Accor's Christophe Landais moves on to Iran market

AccorHotels has appointed a new managing director and chief operating office for its properties in the Middle East.

The new MD and COO, Olivier Granet, comes from within the AccorHotels group, with which he has worked since 1999.

Granet takes over the COO position from Christophe Landais, who has been COO at AccorHotels for 15 years. During this time, Landais grew the AccorHotels MENA profile from nine hotels in 2000, to 71 operational properties by the end of 2015.

In his new role, Landais’ takes on responsibility for AccorHotels’ new projects in Iran. Here, the hotel group opened two properties in Tehran at the end of 2015, making them the first international hotel company to operate in Iran.

The company has further plans for significant expansion across the country, which Christophe Landais will head up.

Granet began his career with AccorHotels as chief financial officer for Central Europe. Within AccorHotels, Granet has also had the positions of vice president of corporate finance, and senior vice president of strategy.

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During his time in Dubai, Granet has overseen the signing of 70 new partnership agreements in the Middle East since 2011.

Commenting on the appointment, Olivier Granet said: “I am very excited to be stepping into this role at such an eventful time for AccorHotels in the Middle East. I look forward to overseeing our diverse portfolio of internationally renowned luxury, midscale and economy hotels with the support of our extremely committed team.”

Granet added: “I am delighted to continue the rapid pace of our growth and cannot wait to contribute to the further expansion of our regional footprint.”

Within the Middle East, AccorHotels’ currently has 55 properties under development, which will add 15,000 rooms to the company’s portfolio in the region.