Carmen Riu, who together with her brother Luis has been the management of the well-known hotel chain for many years, will retire before the summer of this year. The hotel group announced this on Friday. She will then step down from all her executive and representative positions at RIU Hotels & Resorts. Her brother Luis Riu will continue to hold the position of general manager and will from now on exercise it on his own. In addition, Carmen Riu will become Chairman of the Group’s Board of Directors to strengthen corporate governance. All members of the fourth generation of the Riu family are now also joining this body. This marks the beginning of the generational change at Riu Hotels, a process that the family will be working on from the Group’s governing bodies. Carmen Riu began her professional career at RIU in 1977 as manager of the Riu Bali hotel in Playa de Palma. Prior to that, she had worked as an intern in various hotel departments in the family business. In 1978, she took over the management of Human Resources. This was expanded in 1981 to include the management of Administration and Finance. In 1998, after the death of her father Luis Riu Bertrán, she was appointed general manager together with her brother Luis Riu Güell. They formed a management team that has been responsible for the international growth and consolidation that RIU Hotels & Resorts has experienced over the past 25 years. Carmen Riu is approaching her 70th birthday and has decided to retire from the front lines of the company. She is leaving the company at a good time for the tourism sector and after enduring the worst crisis in history, caused by the corona crisis. Her last major project was the launch of the Proudly Committed strategy, with which she aimed to prepare the company for the challenges of the future by putting sustainability at the heart of all RIU Hotels & Resorts’ decisions. The international chain RIU was born in Mallorca in 1953 with the opening of a small holiday hotel owned by the Riu family, founder and current owner in the third generation. RIU Hotels & Resorts currently has 97 hotels in 21 countries. The chain welcomed 6.4 million guests last year. The group has 35,808 employees. Photo: Luis and Carmen Riu (Photo RIU Hotels & Resorts).
