Arno Schwalie named Chief Executive Officer at Lindner Hotels AG
On May 1, Arno Schwalie will take over the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Lindner Hotels AG from Otto Lindner, who will move to the supervisory board of the family-owned company. Arno Schwalie was most recently CEO of Korian, the market leader in elderly care, and has very extensive hotel industry expertise, having held various management positions at Radisson and Design Hotels.
With the new appointment to the Management Board of Lindner Hotels AG, the shareholders of Lindner Unternehmensgruppe GmbH & Co. KG are initiating a generational change and want to position the family-owned company strongly for further growth after the crisis. As the new CEO and Chairman of the Management Board, Arno Schwalie will join Lindner Hotels AG on May 1.
Outstanding strategist
Most recently, as CEO Germany and Executive Vice President international, Arno Schwalie led the Korian Group safely through the Corona crisis and, within four years, successfully restructured it, established Germany-wide brand standards, expanded its portfolio and strengthened its employer appeal. For this, the care service provider was awarded, among others, the Top Employer Award DACH 2021 and the Life & Living Award 2020 in the category "outpatient care services".
Prior to this, Arno Schwalie, who holds a degree in International Business Administration, an MBA and a postgraduate degree in Real Estate Management, worked for Radisson and Design Hotels for many years. At Radisson, the 47-year-old was Senior Area Vice President Central & Southern Europe, responsible for 96 hotels with 7,500 employees in 20 countries. During this time, a milestone was the introduction of the Balanced Scorecard strategy for the holistic management of processes and measurement of KPIs. In addition, Arno Schwalie implemented the reverse thinking approach, which also underlies me and all hotels, the second brand of Lindner Hotels AG, and developed the regional marketing and sales organization into a centrally structured performance team. Overall, under his leadership, the region was able to significantly increase guest and employee satisfaction as well as significantly improve its key financial figures.
A successful hand for development
From 2006 to 2015, Arno Schwalie held various management positions at Design Hotels AG, most recently Chief Operating Officer. During this time, he expanded the company's portfolio from 141 to 320 hotels in over 60 countries and expanded the full-service provider's offering, which led to a strong increase in licensing revenues.
In parallel, Arno Schwalie worked on marketing campaigns such as "Made by Originals", for which Design Hotels received the Red Dot Award. Arno Schwalie was also involved in the conceptual design and realignment of Bikini Berlin and developed worldwide location and brand concepts for member hotels of Design Hotels. Furthermore, he was responsible for the expansion of the Revenue Management & Hotel Distribution organization, which led to a multiplication of the booking volume for member hotels.
When Design Hotels was acquired by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc. in 2014, Arno Schwalie led the global integration of Design Hotels member hotels into the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) loyalty program and the migration of the properties to the global Starwood booking platform.
Dynamic into the future
"It is a great honor for me to be able to further develop Lindner Hotels AG with its excellent reputation and diverse hotel portfolio and to lead it into the future. I see great potential and growth opportunities and thank the shareholders for their trust," Arno Schwalie is pleased to say. With the new appointments to the Management Board and Otto Lindner's move to the top of the Supervisory Board, Lindner Hotels AG aims to build on the successes of almost 50 years of its existence, ensure continuity as a family business, open up new markets and continue the company's growth. In addition to Arno Schwalie and Frank Lindner, the new board of directors will include one more person, who will also be announced shortly.
Arno Schwalie lives with his wife and two children near Munich and, as a former German A-Junior soccer champion, is a passionate sportsman who regularly goes running, swimming and skiing.
