The Rezidor Hotel Group has announced the appointment of Elie Younes as senior vice president, head of group development, effective January 1st 2013.

Younes joined Rezidor’s regional office in Dubai in April 2010 as vice president, business development Middle East & Africa, and took over the interim leadership of Rezidor’s corporate development department in October 2012.

In his new role Younes will be based at the corporate support office in Brussels, Belgium.

He will also be a member of Rezidor’s executive committee chaired by president Wolfgang Neumann who will take over from Kurt Ritter as from January 1st 2013.

“Rezidor is known for its excellent people development programmes and enhanced performance culture.

“We are delighted that we are able to promote a strong internal candidate to this role” said Neumann.

“Building on his strong knowledge of Rezidor, our owners and business partners, Elie Younes will further drive our asset-light, profitable growth with a focus on the young and emerging markets of Russia/CIS and Africa.”

Rezidor is the leading international hotel operator in Russia/CIS & Baltics, and has the largest pipeline of hotels under development in sub-Saharan Africa.

The group has a total development pipeline of around 100 hotels with over 22,000 rooms in EMEA.