Read the latest roundup of hotel industry hires and promotions in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
Ayman Gharib
Gharib has been named CEO of Kisawa, the parent company of the eight one-, two- and three-villa Kisawa Sanctuary on Benguerra Island, Mozambique. Previously, he worked in various roles for more than 15 years at Raffles, with stints that included being general manager at the 240-room Raffles Dubai and vice president of operations, Middle East.
Tobias Reinecke
Reinecke has been promoted at Choice Hotels Europe, Middle East and Africa to head of development investment and portfolio growth. He was previously director of investment and strategic partnerships, a role he started in September 2022.
Chris Penn
Penn returned to hotel firm and brand Ace Hotel as its CEO, eight and a half years after leaving his role as general manager of its Ace London property, which reopened in March 2002 as the 258-room One Hundred Shoreditch and is no longer part of Ace. Penn, who will be based in London, spent those interim years advising hotel owners and operators and founding hotel firms such as Birch.
Stefan Ludwig
Ludwig has been appointed general manager of the 29-room The Mansard in Gstaad, Switzerland, a hotel that became part of brand and management firm Miiro in late 2024. Ludwig did not come far for his new role, moving from the 90-room Gstaad Palace Hotel, where he was executive assistant manager, sales and marketing.
John McLean
McLean has been named managing director of The Stafford Collection, which consists of two hotels — 106-room The Stafford London, which dates to January 1912, and Northcote, a 26-room hotel in Langho, Lancashire, England, that has a restaurant with a Michelin star — as well as a standalone London restaurant, Norma. McLean’s storied London career includes time as interim general manager at 54-room The Cadogan, a Belmond Hotel; hotel manager and interim general manager at 115-room Brown’s Hotel; and executive head, food and beverage, at 93-room The Lanesborough.
Andrea Keeble
Keeble has been named head of sales and marketing, United Kingdom and Eire, for the Sani/Ikos Group, which operates the Sani Resort and Ikos Resorts.
Lorenzo Maraviglia
Maraviglia has been appointed general manager of the 83-room Collegio alla Querce, Auberge Resorts Collection, the brand’s first Italian hotel, which opened on March 2. His career mostly has been at Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, which he joined in 2015 and had roles with at its 237-room Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and Four Seasons Hotel Dubai International Financial Center. He also has worked at the 160-room Armani Hotel Dubai, in the city’s Burj Khalifa building, and at the 301-room Ritz-Carlton, Beijing.
Rahool Macarius
Macarius started a new role at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts as market managing director, Eurasia. It is a return for Macarius, who is arriving from a stint at IHG Hotels & Resorts where he was commercial director, South West Asia, for a three-year term. He was previously a commercial director at Wyndham for six years.
Laurence Webb
Webb has been announced as head chef at the 22-room Palé Hall Hotel in Bala Gwynedd, Wales. Before he came to the Snowdonia hotel, his roles include nearly eight years at the famed, 32-room hotel Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, A Belmond Hotel.
Alex D’Aguiar
D'Aguiar has been appointed as global head of restaurants and bars at hotel firm Belmond. In his career, D’Aguiar has worked for notable chefs such as Endo Kazutoshi, Gordon Ramsay and Misha Zelman, who he worked for in a previous role as managing director, Creative Restaurant Group.