CEO out at Deutsche Hospitality

Insight Comment It sounds like all has not been well at Deutsche Hospitality. Getting rid of your CEO and losing your chairman is never a good sign. Owner Huazhu Group will be hoping that the new leadership team can turn things around fast.

Huazhu Group, the Chinese owner of Deutsche Hospitality, has removed the company’s CEO following what it called “a challenging period”.

CEO Marcus Bernhardt leaves the company after less than two years in the role having joined from car rental company Europcar in November 2020.

At the same time as Bernhardt’s departure, Deutsche Hospitality also confirmed that André Witschi had recently resigned from his Chairman position.

In their place Huazhu Group has recruited experienced hospitality executive Oliver Bonke as CEO and Wilhelm Bender, who has served as Chairman of the Executive Board of Fraport AG for seventeen years, as chairman.

Oliver Bonke has over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry. At Shangri-La Group, he served as CEO Middle East, Europe, India, Americas, based in New York, and President & COO, based in Hong Kong.

Prior to that he acted as Chief Commercial Officer of the U.S. based luxury hotel chain Loews Hotels & Co. Other career stations included the role of Chief Commercial Officer of InterContinental Hotels Group in North and South America as well as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing EMEA and before that Asia Pacific of Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Huazhu Group bought Deutsche Hospitality for about €700 million from Egyptian tourism entrepreneur Hamed El Chiatyat the end of 2019.

Deutsche Hospitality operates eight hotel brands with more than 160 properties, around 40 of which are currently in planning or under construction.

What They Said

Jihong He, CEO International Business of Huazhu Group, said: “I am pleased to welcome Wilhelm Bender, an internationally highly recognized manager and supervisory board member. His experience in managing complex transformation processes will be essential as we take off again after a challenging period in the market.”

Oliver Bonke said: “Deutsche Hospitality today is a well-respected, relevant player in the market. It will be an honour to work with Huazhu and the global team to realise the full potential of this remarkable company and its brands.”