Chinese Hotel Management Group - Ahn Luh - Appoints CEO

Ahn Luh, a Chinese hotel management group with plans to open luxury properties in key cities in China, including Chengdu, Shenzhen, Beijing and Tibet, over the next few years, has appointed its first CEO.

Akira Moreno, currently the Vice President of Development and Pre-opening Services for GHM, takes on the new responsibility while maintaining his duties at GHM.

GHM partnered with Chinese real estate and tourism behemoth Beijing Tourism Group, and Great Ocean Group, to form Ahn Luh in October 2011.

In his new role, Moreno will oversee the operations and development of Ahn Luh, and will draw on a career that began in his native Canada in 1984 and what he has experienced in Asia since moving to the region in 2006.

"Ahn Luh is rooted in the idea that the destination ought to influence the hotel's style," said Moreno. "From its architectural bones right down to the food and beverage offerings, every aspect of an Anh Luh property is going to feel calibrated to that particular place."

The first Anh Luh hotel will come online next year in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. The area lays claim to Mount Qingcheng and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, which together earned UNESCO World Heritage site status in 2000 for their contributions to Chinese history.

The brand's first beach resort, Ahn Luh Xunliao Bay, will follow in 2016 on an island within three hours' drive of Shenzhen that is renowned for its white sand, remarkable rock formations and proximity to a bay with crystal-clear waters.

"Our intent is to develop Ahn Luh in China and then export the concept to destinations abroad," said Moreno, who managed hotels in Miami and Malaysia before assuming a corporate leadership role in 2010. "The Chinese are very proud of their heritage," he said, "but no one has tapped this in a way that Ahn Luh will."