Rhys O’Connell

Rhys O’Connell (born 23 October) is an Australian Hotel General Manager and business executive. He serves as the General Manager of Nobu Hotel, a luxury chain of hotels of the global Nobu Hospitality brand. O’Connell has over two decades of experience in the hospitality industry and has played an integral role in operations management, sales, and F&B.
O’Connell specializes in leading and motivating teams and guiding them to attain a quality level of service to the customers. Throughout his career, he has worked at some of the leading luxury hotels such as Nobu Hotel, Hyatt Regency, Luxe Hotels, and Shutters on the Beach. He has gained recognition for delivering an elevated guest experience, receiving the 2020 Hotel General Manager Award.
O’Connell has been featured in several media outlets for offering high-quality service including NY Weekly, Forbes, The American Reporter, LA Wire, KTVN, Hospitality Net, and others.
==Early life and education==
O’Connell was born on 23 October in Adelaide, Australia. When he was three years old, O’Connell met with a tragic accident where he was hit by a moving vehicle and suffered a fractured skull, collapsed lung, broken ribs, and two broken legs. After this incident, he was in a coma for 21 days and given three days to live or die. 
When O'Connell was ten years old, he started showing signs of early inclination towards entrepreneurship. He began recording shows and movies at his family home and rented his creations to the neighbors for a small donation.
==Career==
O’Connell began his career in his early teens with Australia’s Hyatt Regency within its food and beverage department. 
In 2011, when he joined Luxe Hotels, an international hotel chain as an Assistant General Manager. He worked for over four years with this institution, during which he contributed to improving the hotel’s overall ranking on Tripadvisor by 30 percent, driving its ADR and REVPAR index to be within the top hotels of Beverly Hills. He gained recognition for building a cohesive team culture and delivering excellence through service quality and curation of the guest experience. 
In 2015 O’Connell joined Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, as a director, where he worked for two years elevating the property’s public reception. After that, he spearheaded numerous projects at the Inn at Moonlight Beach in San Diego, one of which was making the Inn the only hotel in the world to be WELL Certified.
In 2019, O’Connell joined the Davidson Hospitality Group as Hotel General Manager. He also offered his management services at Hotel Zephyr in San Francisco and made sure the 361 room property ran effectively throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, he was awarded Hotel General Manager of The Year of 2020. In Q1 of 2021 he was appointed General Manager of Nobu Hotel, according to Hospitality Net, a 200+ room luxury property located in North America’s finest location.
Throughout his career, he has gained recognition for creating an innovative and unique guest experience that exceeds customer expectations and has become a highly acclaimed luxury hotel manager. 
O’Connell is known in the industry as someone who thrives on motivating teams to deliver bottom line results while delivering an elevated guest experience.
==Awards==
O’Connell is the recipient of the 2020 Hotel General Manager Award and was also nominated for the 2020 Most Valuable Player Award. 
In 2016, O’Connell was awarded Leader of the Quarter at the uber luxury Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, California.
==Personal life==
O’Connell is fluent in English and Spanish. 
==References==
==External links==
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Category:Australian business executives
Category:Australian hoteliers
Category:People from Adelaide