Neumann is currently focused on an in-depth handover with Kurt Ritter, before becoming Rezidor CEO on January 1, 2013.
As incoming CEO of Brussels-based Rezidor, Wolfgang M. Neumann discusses his plans to drive revenue, develop the mid-market and meet Middle Eastern owners, as he prepares to fill the shoes of legendary hotelier Kurt Ritter
What do you do when the hotel CEO you most respect and admire calls and invites you to join his company, as his ‘number two’ no less? Why, you accept, of course. But then how would you feel, 18 months on, when that CEO retires, leaving you to continue his legacy?
This is the remarkable turn of events that has befallen Wolfgang Neumann, executive vice president and chief operating officer of The Rezidor Hotel Group, set to succeed long-serving industry icon Kurt Ritter as president and CEO of the Brussels-based hotel chain on January 1, 2013.
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Neumann joined Rezidor in May 2011, following a 24-year career with Hilton Worldwide and then a stint as CEO of Arabella Hospitality Group in Germany. He says the decision to move to Rezidor was an easy one, based on his long-held esteem for Ritter, who has run the company since 1989.
“I always admired Rezidor from the outside. I admired the culture, the pace at which they had grown and I always had a big respect for Kurt, so that was the reason why I joined Rezidor 18 months ago,” explains Neumann. “He’s an icon of the hotel industry as far as I’m concerned, he’s one of the legendary CEOs, so to work with him was one attraction.”
In addition, Neumann says he was keen to join a publicly limited company, with Rezidor trading on the Stockholm Stock Exchange since 2006, and to capitalise on his international experience gained with Hilton via Rezidor’s partnership with US-based Carlson.
“Rezidor is dynamic, it’s fast-moving, it’s entrepreneurial, we have had enormous growth success over the years; we want to build on that, consolidate that and we are now as Carlson Rezidor one of the top 10 international hotel companies,” Neumann asserts.
The first steps
There’s no doubt that Neumann has walked into a strong position; Rezidor has 436 hotels globally and 101 in the pipeline, and in total, Carlson Rezidor operates 1300 hotels. In the Middle East and Africa, there are 30 hotels operating under the Radisson Blu, Park Inn by Radisson and Missoni brands, and another 14 hotels signed.
But the company has set ambitious commercial and revenue targets in the form of Route 2015, and delivering these is now Neumann’s responsibility. Launched in December 2011, through Route 2015 Rezidor aims to increase its EBITDA margin by 6-8% by the year 2015.
The strategy puts a strong focus on revenue generation including global strategic partnership activities with Carlson, cost-saving initiatives, accelerated asset management programmes and further growth of the fee-based hotel portfolio — with a focus on new and emerging markets such as Russia/CIS and Africa.
Neumann says he has been heading up the strategy over the past 12 months and that now, with Ritter, they are working through a carefully planned transition period.
Come January, Ritter will assist Neumann as an advisor for three months, and afterwards continue to serve as a key strategic advisor to Trudy Rautio, chairman of Rezidor’s Board of Directors and president and CEO of Carlson.
“This was a meticulously thought-through planned handover and as I said, I have already been very much in the driving seat of the strategy over the last year, so this is continuation, ” says Neumann.
“Kurt and I worked so closely over the last six months in preparing this so we will continue on this strategy for 2015. Any new CEO will always bring in certain touches and certain refinements, it’s logical, but in essence Rezidor is a success story and we’re going to build on that and consolidate that,” he says.
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