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Tag: senior leadership team

  • Starwood Hotels concludes month-long immersion in Dubai

    Marking the belief of Starwood’s month-long relocation to Dubai, company president Frits van Paasschen has shared highlights and insights from the company’s immersion within the Middle East.

    Throughout the month of March, van Paasschen and members of Starwood’s Senior Leadership Team met with 3,000 associates, conducted nearly 50 owner meetings and visited all 14 Starwood hotels in Dubai, that’s the company’s second largest hotel market behind only Ny city.

    The team also took benefit of Dubai’s strategic location to travel to 19 cities across 12 countries, meeting with government officials and potential development partners in fast-growing markets, including Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and India.

    During the five-week relocation, the team travelled 61,000 kilometres (38,000 miles) – the equivalent of circling the globe one and half times.

    Over the process the month, greater than 200 of Starwood’s senior leaders and General Managers travelled to Dubai because the company ran day-to-day operations almost 7,000 miles and an eight-hour time zone difference far from the company’s global headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.

    During the relocation, Starwood executives also met with greater than 150 corporate and leisure customers who drive business to hotels globally.

    The Middle East is an increasingly important outbound travel market, and regional membership in Starwood Preferred Guest, the company’s loyalty program, has increased 140 per cent over the past five years.

    “It is tricky to overstate the opportunity of our business during this region of the arena. By bringing our executives here and spending time with our partners and native teams, we’re uniquely positioned to exploit this once-in-a-lifetime growth opportunity,” said van Paasschen.

    “I haven’t any doubt that our time spent here will drive future hotel contracts within the region, accelerate Starwood’s position because the most global high-end hotel company and additional define our culture.”

    Last month Starwood announced that it’ll increase its Middle East and Africa portfolio by greater than 60 percent with nearly 50 new hotels set to open over the subsequent five years, adding greater than 14,000 guest rooms to the region and creating thousands of local employment opportunities.

    With 82 operating hotels and over 20 hotels expected to open by the top of 2015, Starwood is on course to succeed in a milestone 100 hotels across MEA.

    “With 80 percent of Starwood’s pipeline coming from rapidly growing markets, it’s important for us to stay on the forefront of recent travel demands and changing travel patterns,” said Simon Turner, president, global development, Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

    “The Middle East is experiencing rapid economic growth, a growing middle class and ever greater global connectivity, and the Dubai relocation might help us expand all of our brands across this crucial region.”

    The company also announced a comprehensive renovation strategy for its Le Méridien brand, for which Starwood and its ownership groups will invest greater than $200 million within the renovations of 13 hotels and resorts within the MEA region over the following three years.

    Following the company’s successful relocation to China in June 2011, this second leadership move reflects Starwood’s innovative management option to cultivating a more global culture by understanding, appreciating and leveraging different societal and associate perspectives and approaches to business and hospitality.

  • News: Oetker Collection appoints two senior vice presidents

    The Oetker Selection of masterpiece hotels has made two significant promotions to new roles in the senior leadership team, because it continues its strong expansion. The Oetker Collection has recently added Palais Namaskar in Marrakech and Hotel Saint-Barth Isle de France to its portfolio, and should be opening L’Apogée Courchevel later this year, on 11.12.13.

    Philippe Perd, President and Managing Director of Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc and castle Saint-Martin, and who’s also project managing the launch of L’Apogée Courchevel, is to become Senior Vp Operations and Project Development; while Didier Le Calvez, President and Managing Director of Le Bristol Paris, who’s also overseeing Hotel Saint-Barth Isle de France, turns into Senior Vp Operations and Sales & Marketing.

    Since 2001, Philippe Perd has played a key role throughout the Oetker Collection, starting within the position of Managing Director of the Château Saint-Martin & Spa in Vence. In 2005, he took over the management of the legendary Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc on the tip of the Cap d’Antibes before being appointed, two years later, as President and Managing Director of the 2 masterpiece hotels within the French Riviera. In 2011, he drove probably the most ambitious renovation projects to successful completion on the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. A graduate of Harvard Business School and Inchbald School of Design with a Certificate in Interior Design, his new role includes the conceptual development of latest hotel projects for the Oetker Collection starting with the outlet of L’Apogée Courchevel on 11.12.13. Philippe Perd will supervise the operations of the brand new masterpiece within the French Alps and continue to supervise the running of castle Saint-Martin & Spa and Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. Philippe Perd may even get the support of Frédéric Picard, who will start in early April in his new role as General Manager for Château Saint-Martin & Spa and L’Apogée Courchevel.

    Didier Le Calvez joined the Oetker Collection in 2010 as President & Managing Director of Le Bristol Paris. Under his leadership, the Parisian palace implemented a lot of major new projects which include the outlet of the new Bar du Bristol, the Spa Le Bristol by La Prairie and Epicure, the three Michelin-star restaurant. From the recent York Plaza to the Four Seasons George V in Paris, via the Regent in Singapore and New York’s Pierre Hotel, throughout his 35 year long career, he has demonstrated his talents within the exclusive world of luxury hotels, in addition to his want to make every hotel wherein he has worked a “one-of-a-kind” place. Didier Le Calvez will keep his responsibility at Le Bristol Paris and in his new role supervise Hotel Saint-Barth Isle de France in addition to sales & marketing activities for the Oetker Collection.

    Frank Marrenbach, CEO of the Oetker Collection, commented: “These appointments express our trust and gratitude towards a team of exceptional and award-winning hoteliers. With this great team, i’m confident that our vision to create a set of 15 masterpiece hotels inside the coming years should be achieved”.