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Back in the hospitality business: Arno Schwalie. |
Düsseldorf (March 29, 2022). Otto Lindner's successor as CEO of Lindner Hotels AG is Arno Schwalie. The 47-year-old thus returns to the hospitality industry on 1 May. Most recently, he headed Korian Germany, the market leader among care service providers, as CEO.
The planned change of CEO at Lindner Hotels became known in February 2022 and surprised the industry because such "ad hoc announcements" were not part of the style of the previous Lindner board member Otto Lindner and his board colleague Andreas Krökel. It was also unusual that with the withdrawal of the two gentlemen, two successors were merely announced but not appointed.
The first name that is now concrete is Arno Schwalie. He will take up his position on 1 May 2022. At the same time, Otto Lindner will move to the chair of the supervisory board after 30 years at the helm of the hotel group. Andreas Krökel has been acting in an advisory capacity in the new position of Head of Business Development Hotels & Leisure since 1 March 2022. Frank Lindner, Otto's brother, was the third member of the board since 2019 and will remain in this position. According to information from hospitalityInside, there will be two other new appointments at executive level at Lindner Hotels.
Schwalie has a contract for three years. With him, for the first time, a manager with Group experience will be at the top management of the family-run hotel group - together with Frank Lindner. Of the three other brothers, Jörg Lindner heads the investment company 12.18, Marc and Dirk Lindner are board members of the property development company Gebau and the Gebau Fonds with real estate management. Each of the five brothers holds 20% of the shares in the Lindner group of companies.
In the press release, the shareholders of the Lindner group of companies speak of a "generation change". Schwalie is 13 years younger than Otto Lindner. During his time at Radisson, Schwalie introduced the Balanced Scorecard strategy for the holistic management of processes and measurement of KPIs, the press release continues. In addition, he implemented "the reverse thinking approach, which is also the basis of me and all hotels, the second brand of Lindner Hotels AG". At Design Hotels, he co-developed many brand and location concepts, including for the realignment of Bikini Berlin.
From Design Hotels to health care
"Arno is a determined and innovative thinking hospitality specialist who is not afraid to break new ground. He set a lot in motion at Radisson and understood how to motivate his team," says Wolfgang M. Neumann, Schwalie's former boss at Radisson Hotels when asked by hospitalityInside.com.
Arno Schwalie has been a name in the industry since his time at Design Hotels. For nine years, he built up this consortium with founder Claus Sendlinger, which was the first to catch the trend towards design-strong hotels at that time and managed to give the bundle of design- and art-crazy individual hoteliers a professional marketing and distribution framework. Schwalie started as Director Strategic Development at Design Hotels in September 2006 and left the group as COO in August 2015, when the consortium was already part of Starwood Hotels (and today belongs to Marriott).
He seamlessly moved to Radisson Hospitality under CEO Wolfgang M. Neumann in 2015, starting as Area VP Central Europe and advancing to Senior Area VP Central & Southern Europe. Two years later, in July 2017, he ventured into the care sector and advanced to CEO Korian Germany, the subsidiary of the Paris-based company of the same name. In Germany, Korian is now the market leader among care service providers and has access to over 300 care facilities (outpatient, inpatient and assisted living), where 24,000 employees work.
Schwalie holds a degree in International Business Administration, an MBA and a postgraduate degree in Real Estate Management. He lives near Munich with his wife and two children, is a football fan and passionate sportsman who regularly runs, swims and skis.
The portfolio of the Lindner Hotel Group (1,300 employees; 90 million euros turnover in 2021) includes a total of 34 hotels in seven European countries. In addition to 18 Lindner hotels in major cities, seven spa and sports resorts (one of which is in planning) and a holiday park, this includes eight hotels under the me and all brand (three of which are under construction). - More on Friday. / map
Continuative Links:
- Feb 11, 2022 Change in company leadership
- 01.04.2022 After the CEO change at Lindner me and all in focus
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