Preferred Hotels & Resorts appoints new regional MENA director

Preferred Hotels & Resorts hired Nicolas Villemin as its new regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. 

Villemin will oversee the retention and expansion of the brand's Middle Eastern and North African portfolio. He will be based in the Preferred Hotels' office in Dubai.

Villemin has 20 years of industry experience, more than 10 years of which he spent working in the Middle East. He previously served in senior executive positions and consultancy roles for luxury hotel brands, including Viceroy, Shangri-La and Habtoor Hospitality. 

“The Middle East and North Africa region is full of exciting opportunities in the independent luxury hotel space. It is a privilege to take on this new role in such a dynamic region. I look forward to applying my experience in commercial development with both branded and independent hotels to support Preferred Hotels & Resorts development,” Villemin said in a statement.

Preferred Hotels' portfolio in the MENA includes 21 hotels, resorts, and residences. These operate in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Morocco. 

Preferred Hotels recently added 22 new hotels to its portfolio as part of its global expansion between April and June 2018. The newest addition in the Middle East was the Vivienda Al Hada Residences in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

The remaining 21 hotels that opened in 2018's second quarter are in Canada, Saint Lucia, the Maldives, France, California, Massachusetts, Mexico, New York, the UK, Norway, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Malaysia and India. 

Preferred Hotels added another 35 hotels and resorts across 17 countries to its portfolio in the first quarter of 2018. Six of these hotels opened across the Middle East: the Atana Musandam, the Atana Khasab and the Salalah Gardens Hotel in Oman, the Safir Hotel and Residences Kuwait and the Vivienda Al Hada and Vivienda Turk Al Awal in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

The remaining hotels operate in Brazil, Colorado, Switzerland, Malaysia, China, the Maldives, India, New York, California, Mexico, Illinois, Washington, D.C., Canada, the UK, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Czech Republic and Austria. Preferred Hotels now has a portfolio of more than 700 hotels, resorts, residences and hotel groups.