Belmond announced the appointment of David Grossniklaus as senior director of development Middle East, Africa and India.

Based in Belmond’s newly-opened development office in the heart of the Dubai International Financial Centre, in the United Arab Emirates, Grossniklaus will focus on growing Belmond’s footprint across the region with new hotel developments and conversion opportunities.

Kenneth Hatton, senior vice president for global development at Belmond, commented: “David joins Belmond at an exciting time of growth, as we move forward with the strategic plan to double the footprint of the company by 2020.

“We are keen to pursue acquisition and management opportunities across the Middle East and Indian Ocean and the experience and expertise that David brings to the role will be valuable assets to this endeavour, and a tremendous springboard for the launch of our first office in the region.”

With more than 16 years of hospitality industry experience, Grossniklaus joins Belmond from Starwood Hotels & Resorts, where he held the position of associate director acquisitions and development for the Middle East and Africa.

During the course of his three years at Starwood, he closed a number of prominent deals across the GCC, Ethiopia, Lebanon and South Africa.

Having first worked with Belmond during an internship as e-distribution manager in 2002 while studying at Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, Grossniklaus has since taken roles with Deloitte/STR Global, as well as Fairmont-Raffles Hotels International, working on new development for Swissotel.

“I am very pleased to be opening Belmond’s development office, contributing to the expansion of the Belmond brand in the Middle East, Indian Ocean, Africa and India.

“I believe Belmond is well recognised by both travellers and investors as the leading luxury owner and operator of hotels, trains and cruises and our future developments will continue to create memorable and unique travel experiences for our customers,” Grossniklaus concluded.