Former top boss for Accor for all of Saudi Arabia, Eddy Tannous, has left the French group to work for UAE-based Rotana. He is Rotana’s new chief operating officer, reporting directly to president and CEO Guy Hutchinson.
Rotana currently operates 72 hotels in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Türkiye, serving more than six million guests per year.

Tannous said: “I am proud to be joining the renowned, and award-winning Rotana group – a brand truly committed to providing guests with the highest levels of quality and comfort. As a homegrown brand, Rotana is synonymous with Middle Eastern hospitality and the group continues to cement its position as one of the leading players in the region.”

Most recently before Rotana, Tannous was SVP of operations for Fairmont in Middle East and Asia, taking on the role at the same time Fairmont’s HQ was moved to Dubai and Mark Willis became its CEO.

Prior to that, he was SVP of operations for Accor in KSA. He was charge in of more than 40 operating hotels, 45 pipelined hotels, 14,000 hotel keys and 50,000 employees. Additionally, he helped to recruit and manage 540 leaders in the Kingdom.

He combined 20 years in the industry has also seen him hold the role of VP of luxury for Accor in MEA and India from 2019 to 2019. Before regional level roles, he was with Fairmont for a decade in a range of operational and general manager positions.

Commenting on the announcement, Hutchinson said: “It gives me tremendous pleasure to welcome Eddy to the team as we work to expand our footprint regionally and globally. With his extensive background in successfully managing hotel operations across large hotel groups, we are confident Eddy will bring his expertise and vision to build on the robust development pipeline of upcoming projects across key markets.”

Source: Hotelier Middle East