Thomas Cook has appointed ACCOR’s former MD as interim chief of hotels and resorts while it searches for a permanent appointment to replace the current general manager, who is to retire.
From mid-July, Andre Witsche will ‘help shape and develop’ Thomas Cook’s hotel and resort function, it said.
"The new role will allow greater focus not just on the Hotels and Resorts function but on group airlines which will now have a dedicated chief airlines officer in Christoph Debus at a key stage for that part of the business," the group said in a statement.
The restructure of Thomas Cook’s hotels and resorts management team follows the decision by current general manager Karl Schattmaier to retire. He will hand over to Witsche in a few days but will remain on the supervisory board of Thomas Cook GmbH.
Chief executive Peter Fankhauser said Witsche was ‘one of the most experienced international hotel managers in the industry’. He also thanked Schattmaier for the ‘huge contribution’ he had made to the business.
