French hotel firm Accor has appointed two of its existing C-suite personnel as CEOs of two of its brands, which number more than 45.
The changes will be effective Jan. 1, 2024, the firm said.
Chief Strategy Officer Gilda Perez-Alvarado will add to her responsibilities the role of CEO of the Orient Express brand. Omer Acar, CEO of Raffles and Orient Express, will add the role of CEO of another luxury Accor brand, Fairmont, but cease his responsibility for Orient Express.
The current CEO of the Fairmont brand, Mark Willis, will become an adviser to Accor’s overall CEO, Sébastien Bazin.
Perez-Alvarado will remain based in Paris, while Acar will remain based in New York City.
Willis is based in Dubai, where for five years he was Accor’s CEO for the Middle East, Africa, India and Turkey. He spent the 20 years previous to that role with Radisson Hotel Group and before that with what was Carlson Rezidor, but he entered the industry with an apron as an accomplished executive chef at two United Arab Emirates hotels.
Perez-Alvarado and Acar both are relatively new to Accor but not to the industry.
Perez-Alvarado joined Accor in October. For 19 years before that, she was global CEO for hotels and hospitality at business advisory JLL. She also is a board member at several industry firms and on boards of trustees.
Acar started at Accor at the beginning of 2023. For the previous nine years, he was managing director for Europe and Americas at Qatari hotel ownership firm Katara Hospitality.
Between 2011 and 2014, he was general manager at the 149-room Le Royal Monceau Raffles Paris, before it became an Accor-branded hotel.