[London, 23 July 2018]     Small Luxury Hotels of the World™ (SLH), the champion of small, luxury, independently owned hotels today announced the appointment of Jean-François Ferret as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), starting in September 2018. Based in the company’s London headquarters,  Ferret will take responsibility for SLH’s international teams and will lead strategic direction of the brand’s luxury portfolio of over 500 SLH hotels in more than 80 countries.

Ferret has extensive broad sector experience and most recently worked at the French association Relais & Châteaux, where he held the position of CEO for more than six years.  During his tenure,  he significantly increased brand awareness, international sales and developed a brand new digital platform.  Before that, he was the Director General of Hertz France and prior to that, he was the Managing Director and President of Manpower France.

During his 30 years of experience, he also held travel and hospitality positions as Deputy Managing Director of American Express Travel (France), Managing Director of Thomas Cook (France) , Senior Vice President of Thomas Cook (West Europe) and Chief Financial Officer of Compass Group (Europe).

A graduate of ESSEC, one of the leading business schools in France, Ferret is passionate about hospitality, new technologies and multicultural management.  He is fluent in French, English, German and has also studied Russian and Japanese.  Besides traveling and discovering various cultures around the globe, he is a keen supporter of the arts. 

Jérôme Tourbier, President of the Advisory Board of Directors of Small Luxury Hotels of the World says: “I am very pleased to welcome Jean-François Ferret as CEO. His experience and talent will enable the organisation to take another step forward in developing the activities of our hotel members and to grow the SLH brand internationally. His knowledge and expertise within the travel, hospitality, luxury and technology industries are key assets needed within the fast changing and developing global landscape”

Jean-François Ferret adds: “Small Luxury Hotels of the World has gone through significant change in the last few years and I look forward to leading the talented international teams in further strengthening the brands operations and global footprint.”

Ferret replaces Filip Boyen who has resigned from his position at SLH after three successful years, spearheading significant change within the organisation such as renewed focus on the brand’s quality assurance program to attract some fantastic hotels to the SLH portfolio.