Rotana, a leading international hotel management company, has appointed Joseph Coubat as area vice president for Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait, Turkey, Congo and Syria and general manager of Gefinor Rotana Beirut, effective November 1, 2016.

The realignment in organisational structure follows the successful opening of City Centre Rotana, a five-star hotel located in the heart of Doha which had been developed and launched under Coubat’s stewardship in his capacity as the property’s general manager.

As area vice president, Coubat will be responsible for four Rotana hotels in Qatar, two hotels each in Lebanon and Turkey, and one hotel each in Kuwait and Syria – in addition to the yet-to-open Kin Plaza Arjaan by Rotana in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – managing a combined inventory of over 2,300 keys.

Coubat had held the position of area vice president in charge of Rotana’s hotels in Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon and Kuwait for a long period before being assigned to lead the opening of City Centre Rotana Doha – a key launch for the company. He now returns to resume his position as area vice president, but with an expanded mandate that will see him take on a more decisive role in shaping Rotana’s operational strategy in key markets in the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe regions.

Guy Hutchinson, chief operating officer, Rotana, said: “Joseph’s experience and deep domain knowledge has been an asset to the company since he joined the Rotana family over eight years ago. He has a proven track record in all aspects of hotel development and his expertise has been relied upon time and again at Rotana to guide several of our property launches to success. In his expanded role, Joseph will be more closely involved in strategic planning and business development, managing our expansion efforts in the Middle East as well as in the Turkey and Sub-Saharan Africa markets.”

Coubat, who has an MBA in Hospitality Management from the Institut de Management Hôtelier International Cornell – ESSEC in France, started his hospitality career in 1986, working initially in the food and beverage and finance departments. Over the next two decades, he held a variety of senior positions with leading hotel chains including the InterContinental Hotel Group before joining Rotana in 2008. - TradeArabia News Service