Germany: Burak Ünver has been appointed managing director of the SMARTments business operating arm of property developer GBI.
The 42-year-old will have overall responsibility for six properties totalling 752 units operating under GBI’s serviced apartment brand currently in operation, in Berlin (three properties), Hamburg, Munich and Vienna. In addition, five other properties with around 700 units are under construction or in the planning or conception stage. These include projects in Mannheim, Cologne, Frankfurt and again in Hamburg and Vienna.
Ünver entered the hotel business in 2004 after graduating from Johannes Kepler University Linz/Austria with an MBA degree. His first position in the hospitality industry was the hotel administration in the Austria Trend Rathauspark Vienna, where he worked as assistant manager for two years. He then led the Austria Trend Hotel Anatol and the Pentahotel Vienna as hotel manager. He was deputy general manager at the four-star Robinson Club Fleesensee and the Robinson Club Nobilis, Turkey. He then assumed the position of general manager, initially for the four-star superior Iberotel Fleesensee and from September 2015 until his last appointment at TITANIC Gendarmenmarkt Berlin. Ünver succeeds Michael Blind, who after six years at the helm of GBI’s SMARTments moved in April to Apartmentservice as a senior consultant.
“The rapid pace of growth makes the still relatively young hospitality segment of serviced apartments an exciting challenge,” said Ünver. “In other countries – above all in the United States, Great Britain and Asia – you can see how much potential there is in this market sector. The market in Germany alone will increase by 60 per cent by 2021, and by a further 17,000 units according to a forecast published in the current Market Report 2019 from Berlin consultants Apartmentservice.”
“For GBI, Germany’s largest hotel project developer, the SMARTments business brand is a crucial part of the expansion strategy,” said Ünver. “In some of our properties, the classic business clientele dominates, while in Berlin, for example, we are preparing for a much younger and more international group of visitors. That’s why special offers have to be made there, for instance to cater for the guests’ greater aptitude for technology. Regionalisation offers great potential.”
Reiner Nittka, CEO of GBI Holding AG, said: “With this comprehensive experience in the areas of management, sales, marketing and strategy, Burak Ünver has the ideal prerequisites for the further consolidating and expanding the SMARTments business brand.”
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