45 Edition 2020 FINAL

45th | Vol 30 | 2020 | www.hotelier-indonesia.com 11
GHM LURES KRETSCHMANN BACK TO LEAD CHEDI IN MALDIVES
SINGAPORE (Mar. 2, 2020) — One of the ‘first
generation’ of general managers to open GHM
properties from the Far East to the Middle East
is flying the Chedi flag again as he prepares to introduce
a new resort on Kudavillingili Island in the
Maldives later this year.
André Kretschmann, who started with GHM in 1995,
has assumed pre-opening responsibilities at The Chedi
Kudavillingili, the group’s first property in the Maldives.
Located within a half-hour speed boat ride of Malé
International Airport, the new 99-villa resort will feature
36 overwater villas, a 150-metre long pool and a spa
with eight overwater treatment rooms.
The Kudavillingili appointment closes the loop on
a remarkable 25-year run in Asia that began with
Kretschmann’s work as general manager at The Financial
Club Jakarta, then a GHM property.
“As part of that first generation, André really helped to
define the image of a GHM manager,” said GHM President
Hans R. Jenni, who co-founded the group with hotelier
Adrian Zecha in 1992. “The precedents he established
then proved to be the substance of a foundation we’ve
been building on ever since, and we’re thrilled to have
him back.”
Sri Lanka for another two-year assignment on a GHM
interest in Colombo.
He parted company with GHM in 2005 for stints as
general manager at a Leading Hotel of the World on
Koh Samui in Thailand and at a Shangri-La resort on
Boracay in the Philippines before he settled into a
6-year stop as director for hotel openings at LVMH –
Hotel Management, Maison Cheval Blanc where he
managed the debuts of properties in the Maldives,
Oman and Egypt.
He returned briefly to GHM in 2015 for a one-year
assignment on Bali and has worked since 2016 as
the director of resort and villa operator, TempleTree
International, in Bangkok.
A German national, Kretschmann received his diploma
in hotel management in Heidelberg in 1981 and spent
his first years in the hospitality industry at hotels in
Germany and the UK, as well as a two-year term, 1989-
1991, at the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong.
In 2019, he was elected to membership in London’s
Institute of Hospitality as a fellow.
After Kretschmann’s two-year run with GHM in Indonesia,
he took charge of The Chedi Phuket in Thailand, then
opened The Chedi Muscat in 2003 before moving on to