Hotel executive moves: Accor, B&B, Extreme Hospitality, H World Group

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.