Germany: Rogier Braakman has been appointed as the managing director of Penta Hotels Worldwide, succeeding Eugène Staal who served as president for over two years.
Braakman took up the position on February 1, 2020. He previously spent 12 years building the Sandton Hotels and Pillows Hotels portfolio from scratch, before leaving in the summer of 2018.
Since, Braakman has been consulting and investing in a number of tech start-ups in the Netherlands through his cofounded private equity vehicle NoCeiling.
Braakman said: “It is the biggest burden of every business owner being forced to suspend operations for an undefined time. Since opening we have operated our hotels 24/7, 365 days a year, and hadn’t had to close for a single day. Yet, instead of carrying out our initial plans, we have been working around the clock to temporarily suspend operations in many hotels, restructure our processes and ask for many intense sacrifices from all team members and stakeholders. Despite all this, we have been putting a lot of effort in bringing in new innovations and improving our product throughout all hotels.”
“For the health and safety of our team members and guests, it is our duty as responsible members of the neighbourhood, community and society to act as such. We are now wholly focusing on implementing our social distance proof ‘1.Penta program’ (‘Penta’ means ‘five’ in Greek) – getting ready for guaranteeing our guests a safe stay while still being able to enjoy the beloved Penta spirit. Some of our hotels have stayed open since the beginning of this crisis and have already successfully tested our new measures.”
“I am proudly taking the lead of this vigorous and forward-thinking organisation, with lots of talent on board, and I am impressed with our team’s resilience, open mind and positivity. Therefore I would like to say a sincere and humble ‘thank you’ to all Penta staff in these difficult times. We all can’t wait to be fully back in business and continue to expand our cool brand again!”
Penta Hotels is a lifestyle brand in the industry’s upper-midscale segment. It has 28 operating hotels under the brand across Europe and Asia.
Since late 2018, Penta Hotels has spent more than 1,700 hours as a group on community based projects, such as helping out the less fortunate by donating soups in wintertime with its “Souper Heroes” initiative.
