Yotel Hires Marriott Exec To Be CEO, Lead Global Expansion
UK hotel chain Yotel has put an aggressive growth strategy in motion and has found new leadership to spearhead the effort.
Phil Andreopoulos, a longtime Marriott executive, is replacing Hubert Viriot as CEO. Viriot, who joined the company in 2014, will stay with the company as vice chairman and will work closely with Andreopoulos on strategy, he said in a LinkedIn post.
Over the course of two decades, Andreopoulos wore several hats at Marriott, most recently chief commercial officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Yotel in April announced plans to double its 24-property portfolio in the next five years. Growing the brand will be the new CEO’s focus, Yotel Chairman Talal Jassim Al-Bahar said in a statement.
Al-Bahar is also chair of Al-Bahar Group, which became Yotel's majority shareholder April 1. The company upped its stake from 60% to 95% after acquiring Starwood Capital Group’s holdings.
Along with 16 mainline hotels, three extended-stay Yotelpad locations and five airport terminal-based Yotelair properties make up the company's portfolio.
U.S. locations are in Miami, San Francisco, Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. Eight new locations are on the way globally, including in Atlanta and Long Island City, according to its website.
A 300-key location is set to open in 2027 in Neom, Saudi Arabia's ambitious effort to build the world's largest real estate development. While its first residents have officially moved in, the project is three years behind and has had to be scaled back numerous times. Costs have ballooned to three times its budget.
The five-region megacity is planned to include a floating port city, a mountain ski resort and skyscrapers compared to works of science fiction, like a 30-story tower hanging upside down from a steel bridge.
It was launched in 2017 as the brainchild of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince in efforts to diversify the region’s economy.
