Jean Gabriel Pérès, President & CEO, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts
SWITZERLAND-BASED Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts has initiated a search for a new CEO as current CEO Jean-Gabriel Pérès has informed the board he wishes to step down.
Pérès, who is synonymous with Mövenpick after 17 years with the company, told TTG Asia e-Daily he was not retiring. “Too young to quit,” he said jokingly. Joining another company? “I am just taking a step back after 17 wonderful years of growing the company, and remain a board member, nothing more,” he said.
The chain has hired Egon Zehnder Executive Search to seek a replacement for Pérès, who will remain CEO until his successor assumes leadership. A decision is expected to be reached later this year, said a Mövenpick statement.
The incoming CEO is expected to drive value accretive initiatives including the development of commercial activities and the delivery of further system integration, enhanced distribution and active yield management, added the statement.
Pérès is credited for transforming Mövenpick from a mainly European-based hotel company with a leased hotel portfolio, to a modern asset-light management company with major presence in Europe and the Middle East and a strong entry into Africa and Asia.
He changed Mövenpick’s positioning from a motley bunch of mid-market, four star and some five star hotels to an upscale and upper upscale portfolio.
The company described last year as one of its most successful years to-date with 12 new management contracts, expanding its operating portfolio by 15 per cent. Another 20 properties under negotiation, establishing itself as a key player in the upscale hotel segment worldwide.
Read our earlier interview with Jean-Gabriel Pérès here.
