Former eBay Chief Marketing Officer, Australia Julie Nestor to lead American Hotel chain Hilton’s  marketing and e-commerce strategy in Asia Pacific. In her new role, Nestor will be tasked to attract new customers to Hilton’s portfolio of brands and drive growth in direct bookings.

The hotel chain has chosen Nestor to lead these areas because she led the launch of eBay’s first paid membership programme eBay Plus. She also spent more than a decade at American Express where she was responsible for launching the first Apple Pay service in Australia, establishing loyalty programs with airline companies and retail brands, and developing experience programs for card members.

“Today’s consumers have rapidly evolving needs and expectations that Hilton is uniquely positioned to fulfil. As we accelerate our growth across Asia Pacific, we’re expanding our guest base with breakthrough marketing,” explained Kellyn Smith Kenny, chief marketing officer at Hilton. Julie is a proven expert at building brands that customers love and I’m confident she will bring a fresh perspective that builds on our success and inspires guests to stay with Hilton’s nine brands.” “With a large portfolio of award-winning brands, Hilton is on a huge growth trajectory with so much potential in the region.”

Hilton has spent the past year building out its in-house team, creating internal centres of excellence and forgoing full-service agencies in favour of specialist shops and  dedicated to media, social media, strategy, enterprise, marketing operations, marketing performance, regional marketing and PR and communications.