Industry
Faculty
Mr. Ali V. Kasikci
M.B.A. Managing Director, Montage Beverly Hills
Montage Beverly Hills
The Independent Hotelier of the World 2004 award winner, Ali Kasikci, is considered to be one of the industry’s foremost pioneers. HOTELS magazine’s editor Jeff Weinstein states, "Ali Kasikci is a 21st-century hotel leader." The Wall Street Journal referred to Kasikci as "The Gatekeeper" to the posh, and USA Today claimed that "His Hotel Lights Up The Stars." Don’t simply call the Managing Director of the ultra-luxury 201-room Montage Beverly Hills, which opened in the city’s "golden triangle" in November of 2008, an hotelier; it is no more than a title and a bit of a misnomer for the 50-year old Turkish born perfectionist who prefers to focus on "the business of the hotel business" and forever thirsts for reinvention.
A graduate of the Hotel and Catering College in Germany, Kasikci holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Claremont Graduate University Peter F. Drucker Graduate Management School in Claremont, California. Following his apprenticeship at Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich, Germany, Kasikci held several senior management positions with leading hotels in Germany and with casino resorts in South Africa. Accomplished at a young age, Kasikci has enjoyed a long and illustrious career in the hospitality industry, most recently as Managing Director of The Peninsula Beverly Hills. Under Kasikci’s management and direction, The Peninsula Beverly Hills was the first hotel in southern California to receive the prestigious Mobil Five-Star and AAA Five-Diamond awards.
A member of the Cornell Hotel Society, and an active community leader, Kasikci has served as Chairman of the Beverly Hills Visitors Bureau and President of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce. Acknowledging his continued support of the Beverly Hills community and leadership in the local economy, the City of Beverly Hills appointed him "Executive of the Year 1998."
Kasikci resides in Los Angeles with his wife Donanne, and "Billy Bean" and "Ivy," acclaimed hospitality pet correspondents.
Shopping Basket