The wheels of change continue to roll at Brussels-based The Rezidor Hotel Group.
On Thursday the company announced that long-time chief executive Kurt Ritter will retire at the end of 2012 and will be succeeded by Wolfgang Neumann, who joined the company in May 2011 after a 20-year career with Hilton hotels and more recently a short stint as CEO of Arabella Hospitality Group in Munich.
This news comes just a few days after Rezidor’s head of development Puneet Chhatwal announced he was leaving to take the CEO position at Steigenberger, and it has been much more than a month since former CEO Hubert Joly abrupt departed from Carlson – Rezidor’s majority stakeholder and strategic development partner.
In addition on Thursday, Rezidor announced that Trudy Rautio, who replaced Joly as president and CEO of Carlson, was appointed chairman of the Board for the period until the end of the 2013 Annual General Meeting. She has been a member of the Rezidor board since 2005.
Neumann, who currently serves as Rezidor’s executive vice president and COO, told HOTELS this transition has been in the works for several months and that he has been working closely with Ritter, the head of Rezidor since 1989, to plan for the future. “It is great to take over in such a coordinated manner from one of the greatest leaders in the hotel industry,” Neumann said. “Kurt and I have been involved in driving the strategy formulated over the past year. We recognize Rezidor has had a great growth record and has a great pipeline. A big focus going forward will be to lift EBITDA margins.”
Through Route 2015 – a comprehensive program launched by Carlson last December – Rezidor’s aim is to increase its EBITDA margin by 6% to 8% by the year 2015.
Neumann added that his biggest focus in 2013 will be to continue to drive an asset-light strategy, deleverage the balance sheet and focus growth on emerging markets in EMEA. First, however, he will have to look for a new development head to replace Chhatwal, as well as find a new COO.
“This is a huge honor after 16 months with Rezidor,” Neumann said. “I have been able to get to know the company well enough to know it has a unique culture, a dynamic spirit with an entrepreneurial culture that allows it to move fast. Its inroads speak for themself. The strategy we have now allows us to create a value proposition for both our shareholders and partners.”
Rautio said Ritter will assist Neumann as an advisor during a transition period of three months from January 1, and will afterward continue to serve as a key strategic advisor to herself.
In announcing his transition, Ritter said, “I was fortunate to live my dream. I always wanted to become an hotelier and, looking back on more than 35 great years I met inspiring people, negotiated exciting deals, and always enjoyed working in the service industry.”