On 1 September 2011, Dr. Andreas Karsten will take office as CEO of Vienna International Hotelmanagement AG. He is moving to this position after many years as CEO and managing director of MAGIC LIFE GmbH & Co KG in Vienna.
Dr. Andreas Karsten was designated CEO in July by the supervisory board committee of Vienna International Hotelmanagement AG. Pending confirmation of the appointment by the entire board in August, he will assume his office on 1 September 2011. The appointment of the new CEO is for the next three years.
Throughout his career, Dr. Karsten has gathered both enormous entrepreneurial experience and has held several international management positions at TUI AG. “As an experienced tourism specialist and outstanding hotel expert, Dr. Karsten is for me the ideal candidate to lead Vienna International Hotelmanagement AG into a successful future,” says Dr. Franz Jurkowitsch, supervisory board chairman of VI. “Moreover, we are convinced that thanks to his international connections in the business travel industry Dr. Karsten will even more strongly drive VI’s expansion.”
“The company, with 34 first-class hotels and resorts in ten European countries, exhibits an outstanding potential and I am pleased to be able to build on this to lead the company into the future,” said Dr. Andreas Karsten, designated CEO.
After earning his doctorate in law, Karsten began his career in the industrial law department of Preussag AG (today TUI AG) in Hannover. Four years later, he was director of the legal department of the tourism sub-group of TUI. After moving into the operating business, Dr. Andreas Karsten was managing director with responsibility for the finances of various companies of the TUI Group. In 2001, he was appointed CFO of the globally active business travel service provider TQ3 Travel Solutions in London as well as managing director and personnel director of TUI Business Travel GmbH in Germany. In this position, he was also responsible for the strategic growth and expansion of TQ3’s EMEA region. He additionally was a member of the global board of TQ3 Travel Solutions. In 2003, Karsten moved to the field of hotels & resorts of TUI AG and, following a limited engagement on Gran Canaria, he was appointed CEO of MAGIC LIFE in 2004.
Karsten will succeed interim CEO Dr. Thomas Aistleitner on 1 September 2011.
Vienna International Hotelmanagement AG was founded in 1989. On the basis of individual management contracts, Vienna International operates and is developing a total of 34 first-class hotels & resorts and 2 hotel projects. The portfolio, which includes two Leading Hotels of the World and one Leading Spa, comprises city, resort, spa and conference hotels. The hotels are located in ten European countries: Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia, France, Germany, Romania, Slovakia, Russia and a project in Belarus. In addition to holiday and leisure products internationally, e.g. in Loipersdorf, Salzburg, Carlsbad and Opatija, the focus of the destinations is on business centres such as Salzburg, Munich, Berlin, Paris, Prague, Cracow, Łódź, Bucharest, Ekaterinburg and Vienna.
