Criton Apps has stepped up its expansion plans with the appointment of the former marketing manager of Festivals Edinburgh to spearhead its international sales drive.

Having secured a £5m investment boost, the traveltech company launched by CEO Julie Grieve in December 2016, has brought in Susan Russell, who joins the company this month (January 2018).

Susan, who has been integral to the award-winning promotion of Edinburgh as the Festival City globally for the past nine years, will be responsible for ensuring Criton achieves the traction it needs within the tourism and hospitality market to become an major player. Her extensive industry experience also includes Women in Tourism, where she is both Founder and Chairperson, and VisitScotland.

Susan takes the title of Head of Marketing and starts alongside two new business development managers, Karina Ogunyemi and Sadiah Mir.  Karina, who joins from Travel Tech Europe, will head up Criton’s London sales office at the Tech Lab, while Sadiah will continue to build on Criton’s sales in Scotland from its HQ at Codebase, Edinburgh.

Criton Apps, is the UK’s first self-build app service for the hospitality industry and uses a simple drag and drop functionality for operators to create their own bespoke, branded mobile app. It offers the means to create a digital guest book, alongside online booking and check-in services, in-app messaging and location based notifications. Easy to use and update, it puts the operators in control of the content.

The new appointments mean that Criton now employs 14 and expects to increase staff levels to 20 by the end of February.

Julie Grieve, founder and CEO of Criton Apps, said:

“This is a very exciting time for the business and we are building a strong team with extensive industry experience to meet our global ambitions.

“I am delighted that Susan is joining us. I’ve witnessed her drive and insight through promoting Edinburgh’s Festivals and I am excited to be working with her. Criton will grow through her knowledge of digital development, global media relations and partnership working.

“Susan will be supported by a growing marketing team and will work closely with our two new business development managers in Karina and Sadiah.”

Susan added:

“Criton is at the forefront of guest-centric traveltech and this is a tremendous time to join the company. The potential is huge and our job is to reach out to the hospitality industry to show them how important our digital concierge technology will be for their business.”

Check out FutureScot’s 3 Minutes With Julie Grieve, CEO and Founder of Criton Apps