Forte seeks director for Le Meridien

Forte is looking for a marketing director for luxury hotel chain Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts.

The chain, which is made up of 80 Meridien and Forte Grand hotels and an international workforce of 20,000, announced its executive management structure last week. But a spokeswoman said Forte was still going through the process of finding the right person.

Managing director of the merged chain will be former Forte Grand managing director, Randolph Guthrie. Five worldwide regional directors will have responsibility for marketing in the countries they cover; the European regional managing director is former Middle East senior

vice-president Rudolph Jurcik.

Le Meridien, with hotels in cities including Paris, New York, Cairo and Bangkok, is looking for opportunities to expand internationally. It has already secured its first management contract for a 244-bedroom hotel in Turin.