Stefan Leser Takes the Reins as CEO of Langham Hospitality Group

Langham Hospitality Group, the luxury hotel arm of Hong Kong-listed Great Eagle Holdings, has named travel and hospitality veteran Stefan Leser as chief executive officer. Leser succeeds Robert Warman, who recently retired after serving as CEO since 2014.

Based in Hong Kong, Leser will oversee the group’s portfolio of more than 30 hotels, resorts and residences worldwide, including the high-end Langham and Cordis Hotels and Resorts brands. Leser will also lead a global expansive drive, according to a statement by the company.

International Travel and Hotel Maven Takes Charge

Leser most recently served as group CEO and board member at Dubai-based luxury hotel chain Jumeirah International. Prior to that, he held senior roles at Kuoni Travel Holding Ltd for over a decade, overseeing all the outbound and inbound operations of the Swiss travel services provider, with responsibility for $3 billion in revenue and 8,000 employees. Leser has also worked in the IT sector with Swissair and EDS Corporation.

The nearly 30-year travel and hospitality executive holds an MBA from Augusta State University of Georgia in the US.

Langham Hospitality Group “is definitely ripe for expansion into new markets,” commented Leser in the statement, “and I look forward to leading the team to deliver highly personalized service and support the future growth of the group’s outstanding portfolio of hotels and residences.”

Langham Hospitality Grows Cordis Brand

Langham Hospitality, which claims a heritage dating back to the opening of The Langham, London in 1865, has a portfolio of hotels across 20 countries, with a strong presence in Greater China and other markets in Asia. The company’s key properties overseas include The Langham, New York, Fifth Avenue, which was awarded by Condé Nast Traveler as the #1 Hotel in New York City last year.

This past February the company announced new plans to expand the Cordis, Auckland, which will make the hotel New Zealand’s largest by room count upon completion by late 2020. Launched in 2015, the “upper upscale” Cordis brand has properties in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Auckland along with upcoming locations in Bali, Phuket, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Dongqian Lake in Ningbo.

Langham Hospitality announced last November that it would reposition its Langham Place, Beijing Capital Airport hotel as a Cordis property, marking the chain’s debut in China’s capital.

Chaired by Lo Ka Shui, Hong Kong-based property firm Great Eagle Holdings owns the majority of Langham Hospitality as well as Champion Real Estate Investment Trust.