Mosser goes in Choice shake-up
FRED Mosser, managingdirector of the European franchising business of US giant Choice Hotels International, has been ousted in a major shake-up of the company's operations in Europe.
Before the reshuffle, the group's franchise operation, Choice Hotels Europe, was run separately to its development arm, Quality Hotels Europe, which had responsibility for the 14 company-owned, managed or leased properties.
Under the new arrangements, the two functions are being combined to create a single company called Choice Hotels Europe.
It will be headed by Alain Ammar, formerly managing director of Quality Hotels Europe.
Mr Ammar now assumes responsibility for the entire network of 171 European hotels, and will be expected to concentrate on expanding the company's presence in Europe as rapidly as possible.
Europe is the market Choice has found hardest to penetrate in its bid to reach a global goal of 10,000 affiliated hotels by the year 2010. Of those, 3,000 hotels are to be in Europe.
Mr Mosser's arrival in 1991 was designed to accelerate that process, but disappointing results in many European countries - in the UK, for example, there are just six Choice properties - must have contributed to his sudden departure from the company last week.
Only in France, where the company has just acquired the 100-strong RestHôtel Primeväre group, have serious inroads been made - a target of 300 hotels by 1998 has been set for France. The aim in the UK and Germany is to grow to 100 properties within the same time frame.
This expansion programme, which will involve Choice's Clarion, Quality, Comfort and Sleep Inn brands, will be achieved through franchising, acquisition, conversion and new construction.
As a result of the shake-up, there are likely to be a number of other job losses among the nearly 100 employees, although offices in Paris, Frankfurt and London are expected to be retained.
In London, the Quality and Choice offices will be merged, possibly in a new location.
For the next 12 to 18 months Bob Gilbert, vice-president of worldwide sales, will relocate from Choice's headquarters in Maryland to Frankfurt, with the task of developing specialised European sales and marketing efforts.
He will work alongside the recently appointed European vice-president of sales and marketing, Paul Verhaak.
Elsewhere, the company claims that its expansion plans are ahead of schedule. Since 1981, Choice has grown from 339 hotels to more than 3,000.
Sales through its central reservation system have increased from $65.4m (£44m) in 1981 to $636m (£428m) last year.
