Hotelbeds appoints Nicolás Huss as the new CEO after Joan Vilà, Executive Chairman, decided to move to a non-executive role on the Board.
Nicolas Huss, the former CEO of Ingenico and Visa Europe, is an experienced board-level executive and CEO with a very strong reputation in the payments, financial services and travel industries. A French national, Nicolas has a truly international background and has lived and worked in many countries, including Spain where he was previously based for seven years.
Joan Vilà had originally planned to step back from the day to day running of the company in 2020, but the impact of COVID-19 required him to delay the move to focus on successfully navigating the company through the global crisis.
Vila commented:
“With the appointment of Nicolas Huss, we are welcoming a highly experienced CEO with an incredible track record in the areas of B2B, travel and payments and we are very much look forward to the significant contribution and perspective he will bring to the company. Together with Hotelbeds’ greatly respected Executive team, including COO, Carlos Muñoz and CFO, Andrés García-Tenorio we are ready and able to further build on our incredible success story.”
The new CEO Nicolas Huss said:
“I’m really looking forward to taking the reins at Hotelbeds, the market leader in its segment. Joan Vilà’s strategic vision and relentless drive to innovate and internationalise has created a wonderful company and a fantastic workforce with a truly dynamic culture. Together with Carlos Muñoz and Andrés García-Tenorio, and the rest of the highly experienced Executive Leadership Team, we are well positioned to continue delivering mutual growth together with our valued supplier partners and clients.”
Under the direction of Joan Vilà, who took office in 1989, Hotelbeds has evolved from a Spain-based Destination Management Company (DMC) to the world’s number one bed bank operating in 180 countries and reaching a turnover of 6 billion Euros.