The Ascott has appointed Christian Desira as its new head of business development and investment for Europe.

He will play an integral role in driving the company’s ambitious growth plans to reach 10,000 units in Europe and 160,000 globally by 2023.

With a strong commercial acumen and over 20 years’ experience in the hotel and commercial real estate sector, Desira will have overall responsibility for business development of the European division of the Ascott and CapitaLand Limited (Ascott’s parent company).

Ngor Houai Lee, managing director, Europe for the Ascott, commented: “We’re delighted to welcome Christian to Ascott.

“He has a fantastic track record in the hospitality and real estate industries and is hugely skilled in acquisitions, negotiations and asset management.

“Ascott has ambitious plans for growth and we are confident that Christian’s expertise and leadership will help us achieve those.”

Christian said: “Ascott is one of the largest players in this industry with a fantastic portfolio of properties and I’m excited to be working with what is an extremely talented and committed team.

“It’s an exciting time for the business - the company has enjoyed record expansion in recent years, and I look forward to working with the team here to continue on this upward trajectory.”

Before joining Ascott, Desira has held various key transactional and hotel development roles, including at LHG in London, DeVono Cresa in London, Q Hotels & Residences in Singapore, HVS International in San Francisco and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) in London.

Ascott currently operates more than 69,000 serviced residence units in key destinations across more than 30 countries in, Asia Pacific, Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the United States, with an additional 44,000 units in development.

The latest addition to its London portfolio is Citadines Islington London, due to open in early 2020.