Anand Nadathur, group CEO of Singapore-based Next Story Group, has appointed new executives ahead of the company's global expansion. Darren Edmonstone is the new CEO of Next Hotels & Resorts while Andreas Flaig is the new group chief development officer of Next Story Group.
Edmonstone, who is originally from Australia, was the managing director of Outrigger Resorts in Asia-Pacific before joining Next Story Group. He has worked in the hospitality industry for the past 30 years. During this time, he also held key positions in the Peninsula Group.
Meanwhile, Flaig has spent more than 25 years in the hospitality industry. Flaig’s most recent executive roles were at Radisson Hotel Group—formerly called Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group—in Singapore, JLL Hotels & Hospitality in China and Aareal Bank in Germany. He will oversee the development and opening of Next Story Group's pipeline of more than 10 hotels and Kafnu properties in Bangalore, India; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Melbourne, Australia; Mumbai, India; and Sydney. These will join Next Story Group's 37 hotels and resorts across Asia-Pacific.
The announcement follows the group's recent launch of Taiwan's Kafnu co-working space in Taipei at the end of January this year. The 12-floor Kafnu Taipei opened four months after the launch of the brand in October in Hong Kong at the Kerry Hotel in the Hung Hom area of Kowloon.
In 2017, SilverNeedle Hospitality acquired Brand Karma. The company was renamed Next Story Group soon after and launched the co-working space brand Kafnu. The group also renamed its hospitality division SilverNeedle Hospitality as Next Hotels. Next Story's architecture and design agency Virsa has kept its original name.