Golden Tulip Hospitality Appoints Kees Van Maaswaal to Chief Operating Officer

In his future position Kees Van Maaswaal will be overseeing the four regional divisions of Golden Tulip Hotels, Inns & Resorts: Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia and the Americas.

The Golden Tulip Hospitality Group comprises of Golden Tulip Hotels, Inns & Resorts, TOP International, B & B, Plaza en Pacific International hotels. Globally this amounts to over 500 hotels. Golden Tulip’s portfolio consists of a total of 250 hotels, of which 50 hotels are currently managed by Golden Tulip.

The strong growth the company is experiencing has created the need to reinforce the Executive Board of Golden Tulip.
Kees Van Maaswaal will report directly to Hans Kennedie, the Company’s President and CEO. As of January 1, 2007, the full Board of Directors will consist out of: Hans Kennedie (President & CEO), Alex Kompier (Chief Financial Officer) and Kees Van Maaswaal (Chief Operations Officer).

Mr. Van Maaswaal is considered as one of the more experienced hotel experts of the European hospitality industry. His career brought him to the French Accor Group where he started in 1982 at IBIS. In 1984 Kees was appointed to Country Manager IBIS The Netherlands and by 1987 opened the first IBIS in the UK. In 1992 Kees Van Maaswaal was appointed to Regional Manager for the Economy Division of Accor in The Netherlands and Germany and later that period he oversaw the Benelux and Scandinavia regions. Since 2003 Mr. Van Maaswaal is responsible for all Accor hotels in The Netherlands.

Mr. Hans Kennedie, President and C.E.O of Golden Tulip Hospitality comments: “Golden Tulip is currently going through a rapid expansion phase. Not only is Golden Tulip expanding in Northern Europe but also in the Middle East & Africa, Asia as well as in the Americas and this mainly through the management of hotels. Strategically I expect that the current portfolio of managed hotels will grow from 50 today to somewhere in the region of 200 hotels in the coming 3 to 5 years. Next to the appointment of highly professional Division heads, the need became apparnt to appoint one Chie Operations Officer, who could lead and combine these global initiatives. With the knowledge that Kees Van Maaswaal has built up over the last 24 years in the European hospitality industry at the Accor Group, we feel we have brought into our company the right man to assist in leading this new era in the existence of Golden Tulip Hotels, Inns & Resorts.

Mr. Van Maaswaal adds: “After an energetic 24 years at the French Accor Group, which I so thoroughly enjoyed, I was ready for a new challenge. The growth and changes that Golden Tulip has been experiencing since 2002 are remarkable. The organisation has refined its franchise formula and has built up in a relatively short period of time a successful management division of hotels. Golden Tulip is implementing a worldwide expansion strategy that through joint ventures with other highly experienced hotel professionals is achieving remarkable results.. The possibility of leading this process with the other two officers is for me a welcoming challenge. Golden Tulip works with a young and enthusiastic team and I look forward to working together with them and contributing to the well deserved immense success of this dynamic and rapidly growing organization.”

About Golden Tulip Hospitality Group

Golden Tulip Hospitality Group (www.goldentuliptop.com), with its head offices in Amersfoort, The Netherlands and Lausanne, Switzerland, is a worldwide hospitality company with more than 500 hotels, 47,000 rooms in more than 45 countries. The Golden Tulip Hospitality Group franchises and manages hotels in Europe, the Middle East & Africa, the Asian Pacific Region and the Americas. In 2005, Hotels Magazine has ranked this company the 18th largest hotel chain.

As a multi-brand hospitality firm, the Golden Tulip Hospitality Group offers services in the two, three and four star categories. On the two-star side Golden Tulip has an alliance with the French B&B hotel chain. The three-star concept is the Tulip Inn for the limited-service first-class category and the four-star category falls under the Golden Tulip brand for the Superior First-Class business and Resort hotels. In addition Golden Tulip has an Alliance with: Pacific International brand for suites and apartments. Furthermore the Company has a commercial alliance with TOP International, a German based hotel consortium.


As of the fall of 2006, Golden Tulip will be introducing THE BRANCH, Restaurant, Bar and Lounge. This is a free standing restaurant chain, which will have establishments in most Golden Tulip Hotels and Tulip Inns operated by Golden Tulip.


For more information, please contact:

Golden Tulip Hospitality B.V.
Ms. Rocio Manzanares – Corporate Communications Manager
Tel: +31 33 2544 828
Fax: +31 33 2544 816
E-mail: press@goldentuliptop.com