MOVENPICK Hotels & Resorts has put in place the structure to support its swift Asian expansion by creating a new position, vice president operations-Asia, which has been filled by a hotelier who is no stranger to the region, Bruno Huber.
From just a sprinkling of hotels in the Far East, Movenpick will have 25 hotels in operation and under construction in the region by 2015. Huber, currently general manager and regional manager-Jordan, will be based in Bangkok, where he served the Plaza Athenee before joining Movenpick nine years ago. The appointment is effective September 3, 2012.
The new role is in keeping with Movenpick president & CEO Jean-Gabriel Peres’ vision to turn Movenpick into the best upscale hospitality company in the world.
Since joining Movenpick 13 years ago, Peres has internationalised the Swiss chain, which was previously operating a mixed bag of around 30 mid-market, four- and five-star hotels in Switzerland, Germany and Egypt. Now, Movenpick’s network spans across 25 countries, and includes over 70 hotels in operation and more than 30 under construction, all of which are upscale and upper upscale properties.
In Asia, Movenpick operates two hotels in Phuket and one each in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Singapore and Cebu. This year, it will open a hotel each in Chiang Mai, Koh Samui and Palawan. It has also signed and announced a hotel each in Kuala Lumpur, Bali, Manila, Jomtien, Bangkok, Shanghai, Sanya, Mongolia and Qui Non (Vietnam).
“I’m a great believer in the decentralisation of a number of operational functions. We need to be close to market, where the owners are. Having a strong regional base with good competence is the name of the game,” Peres told TTG Asia e-Daily.
He attributed Movenpick’s globalisation and evolution into the pure upscale segment to an infusion of talent from five-star brands and who already know Asia well – such as Andreas Mattmuller, COO, Middle East and Asia – into a brand which had strong foundations.
Peres said the chain’s Middle East expansion focus in the beginning had been deliberate, as it was a region “pretty close” to Switzerland. He said the Arab Spring had not affected Movenpick as some people had thought. “We do not have downtown hotels. We’re in resort destinations where people fly directly to and are therefore less affected than a property in, say, Cairo. In Bahrain, for example, we’re close to the airport.
“Yes, there has been overall a decrease of some business but it has not been a collapse,” Peres said, adding that Movenpick would continue to sign properties in the Middle East and would also seek to establish a bigger presence in Sub-Saharan Africa.
– Movenpick’s mover, read View from the Top, TTG Asia, July 13, 2012
