Accor names new hotel development director for Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria

French hospitality group Accor appointed Maria Dragulin director of hotel development in Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Czech Republic, it said on Monday.

Dragulin will reinforce the hotel pipeline in the area and will support Accor’s partners in identifying and setting in place the right brands and concepts for their hotels, in line with the global hospitality trends and local characteristics of demand, Accor said in a press release.

Maria Dragulin has more than 22 years of experience in tourism, working for international hotels such as Novotel, InterContinental, Hilton or Vienna International. For more than 11 years, Maria held the general manager position in several international hotels in Bucharest.

Accor has a robust pipeline in Romania for the upcoming years, with ten new hotels already announced, which will bring more than 1,000 new rooms to the market. The medium-term development plan puts new hotel brands on the map of Romania, such as Swissôtel, Novotel Living, Tribe and Adagio, while also reinforcing the group’s presence in key cities like Bucharest, Brasov and Sibiu, the group said.

In November, Accor announced that it will open an ibis Styles hotel in Moldova's capital Chisinau in 2024.

Last year, the group opened an ibis Styles hotel in Zlatni Pyasatsi resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and signed a franchise agreement with local company Valdemosa for the rebranding of the existing renovated Roomer Hotel Golden Sands.

Accor owns, manages and franchises over 5,200 hotels, resorts and vacation properties in 110 countries.