KabuK Style strengthens global strategy in anticipation of recovery in international travel demand
Based in Nagasaki, Japan, KabuK Style Inc. has been providing its travel subscription service HafH (Home away from Home) since April 2019.
As countries around the world begin reopening their borders and demand for overseas travel is set to resume, we have assembled a new Global Strategy team that will be led by Board member Hisae Yanai and Senior Director Yuji Yokoyama, and supported by team directors Katrina Hunziker and Kim Hua Ho.The first step for the Global Strategy team is to expand HafH into Taiwan and South Korea, both popular travel destinations for Japanese tourists, as well as those countries in SE Asia that have already opened their borders to overseas tourists, like Singapore and Thailand. Planning is also already underway for future expansion into Europe and the Americas as a next step to bringing our travel subscription service HafH to the world.
◼︎Two new team directors appointed
KATRINA HUNZIKER
DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Originally from Geneva, Switzerland, Katrina has over 15 year’s luxury hospitality experience including Movenpick Hotels & Resort and Grand Hotel Kempinski in Switzerland, followed by the Radisson Plaza Resort in Tahiti, and InterContinental Geneva developing the luxury hospitality market prior to joining Kimpton Shinjuku Tokyo for the pre-opening 2 years ago.Katrina’s passion and experience in hotel management and travel is what led her to join KabuK Style inc., and her primary goal for KabuK is to take the company’s subscription travel service “HafH” to a global scale. Her charismatic and positive leadership style and extensive background in the hospitality industry are a major asset in the realization of HafH’s global expansion.
“I’m thrilled to bring HafH to the World!” – Katrina Hunziker
KIM HUA HO (Chanel 金)
HEAD OF TAIWAN, CHINA, SINGAPORE & HONG KONG
A graduate from Golden Gate University with a Bachelor of Science in Hotel & Tourism Management, Chanel brings along 25 years of international hotel/tourism experience in parts of Asia, as well as USA/Europe, working with brands like Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide.
Chanel has a strong background in hotel sales with various hotel chains, as well as hospitality recruitment and tourism marketing/PR, including several successful projects with major tourism boards. She has extremely strong connections with many well-known influencers, travel media/journalists/reporters, travel agencies and hotels around the world.
“It is an exciting time to be at ‘HafH’ and I am thrilled to be a part of this innovative subscription travel company that is shaking up the entire hospitality industry with its new approach to connecting people through travel.” – Chanel
◼︎Global Strategy Team Members
HISAE YANAI
BOARD MEMBER IN CHARGE OF GLOBAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Hisae comes to us with over 20 years of hospitality industry experience. During that time, she has traveled extensively and built up an impressive number of valued contacts within the hospitality and tourism industry.
Hisae has worked for H.I.S., one of the largest travel companies in Japan; and the B2B online distribution platform, Hotelbeds. She has also represented various independent hotels as well as leading hotel chains including Accor (Sofitel) , Movenpick, Peninsula, and Louvre Group also several Small luxury hotels of the world.
YUJI YOKOYAMA
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
After founding a media company in Malaysia in 2015, Yuji continues to expand his business overseas through retail, infrastructure projects, etc.
He joined KabuK Style in 2019 as manager of the subsidiary KabuK Style SEA Sdn Bhd, and currently works alongside Hisae in the Global Business Development division, managing both domestic and global teams.
◼︎KabuK Style founder and CEO Kenji Sunada on forming a global strategy team
“As part of our three strategies for FY2022 that we announced earlier this month, we at KabuK Style have decided to resume our global business expansion, and the launch of our global team is in line with that strategy.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 30% of our transactions were outside of Japan. Two years later, and I am very excited to be re-building a global team with super talented new joiners Katrina and Chanel to successfully grow and take our business global.
Each country has its own border restrictions and other such policies, and there are plenty of other hurdles that will make global expansion difficult in 2022 as well. However, we believe that the steps we take this year are crucial for our company to make significant progress when the travel market reopens, and we intend to steadily move forward one step at a time, taking into account the situation in each country.
- Further expansion in Taiwan – where partner facilities are already available in every region
- Expansion in Hawaii and Guam, etc. – resort areas popular with Japanese tourists
- Diversification of accommodation types in SE Asia
- Expansion in South Korea – already a top overseas destination for Japanese travelers
We believe that the experience of seeing the world through travel is a vital part of being able to ‘accept diverse values as they are.’ Through this belief, we will continue to demonstrate our commitment to the global market.”