The 37-story , 1,048-room Fairmont Austin is the largest hotel in the Fairmont chain .
DEVELOPMENT
FAIRMONT HOTELS ’ NEW CEO
LOOKS TO IMPROVE UPON AN ACCOR PRESTIGE BRAND
WITH A NEW ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE IN PLACE , ACCOR LOOKS TO SUPERCHARGE AN ICONIC LUXURY FLAG .
By DAVID EISEN , EDITOR IN CHIEF
Here ’ s something interesting about Mark Willis , CEO of Accor ’ s luxury Fairmont Hotels & Resorts brand : Victoria Beckham is godmother to his son . Naturally , he also knows Victoria Beckham ’ s other half , footballer-turned-style-icon David Beckham , quite well . So well , in fact , that he once tried to teach Beckham up on the hotel industry , since Becks has expressed interest in the business , like fellow football friends , Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville , both of whom own a hotel in Manchester .
The way Willis tells it , Beckham might be best suited sticking to corner kicks , Instagram posts and Tudor watch ads . “ I spent an hour trying to explain RevPAR to him ,” Willis said . “ Just totally over his head .”
At least he had a great teacher . Willis became CEO of Fairmont back in January , part of an organizational reshuffle by Accor across regions and by product , in order to better serve its more than 40 brands and , importantly , its hotel ownership community .
One group , “ Luxury and Lifestyle ,” includes brands such as Raffles , Orient Express , Fairmont and Sofitel , along with collections MGallery ,
30 hotelsmag . com May 2023