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LVMH appoints head of the hospitality and restaurants division

LVMH

France’s LVMH Group has reportedly recruited former Luxottica chief, Andrea Guerra, to head up its hospitality and restaurants division, sources told Reuters.

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According to the reports, Guerra’s role at luxury conglomerate is set to be broad with duties including oversight of the group’s operations and activities linked to hospitality and restaurants.

The former boss of the Italian eyewear company and owner of Ray-Ban only departed his executive chairman role at Eataly, the premium food retailer, in early January, after four years.

With a career spanning decades, Guerra has extensive leadership, business and retail experience. Prior to Eatlay, Guerra was CEO of Luxotticca for ten years, serving in the top job from 2004 to 2014, after working as CEO of Merloni Elettrodomestici for a decade and as Marriott International’s marketing director for more than five years prior to that.

During his career, he also had a stint as a government advisor on industry and business.

The reported appointment comes on the back of LVMH’s recent push into the premium travel and food markets, which has seen big name industry players experiment with “experience” luxury products, to complement their current fashion, accessories and
lifestyle offerings.

In the case of LVMH, the Parisian group acquired the Belmond group for $2.6 billion in 2018. Bellmond operates hotels including Portofino’s Hotel Splendido and train services such as the Venice Simplon-Orient- Express.

Likewise, LVMH has opened its own-brands hotels using the names of its portfolio labels, Bulgari and Cheval Blanc, and has plans to reopen its iconic La Samaritainde department store in Paris this year.

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Most recently, Louis Vuitton unveiled it largest flagship store in Japan’s Osaka — a seven-storey maison featuring its first-ever restaurant and bar location on the top floors.