Bruno Guilloux has been appointed General Manager of Accor Hotels, Novotel and Ibis World Trade Centre Dubai.
French-born Bruno began his career in the Rooms Division at the Savoy Group Lancaster Hotel, Paris, after graduating from the prestigious Parisian Hotel School Jean Drouant.
After stints in Frankfurt and Bangkok with Kempinski, he joined Accor Asia Pacific in 1994 as Director of Rooms, and was later promoted to Resident Manager. Bruno comes with a wealth of experience and has worked for various Sofitel and Novotel concerns throughout the Far East, in a career spanning more than 20 years. This however, is the first Middle East post for Bruno who appears to have a keen insight into the region.
Married with two children, he practices meditation and is also a keen golfer. ‘The links provide an excellent retreat after a hectic week’, he said, before continuing, ‘About 15 years ago I began noting with interest the developments taking place in Dubai. I distinctly remember telling my wife that this city is going to become a very powerful business and tourism magnet.’
After a few moments of contemplation, he added, ‘There is so much opportunity here especially for the hospitality sector, but anyway, the general outlook is very positive due to so many encouraging government initiatives and so little red tape.
‘Because of the extraordinary number of visitors to Dubai, the demand for mid-range and budget hotels is astounding. It makes sense therefore to increase the presence of quality, world-renowned international three and four star properties to match this demand.’
Ibis and Novotel have proven to be very popular for both the leisure and corporate sectors alike, and there are plans to significantly increase the Ibis’s capacity. A new extension featuring 300 additional rooms is currently under negotiation.
Accor, with 168,000 people in 140 countries, is the European leader and one of the world’s largest groups in travel, tourism and corporate services, with two major international activities:
- Hotels: over 4,000 hotels (more than 466,000 rooms) in 92 countries (Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, Coralia Club, Ibis, Etap Hotel, Formule 1 and, in the United States, Motel 6 and Red Roof Inns), casinos, travel agencies (Carlson Wagonlit Travel and Frantour), restaurants (Lenôtre) and onboard train services (Compagnie des Wagons-Lits)
- Services to corporate clients and public institutions: 19 million people in 34 countries use a broad range of services (food vouchers, people care and services, incentive, loyalty programs, events) engineered and managed by Accor.
