Aparthotel brand Native has appointed hotelier Alexandra Brunner as chief operating officer.
Brunner joins the group following three years as an area manager for Premier Inn having overseen a portfolio of 17 hotels in London. Prior to this she worked as an area manager for Ascott Group (part of Capital Land) in west and central London, as a general manager at Jury Inns properties in Chelsea and Swindon, and as an operations manager for the Doyle Collection.
In her new role, Brunner will focus on rolling out the brand strategy across Native’s expanding portfolio, with particular focus on driving customer service, building local corporate relationships and asset maintenance.
The firm recently announced a £250m development programme to launch its new lifestyle-led aparthotel concept, with plans for more than 1,000 units by the end of 2018, growing to 2,000 units by the end of 2019. It currently has 20 properties across the UK.
Guy Nixon, founder and chief executive of Native, said, “Alexandra joins Native during an exciting time of fast-paced growth for the business. We recently launched Native Bankside on the Southbank and Native Glasgow at the Anchor Line and these will be joined next year by Native Manchester at the London Warehouse.
“Furthermore, we have confirmed schemes in Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol and two additional sites in London’s Soho and Covent Garden over the next 24 months. Alexandra will be instrumental in ensuring that Native maintains the highest level of ‘guest experience’ as we forge ahead in delivering our new design and lifestyle-led, aparthotel concept across key UK locations.”