Charles Martin is the General Manager of Emporium Hotel South Bank, and leads all operations across the business for Australia’s most awarded 5 star luxury boutique hotel brand. He leads a team of approximately 200, across 143 luxury accommodation suites, 220 premium residential apartments, 4 food and beverage outlets, conference and events spaces, and world-class rooftop lifestyle facilities, within the $600 million Anthony John Group Southpoint development in South Bank, Brisbane. At 27, Charles is one of the youngest General Managers of a 5-star luxury hotel property in the nation.

Charles joined Anthony John Group (owners of Emporium Hotels) as Owners Representative in March 2018, where he coordinated operations across the Group to ensure a seamless integration between the Hotel’s pre-opening program, Emporium Residential settlements and hotel development activities as part of the final stages of the Southpoint Development, before being appointed to General Manager of Emporium Hotel South Bank in December 2018.

Brisbane restauranteur Marie Yokoyama, is the successful owner of Bird’s Nest Restaurants.

Marie’s career in hospitality first began when she was 16 working at the Tivoli as a bartender. After returning to Brisbane to manage the Kabuki Restaurant at the Stamford Plaza, she met her business partner, Emi Kamada, who was managing the Kabuki restaurant at the time. It was here they both realized a dream of opening their own restaurant.

From Marie’s time in Auckland, she had seen a few successful Yakitori restaurants, and believed that they could successfully open something similar in Brisbane.

In 2015, Marie alongside her business partner Emi, they competed and won Channel Nine’s TV Show “The Hot Plate” and came home with $100,000 cash prize. The cash boost, experience and exposure changed their lives and gave them the opportunity to expand their business. Marie currently owns and manages three Bird’s Nest Restaurants in Brisbane along with her business partner Emi.

Scott Bayne brings to the table twenty years of experience across a diverse array of hospitality resorts in several international locations. Scott finds himself in Australia after receiving the opportunity to join the food and beverage division as Director of Events, through a $950 million-dollar redevelopment of The Star Hotel and Casino, located on Sydney’s iconic Darling Harbour. Under his leadership, he successfully opened The Star’s Entertainment Centre, a $100 million-dollar expansion.

Scott found his passion and career growth in Las Vegas Across the span of ten years. While there, Scott spent five years working at Wynn Resorts, with the most significant opportunity leading the pre-opening team at Wynn’s Encore Resort, focused across a range of food and beverage outlets, day club and nightclub operations and 40,000 m2 of convention space. Most notably, Wynn Resorts holds more Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star Awards than any other independent hotel company in the world. Throughout his career, Scott has spent time in nearly every hospitality role as well as international consulting roles. Now residing in Brisbane, he’s become part of the team who are re-imaging how we celebrate one of Brisbane’s most historical sites underneath the Story Bridge.