Abu Dhabi-based Rotana Hotel Management Corp. has promoted Omer Kaddouri to president and CEO, succeeding Co-Founder Selim El Zyr, who will continue to serve in an advisory role as the vice chairman of the board.
El Zyr has headed the company since he co-founded it in 1992 together with Nasser Al Nowais, chairman of Rotana. His direction is credited with building Rotana’s extensive portfolio, which currently stands at 85 properties, although the company already has close to 97 properties on its books.
“It’s definitely a new era in the history of Rotana but one that has been carefully orchestrated and planned to enable Rotana to continue to break new ground in the hospitality industry,” said Al Nowais. “Rotana has over the past few years proved that it can migrate its successful brand and operational formula to regions beyond the Middle East. We will continue to push ahead in exciting new markets such as South East Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa, following an approach that has worked very well for us in the past – growing organically and growing in markets that we understand.”
Kaddouri, the former executive vice president and COO, is now charged with leading Rotana’s aggressive expansion plans to operate 100 hotels by 2020. He has been with Rotana for 15 years and has been a key figure in spearheading the company’s expansion beyond the Middle East. Kaddouri has also been credited with creating greater synergies among Rotana properties in all aspects of operations and for his innovative approach with food and beverage concepts.
Guy Hutchinson, who moves to Rotana from his previous role as vice president of operations for Hilton Hotels in India, will move into Kaddouri’s role as COO.