Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts

Mövenpick's adventure actually began a little earlier than 1973, since its founder, Ueli Frager, first started out in quality catering: an "entrance gate" that would have a lasting influence on the hotel group's management, ever since its first two properties opened in 1973.

Three years later, the Swiss hotel owner left Europe and landed in Cairo, Egypt, while expanding his restaurant business and opening up to the Chinese market. With this first destination, it also developed luxury cruises on the Nile, which are still in operation today.

In 1992, Prager sold two thirds of his company to Mövenpick Holding, and the Saudi conglomerate Kingdom Group, which owns the remaining 33%. Six years later, the company restructured and separated its hotel business from its other operations: Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, Mövenpick Gastronomy, Mövenpick Wine and Mövenpick Fine Foods were born.

At the turn of the 21st century, Jean Gabriel Pérès, the new manager of Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, decided to proceed with a strategy of harmonization of the portfolio of the Swiss group, characterized by high-end establishments with a careful gastronomy. North Africa and the Middle East became two promising markets for the Swiss group, where it opened several hotels in the early 2000s, before entering the Asian market (Thailand, Philippines, India and China). At the same time, Movenpick was pushing ahead its strategy of respecting the environment by endowing its European establishments with the Green Globe certification. Its efforts were recognised when it was awarded the title of "Green Globe World's Greenest Company" in 2016, emphasizing exemplary energy performance in its establishments, particularly in Germany.

That same year, Mövenpick set itself the objective of having 125 establishments worldwide by 2020, under the aegis of Olivier Chavy, new CEO of the group who took office in September 2016. With a particular focus on portfolio growth in Asia and Europe, the Swiss are acutely aware of market trends and in May 2017 formed an Executive Committee composed of "millenials" due to the weight of Generation Y in the hotel market, a growing segment with new needs that is revolutionizing hotel concepts.