Ireland: Serviced apartment operator Staycity has announced the appointment of a non-executive board director and two senior executives.
Michael Flaxman, former Accor chief operating officer and a member of Accor’s global executive committee, has been appointed to the board as a non-executive director.
Flaxman spent 27 years with Accor working across its hotel portfolio, which includes the Sofitel, Adagio, Novotel, Mercure and Ibis brands. He left Accor in 2011 and has since been working as a consultant to the hotel industry.
Keith Freeman becomes Staycity‘s chief operating officer. Freeman, previously operations manager with Whitbread’s Premier Inn, was closely involved in the successful launch of the brand in Ireland.
Staycity co-founder and CEO Tom Walsh, said: “Recruiting high calibre, experienced hospitality professionals is a vital part of our strategy and will help us in our aim to develop and expand. I admire Premier Inn for its award-winning customer service and am delighted to welcome Keith on board to drive our own customer service to new highs.”
The appointments come shortly after Anthony Carragher was named Staycity’s chief commercial & development officer.
Anthony has served on the board of Staycity since 2007 having previously been partner/chief financial and investment officer for Irelandia, the investment vehicle of the Ryan family, founders of Ryanair, in which capacity he served on several high-growth airline boards.
Staycity, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary, has more than 1,000 apartments across eight European cities, with plans to expand to 5,000 over the next five years.
Later this month the company will open 161 purpose-built apartments across two properties in Greenwich, London, with further apartments to follow in Venice and Lyon.
Staycity is a sponsor of the 2014 Serviced Apartment Summit in London, where its CEO Tom Walsh will be a speaker.
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