New execs
for Accor. Paris-based
Accor has appointed global brand presidents to lead its Premium, Midscale &
Economy brands. Benoît Racle will lead the Premium division, including the
Pullman, Swissôtel, Mövenpick, Angsana and Peppers brands. Racle has more than
two decades of experience in hospitality, brand management, global operations,
marketing and commercial ventures. He led the brand transformation of
Starwood’s W brand, driving commercial and operational aspects of the business.
Jean-Yves Minet will lead the Midscale and Economy division, which includes
Novotel, Mercure, Tribe, Handwritten Collection, ibis, ibis Styles, ibis
budget, and greet. With over 25 years of executive and operational experience
in brand building, from strategy to execution, Minet forged his career in the
beauty industry, focusing on high growth opportunities across categories,
distribution channels, consumers, and regions, with expertise in emerging
markets.
Atlantis
names new president. Dubai-based Atlantis Resorts has hired Paul Baker as president. Taking the helm
of the Atlantis brand, Baker will oversee the operations of Atlantis, The Palm,
Atlantis The Royal and Atlantis Sanya. With nearly 20 years of international
experience, Baker most recently served as president of Grand Lisboa Palace in
Macau and also worked at Genting Malaysia Berhad.
B&B
names new head of real estate. Paris-based B&B Hotels has named Sami Mendil as its
global head of real estate. Mendil has 20 years of experience in commercial
real estate investing. He was previously head of hotel investments in France at
CBRE. He also worked at KPMG, Lasalle Investment Management and General
Electric Capital Real Estate.
New CEO
for Extreme Hospitality. Dallas-based Extreme Hospitality, a hotel management and consulting
services provider, has a CEO named John Rubino. Rubino is the company’s
co-founder and brings more than 30 years of experience in the hotel industry to
his new role. Before forming Extreme Hospitality, he was president and CEO of
GF Hotels & Resorts. He also worked at Interstate Hotels & Resorts and
Island Hospitality Management.
New CFO
for H World Group. Singapore and Shanghai-based H World Group Ltd. said that Jun Zou will resign
as CFO of the company for personal reasons, effective on September 4 and Hui
Chen, who is currently the chief compliance officer, will be the new CFO. Chen
has deep financial management expertise in China’s travel and hotel industries
and initially joined H World in 2014. From 2018 to 2020, she was the CFO of
Cjia Group Ltd., H World’s affiliate company, which primarily provides
apartment services. She rejoined H World in February 2020.
HVS adds
to APAC office. HVS
is bringing back two leaders for key roles in its APAC office. HVS has hired
Henrich Huang as senior vice president. Huang has extensive hospitality and
real estate expertise and was previously a director at HVS’s Shenzhen office,
recently serving as vice president at Hopson Development. Chariss Kok also
rejoins HVS as vice president, bringing extensive hospitality, real estate, and
finance expertise. Her career includes prior roles at HVS and City Developments
Ltd. (CDL).
New
co-CEO for Novum. Hamburg, Germany-based Novum Hospitality has appointed Samira Said as its new
co-CEO, along with David Etmenan, the current CEO and owner. Previously, Said was chief
brand officer for the company, where she was instrumental in developing the
upper-midscale brand, the niu.
Peachtree
adds new EVP. Atlanta-based Peachtree Group has promoted Steve Mackenzie to executive vice
president of hotel operations in the firm’s hospitality management division.
With 25-plus years of hospitality experience, Mackenzie most recently served as
area director for Hilton Worldwide, where he provided operational oversight of
company-managed properties in Florida. He has also worked at Harris Hotel
Group and Greenpark Management.
New CIO
for Rotana. Abu
Dhabi-based Rotana Hotels has promoted Dominic Carr to chief information
officer. Carr joined Rotana in 1997 and was previously corporate vice president
– technology & customer experience.
New VP
for Shangri-La. Hong
Kong-based Shangri-La Group has appointed Christian Pertl as the new vice
president of commercial for the Middle East, India, Indian Ocean, Europe, and
the Americas region. Pertl brings nearly three decades of experience in the luxury hospitality sector across Europe, the Middle East, and
the Indian Ocean. Previously, he was the chief commercial officer for The Lux
Collective and worked for Cinnamon Hotels & Resort, Hyatt, Jumeirah Group
and IHG.
