InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), has announced three new senior appointments across the Middle East and Africa.
Bastien Blanc has been appointed as the vice president operations-Middle East. Nicolas Craninx has been appointed as director, hotel performance support – Africa. Additionally, Matthew Tripolone, currently the head of development, Australasia, IHG, will assume the role of vice president, development, Middle East and Africa (MEA) from January 1, 2018.
Blanc has over 25 years of experience in managing international hotel operations, with senior management experience in North America, Europe, Russia, India, Middle East, Africa and the Indian Ocean. He also specialises in revenue management, rate structuring, hotel finance and project management. Based in IHG’s office in Dubai, Blanc will be responsible for leading the operations across GCC countries and Levant.
Tripolone has successfully led IHG's strategic growth and development across Australasia, over the past three years. In his new role, he will be responsible for strengthening IHG’s development pipeline and accelerating growth across the Middle East and Africa.
Based in Johannesburg, Craninx will be responsible for leading the operations and performance of 17 IHG hotels across Africa.
IHG chief operating officer, IMEA Pascal Gauvin said: “I am pleased to welcome Bastien Blanc, Nicolas Craninx and Matthew Tripolone to the region. We are driving the growth of our existing brand portfolio in current and new markets, as well as introducing new brands such as Kimpton across the Middle East and Africa. To facilitate this growth, it is essential that we provide excellent operational leadership to our existing hotels, owners and partners while actively looking for strategic partners to expand our footprint in the region. With these appointments, I am confident that we will be able to deliver stronger performance and achieve accelerated growth across brands and geographies in the region.”
IHG currently has 100 hotels operating across five of the company's brands in the Middle East and Africa with a further 33 in the development pipeline.
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