Bartels Shuffles Le Méridien’s Senior Management

LONDON— In laying his cards on the table regarding his plans for Le Méridien Hotel Group, chief executive Juergen Bartels Friday, August 31, also shuffled the senior management deck, but kept his ace, Bernard Lambert, president and managing director of the luxury chain. There had been industry speculation as to what role— if any, some wondered— Lambert would play following Bartels’ step up to the chief executive position following the July 11 close of parent company Nomura International’s $2.7 billion acquisition of Le Méridien. Bartels had been serving as executive chairman of Principal Hotels since its acquisition in first quarter by Grand Hotels Acquisition Co., Ltd, which was created and financed by Nomura’s Principal Finance Group. In July, Principal Hotels was merged with Le Méridien. Bartels indicated he would work closely with Lambert to bring his plan of adding two hotels a month to the Le Méridien portfolio, which currently stands at 144 properties, including the merged Principal Hotels. Le Méridien has 38 owned hotels and 88 managed hotels, of which 13 are franchised. Lambert also is expected to focus on developing greater “personal contact” with independent owners of properties within the portfolio. “We have hand-picked a senior team whose collective experience spans some of the world’s most valuable brands both within, and outside, the global hotel industry,” said Bartels. “Along with outstanding members of Le Méridien’s original team, our new colleagues will complement our objective to drive Le Méridien to the top of the hotel league tables— measured by occupancy, average room rate, GOP and quality— by 2004.” To support Bartels and Lambert in their global growth strategy, 25-year industry veteran Richard Mahoney has been named chief operating officer. The former evp and chief financial officer of Wyndham International will oversee worldwide operations, including human resources and regional managing directors. Mahoney also previously served as COO of Caesar’s World Inc. and as chief financial officer of Westin Hotels, a brand of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which Bartels departed as CEO of the Hotel Group in fourth-quarter 1999. Bartels— as expected— is bringing his driving style to the corporate mix to raise Le Méridien’s profile. “We’re going to spend more on marketing, we’re going to spend more on renovation, we’re going to spend more on training in a period when some of our competitors are thinking: ‘This is going the wrong way and we’re going to spend less.’” Toward that end, Susan Clark, a 14-year veteran of American Express, has been named svp-marketing. She also is the founder of The Phineus Group, a strategic marketing/consulting, and has expertise in customer loyalty and retention. Two regional managing directors for Le Méridien also have been named. Malcolm Ross will handle Europe and Sami Zoghbi will oversee the Middle East and the Indian Ocean regions. Ross most recently worked for Walt Disney World Co. USA’s Disney Resorts, and also had served as Inter-Continental Hotel’s president in Europe. Zoghbi has held several senior positions with both ITT Sheraton and Trusthouse Forte. He most recently was president of the Africa, India and Middle East regions for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.