Lotte Hotels creates Americas development role
South Korea-headquartered Lotte Hotels & Resorts has devised a new chief development officer position for its Americas arm.
The first incumbent of the role for Lotte Americas is the experienced Gustavo Sarago.
Real estate background
Sarago joins from AIG Global Real Estate Investments where he was senior vice president, head of hospitality and leisure group. At AIG, he was responsible for the sourcing, execution and oversight of a diversified portfolio of hotel investments across North America.
He is a graduate of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University and resides in the New York City area.
Footprint expansion
For Lotte, Sarago will be responsible for growing the company’s collection of lifestyle and luxury brands — Lotte, L7 and Signiel — throughout the Americas with a focus on gateway cities, tech centres and iconic resort destinations.
Jim Petrus, CEO of Lotte Hotels & Resorts Americas said: “We are thrilled to have Gustavo join our team here in the Americas. Gustavo’s passion, enthusiasm and strategic thinking will play a key role in Lotte’s success as we further develop the footprint of our great brands.”
American target
Lotte currently owns and operates three hotels in the Americas: Lotte New York Palace, Lotte Hotel Seattle and Lotte Hotel Guam. In early 2022, Lotte purchased a property in Chicago, which it is currently converting to L7—Lotte’s lifestyle brand. L7 Chicago is expected to open in 2023. The firm is targeting to grow its footprint by 25 properties over the next five years throughout the Americas.
Lotte Hotels & Resorts is the largest hotel group in Korea and currently has 34 hotels globally with 11,200 rooms within its three current hotel brands in addition to another three hotels in the pipeline, which will bring its room count to 12,400.
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ABOUT THE CHAIN
Lotte Hotels & Resorts, the largest hotel group in Korea, is expanding beyond Asia to become a global brand.
