Hotel executive moves: Choice, Loews, Wyndham

New chairman of AAHOA. Miraj Patel is the new chairman of the AAHOA board of directors and the youngest to serve in that position in the association’s 35-year history. Patel is president of Houston-based Wayside Investment Group and a second-generation hotelier.

New Cushman & Wakefield hotel executive. Cushman & Wakefield has promoted Frederic Le Fichoux to head of hotel transactions for EMEA. Le Fichoux has been with the firm for 17 years and previously led hotel transactions for continental Europe.

New core brand manager at Choice. Choice Hotels International has promoted Judd Wadholm to senior vice president and general manager, Core Brands, charged with driving the growth and performance of the company’s nine upper midscale, midscale, and economy brands in the U.S. market, which as of the end of 2023 consisted of 5,500 hotels. Wadholm joined Choice in 2022 and previously held leadership roles in operations, owner relations, and finance with Radisson Americas and its predecessors. Most recently, Wadholm served as vice president of Managed Hotels Americas for Choice.

New CFO for First Hospitality. Chicago-based First Hospitality has named Matt Schuster as its new CFO. Before joining First Hospitality, Schuster worked at Club Quarters Hotels, most recently serving as CFO. He began his career at EY.

New area VP for Hilton. Hilton has announced the appointment of Joseph Khairallah as area vice president and head of Japan, Korea, and Micronesia. Khairallah has over 40 years of experience and previously served as Hilton's vice president of operations for North China. Before joining Hilton in 2018, Khairallah worked at Marcus Hotels & Resorts.

Hyatt names LAC executive. Hyatt Hotels Corp. has named Antonio Fungairino as head of Inclusive Collection development for the Latin America & Caribbean (LAC) region. Fungairino was previously the vice president of development for Hyatt’s Inclusive Collection. He previously worked at InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Everest Holdings, Mullen Real Estate and Apple Leisure Group.

La Vie names new Asia executive. Sydney-based La Vie Hotels & Resorts has appointed David Wray as senior director of growth and development for Asia. Wray has over three decades of experience and was previously senior vice president of acquisitions and development at Travel + Leisure Co (formerly Wyndham Vacations Resorts) for 19 years. He also worked at Choice Hotels where he was franchise director. 

Loews names new COO. Loews Hotels & Co. has named Dan Flannery as COO. Flannery has more than four decades of hospitality experience and was most recently CEO of Cape Resorts. Before that, Flannery created and launched the EDITION luxury lifestyle brand with the hotelier Ian Schrager.

Louvre Hotels names new CDO. Louvre Hotels Group has named Arnoud Vink as the chief development officer. Vink has extensive experience previously led all growth efforts of Accor in France for 16 years as the senior vice president of development and franchising. He then joined Choice Hotels as head of development for EMEA. 

Matthews Southwest Hospitality new VP. Dallas-based Matthews Southwest Hospitality has named Eric Friend as vice president of development and acquisitions. Friend will focus on expanding the company’s CANVAS Hotel brand. Friend was previously vice president of asset management at Bank OZK Real Estate Specialties Group. He also worked for Omni Hotels & Resorts. 

Peachtree elevates three senior executives. Peachtree Group promoted three senior executives, including Michael Harper to president of hotel lending, Jared Schlosser to executive vice president of hotel lending and head of CPACE and Michael Ritz to executive vice president of investments. Harper joined Peachtree in 2014 and has had a succession of leadership roles, while Schlosser joined the company in 2019 and Ritz joined the firm in 2017.

Rebel Hotels names West Coast exec. New York-based Rebel Hotels has named Mark LeBlanc as managing director of West Coast operations. He was previously executive vice president of development at Rim Hospitality. 

Wyndham shuffles executive leadership. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts announced that chief information officer Scott Strickland has been appointed to the chief commercial officer role. In this newly created role, Strickland will continue his technology and distribution duties and will now be in charge of global sales, revenue generation, marketing, communications and the company’s loyalty program. Strickland and his expanded team will continue to build brands, drive direct revenue and advance the Wyndham value proposition through a newly combined, tech-forward commercial organization. Lisa Checchio, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, is leaving the company. She launched the “by Wyndham” endorsement strategy, helped introduce new hotel brands, and grew the loyalty program to over 100 million members. She also led Wyndham’s program to advance female hotel ownership.