Selina Hospitality, the global lifestyle and experiential hospitality company, has made updates to its executive leadership team.
Gadi Hassin has been promoted to chief operating officer, where he oversees the operational, commercial and financial performance of Selina’s hotel portfolio. Hassin joined Selina in 2020 as managing partner of the APAC region where he was responsible for significant regional expansion and operational excellence. As COO, Hassin will leverage his 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry across four continents and seven countries, including time at Hyatt Hotels, The Ritz Carlton and the Ovolo Group.
“I am excited to be named chief operating officer of Selina,” Hassin said in a statement. “We have an incredible portfolio of hotels and I look forward to supporting and guiding the operations leadership team to drive excellence and improvement. We have the potential to improve the performance of our existing portfolio and we have a clear path on how to do that. My focus will be on driving operational excellence across the organization, ensuring we deliver an exceptional experience for our guests while paving the path to profitability.”
Rafael del Castillo has been appointed Selina’s first chief revenue officer, where he will be responsible for driving increased revenue performance at Selina’s hotel portfolio. His top two priorities will be to continue the traction to optimize occupancy levels and to grow the food and beverage business. Before Selina, del Castillo held leadership positions at a number of leisure and lodging companies, including managing marketing, sales, and product development at Valentin Hotel Group, overseeing the hotel product team across Latin America at Expedia Group and leading market strategy for Marriott International in Mexico.
Emilo Gracia was appointed chief people officer of Selina. Gracia will oversee Selina’s more than 2,000 employee-base, training programs, compensation and benefits, and recruiting of corporate and hotel level roles. Before Selina, Gracia was VP of culture and human resources at the World Travel & Tourism Council, where he played a pivotal role in developing strong leadership and coaching cultures in alignment with business objectives. Before his role at WTTC, Gracia held key international leadership positions at renowned organizations such as Michael Kors, Christian Louboutin and Value Retail, where he spearheaded strategic global HR initiatives and talent management programs to support business growth.
Lena Katz, former chief technology officer, and Sam Khazary, former executive vice president and global head of corporate development, have left the company. The existing leadership team will assume these roles and responsibilities.
“We are grateful to Lena and Sam for their contributions, and we are excited to see what the future holds for them,” Rafael Museri, CEO and co-founder of Selina, said in a statement. “The promotion of Gadi Hassin to COO reflects his exceptional leadership and operational expertise. We are confident that Selina is well-positioned for continued innovation and success with Gadi, as well as the new additions of Rafael del Castillo as chief revenue officer and Emilo Gracia as chief people officer. Our strengthened leadership team is now set and positioned well to keep Selina moving in the right direction.”