Hilton has new leadership in one of the company's fastest-growing regions. Jochem-Jan Sleiffer has been appointed area president, Middle East, Africa and Turkey, succeeding Rudi Jagersbacher, who is stepping down after 40 years with Hilton.
Photo credit: Hilton
Sleiffer, originally from the Netherlands, takes on his new position following a three-decade career at Hilton, where he most recently acted as SVP/operations, Continental Europe, overseeing a portfolio of 57 Hilton-managed hotels across 26 countries and territories. Prior to this, he held a number of leadership roles across Europe, including Belgium, U.K., France and Greece.
Sleiffer will relocate to Dubai in January, when Jagersbacher will assume a two-year advisory role to assist the transition.
Over the past eight years, Jagersbacher has driven Hilton's growth in the region by more than tripling the number of hotels there, launching four new brands and by entering 12 new countries and territories, according to the chain.
Hilton expects to open 158 hotels across the region in the next five years, including in new markets such as Bahrain, Ghana and Sierra Leone. As reported in Hotel Management in April, nearly 100 of those hotels will be across the Middle East and North Africa, primarily in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt, for an estimated $9 billion investment from the company's development partners.