Olivier Granet is no stranger to the job, as he worked in the region with Accor for five years prior to taking over from Landais at the start of this year.
AccorHotels has promoted Olivier Granet as managing director and chief operating officer for the Middle East and Africa.
Granet previously oversaw the Middle East region only as managing director and COO based in Dubai.
In his new role, Granet is responsible for AccorHotels’ portfolio of hotels and brands, as well as providing transformative growth for the economy and midscale segments for Middle East and Africa.
This includes more than 178 operational hotels with over 40,000 rooms across 28 countries, and more than 160 properties under development. On average, this effectively translates into two hotel openings a month.
He will also be charged with developing and retaining talent within the organisation and more than doubling the number of colleagues to upwards of 50,000 in order to meet the region’s robust growth program.
His purview includes the successful launch of new brands, the adaptation and rollout of innovative products and services, including food and beverage concepts, in addition to Planet 21 sustainability initiatives.
In his former role as managing director and chief operating officer for the Middle East, Granet’s major accomplishments included catapulting AccorHotels to become the leading hotel operator in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with 20 operational hotels and another 40 in the pipeline, as well as facilitating the integration of FRHI Hotels & Resorts (following the merger in July 2016) within the regional structure.
He also launched development and training academies including a special management program tailor-made for Saudi nationals, which was also the first hospitality program to welcome Saudi women last year, in line with AccorHotels’ global vision on gender equality and diversity in the workplace.
Since his move to Dubai in 2011, Granet served as senior vice president of development for the Middle East.
An 18-year veteran of the hospitality industry, he first joined AccorHotels in 1999 as chief financial officer for Central Europe, and was later successively appointed to the roles of vice president, corporate finance, and senior vice president, strategy.
Prior to joining AccorHotels, Granet worked with Deloitte & Touche for 10 years, initially as an auditor and later as a manager in the corporate finance department, holding positions in France and abroad.
He has a degree from the Grenoble Institute of Political Studies (Sciences-Po Grenoble) and an MBA from ESSEC Business School in Paris.
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