A dual role during the pre-opening phase
Shannon Craig takes over as General Manager of Atura Oran Park, whose opening is scheduled for late October 2026. The role comes on top of her responsibilities as Area General Manager for New South Wales at EVT.
She is steering the final stretch before opening and managing the transition from development to operations. She is also responsible for recruiting and training the founding team, as well as putting in place service standards and operational systems.
Shannon Craig will also need to build relationships with local stakeholders: businesses, tourism professionals and the community of Camden, the local government area to which Oran Park belongs. In this outer-suburban part of Sydney, these local ties will weigh on the property’s commercial ramp-up.
More than twenty years with EVT
Shannon Craig has more than two decades of hotel management experience in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, all of it with EVT. The group’s brands include QT Hotels & Resorts, Rydges, Atura and Independent Collection by EVT, and it has just strengthened its development team in Asia-Pacific.
Prior to this appointment, she was General Manager of Rydges Parramatta and Area General Manager NSW. From 2023 to 2025, she served as Area General Manager for Wellington and the Rotorua region in New Zealand, covering the Rydges and Independent Collection brands.
Between late 2021 and early 2023, she oversaw South Australia, including Atura Adelaide Airport. She therefore already knows the Atura brand from the inside.
From Cairns to London, a general manager’s career
From 2018 to 2021, Shannon Craig ran QT Canberra, a property under the group’s lifestyle brand. Before that, she was General Manager of Rydges Kensington in London from 2016 to 2018.
Earlier still, she led Rydges Esplanade Resort Cairns from 2012 to 2016, and Rydges Eagle Hawk Resort Canberra from 2009 to 2012. Her career with Rydges thus spans nearly nine years across two continents.
She holds a degree in hotel management from Auckland University of Technology and an MBA from James Cook University. She was also a finalist for the Australian General Manager of the Year award.
Atura, one piece of the EVT puzzle
Our analysis – By entrusting the opening to a regional executive already in post, EVT is betting on operational continuity and a sound knowledge of the Sydney market. The choice comes as the group is also accelerating beyond its historic markets, as illustrated by the recent signing of LyLo Bangkok. On the distribution front, EVT was the first hotel group in the Australia–New Zealand region to integrate its offering into ChatGPT.
At a glance by The Hospitality Tribune
Shannon Craig appointed General Manager of Atura Oran Park (Sydney)
Role held alongside her position as EVT Area General Manager NSW
Opening scheduled for late October 2026 in Sydney’s south-west
Leading pre-opening: founding team, service standards, local partnerships
20+ years with EVT across Australia, New Zealand and the UK
Former GM of QT Canberra, Rydges Kensington London and Rydges Esplanade Resort Cairns
