Jan-Patrick Krüger to Become Chief Operating Officer of Arabella Hospitality SE
Munich, May 4, 2026. Arabella Hospitality SE is setting the course for its next phase of growth and expanding its executive leadership team. Jan-Patrick Krüger will assume the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) on May 11, 2026. In this role, he will be responsible for the operational and commercial management of the hotel portfolio and, together with CEO Karl-Heinz Pawlizki and CFO Udo Merting, will complete the executive management team.
Jan-Patrick Krüger brings more than 30 years of international leadership experience in the real estate-based hotel industry. His career includes leadership roles in luxury, upscale, and select-service hotels, as well as in complex ownership, operator, lease, and franchise structures in international markets. He is recognized as a proven portfolio and turnaround manager with a track record of sustainably increasing profitability and property values through active performance management.
Most recently, he served as Managing Director at Pandox Germany & Austria, where he was responsible for an extensive hotel portfolio in Central Europe. In this role, he oversaw all operational activities and was primarily responsible for implementing business and investment plans.
In his new position at Arabella Hospitality, Krüger will consistently further develop the portfolio’s operational performance, leverage synergies within the group, and drive the scaling of the business model as part of the company’s European expansion. A particular focus will be on combining operational efficiency, clear leadership structures, and sustainable financial performance.
“With Jan-Patrick Krüger, we are gaining a highly experienced and results-oriented leader,” says Karl-Heinz Pawlizki, CEO of Arabella Hospitality SE. “He brings a deep understanding of both the owner’s and the operator’s perspectives and stands for clear structures, sustainable and successful process changes, and a consistent focus on performance. In this way, he will make a decisive contribution to the continued successful development of our hotel company.”
Jan-Patrick Krüger adds: “Arabella Hospitality SE combines precisely the strengths that make the difference in a consolidating European hotel market. With its integrated business model—ranging from ownership and operational management to franchise and management arrangements—it is excellently positioned to consistently expand its growth and create sustainable value for investors and partners. I look forward to actively shaping this development.”
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