New Regional Vice Presidents for Western Europe and Middle East, Africa Offer More than 60 Years of Combined Hotel Industry Expertise
LONDON, UK, 2016-Nov-29 — /Travel PR News/ — Wyndham Hotel Group, the world’s largest hotel company with nearly 8,000 hotels across a portfolio of 16 iconic brands, today (22 November 2016) announced two new appointments in the Europe, Middle East, Eurasia and Africa (EMEA) leadership team. Patrick Divall has been appointed to the role of Regional Vice President, Western Europe, and Ignace Bauwens to the role of Regional Vice President, Middle East and Africa.
Divall joins the company from Starwood Hotels & Resorts, where he was most recently the Regional Director of Finance, Western Europe, and brings more than 30 years’ experience in the hospitality industry. In his new role, Divall will report into Dan Ruff, President and Managing Director, EMEA, and will be responsible for driving growth of Wyndham Hotel Group’s portfolio in Western Europe, which currently includes more than 150 hotels. He will be based at the company’s London office.
Divall explains, “I have a particular passion for growing and nurturing teams and therefore am delighted to join Wyndham Hotel Group at a time when our portfolio of managed and franchised hotels across Western Europe is growing at an incredible pace. We have a tremendous opportunity to continue our explosive growth and build on Wyndham Hotel Group’s brand recognition in this region.”
Bauwens joins Wyndham Hotel Group with almost 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry, including senior operations roles at Accor and InterContinental Hotels Group. Based in the Middle East since 2002, Bauwens most recently served as Managing Director for BLH bvba Hospitality Consultancy and as CEO of Abu Dhabi National Hotels (ADNH). In his new role, Bauwens will oversee one of Wyndham Hotel Group’s fastest-growing regions. He will also report into Dan Ruff and will be based at the company’s Dubai office.
Bauwens says, “Wyndham Hotel Group has a very bold development strategy – to ensure that wherever adventure leads, travellers can find our hotel brands nearby. Nowhere in EMEA is this strategy more evident than in the Middle East and Africa. I look forward to continuing in the remarkable work the team has done establishing our brands in some of the most exciting travel destinations on the planet.”
This year Wyndham Hotel Group has reached important development milestones in EMEA, including introducing the Super 8 brand to Europe, opening the company’s 50th hotel in Turkey, expanding into Greece with the Wyndham Grand Athens and announcing new hotels in emergent destinations such as Oman, Iraq and Ethiopia.
About Wyndham Hotel Group
Wyndham Hotel Group is the world’s largest hotel company based on number of hotels and is one of three hospitality business units of Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN). As both a leading hotel brand franchisor and hotel management services provider, the company’s global portfolio consists of nearly 8,000 hotels and approximately 689,800 rooms in 75 countries under the following brands: Dolce Hotels and Resorts®, Wyndham Grand®, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts®, Wyndham Garden® Hotels, TRYP by Wyndham®, Wingate by Wyndham®,Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham®, Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham®, Ramada®, Baymont Inn & Suites®, Days Inn®, Super 8®, Howard Johnson®, Travelodge® and Knights Inn®. Wyndham Rewards, the company’s guest loyalty program, offers more than 48 million members the opportunity to earn and redeem points at thousands of hotels across the world. For more information, visit www.wyndhamworldwide.com.
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Media Hotline:
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Rob Myers
Director, Public Relations
Wyndham Hotel Group
Rob.Myers@wyn.com
(973) 753-7086
Source: Wyndham Hotel Group