Accor has announced the appointment of Marc Dardenne as chief operating officer, luxury brands, Europe.

Dardenne most recently served as chief operating officer of Amaala, an ultra-luxury resort destination project on the Red Sea sponsored by the Public Investment Fund.

He is also a former interim chief executive and chief operating officer at Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts in Dubai.

In his new role Dardenne will now oversee the operations of around 50 luxury hotels in Europe and nine properties under development.

This includes top tier brands like Raffles, Fairmont, SO/, Sofitel and others as well as flagship properties such as Raffles Europejski Warsaw, Sofitel Legend the Grand Amsterdam and the Savoy, A Fairmont Managed Hotel in London.

“Marc is a respected and well-known leader in the hospitality sector and someone who brings a luxury pedigree and strong commitment to quality,” said Franck Gervais, chief executive, Europe, Accor.

“We are pleased to welcome Marc to the Accor family and are confident that his leadership, relationships and passion for hospitality will both excite and inspire our luxury hotel teams across Europe.”

Dardenne is an accomplished hotelier with nearly four decades of global hospitality experience in both hotel and real estate groups.

Earlier in his career, he worked with Ritz Carlton, then Emaar Hospitality, where he collaborated with Giorgio Armani to shepherd the expansion of the Armani brand into hospitality with ultra-luxury hotels in Dubai and Milan.

Dardenne has also been involved in developing unique luxury and lifestyle brands such as the Address Hotels & Resorts, Patina Hotels & Resorts and Zabeel House.