he had overall development responsibility for all of its hotel brands in Canada, growing its Canadian presence from 17 hotels to 145 and had signed agreements for the development of a further 18 which are due to open in 2016 and 2017.
“CBRE is a world-class organization and I’m excited to join a firm that provides such a diverse offering of services across a large footprint of the Canadian hospitality industry,” says Beckley. “Throughout my career, I have routinely encountered CBRE Hotels in a variety of transactions and have always been uniformly impressed with its innovative client solutions and industry expertise. I’m looking forward to working with Bill and his team and using the experience gained over my entire career to help build on its market-leading position.”
In 2015, Beckley was named Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award by Hotel Association of Canada.
