After studying hotel management at César Ritz Colleges Switzerland and obtaining a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Reims Management School, Duncan O’Rourke held several executive positions within hospitality in Europe, the US and the Middle East. From 2004, he served as General Manager at the Kempinski Hotel Thessaloniki Nikopolis, before taking charge of the pre-opening of two hotels in London. O’Rourke was then promoted to the position of Regional Director & General Manager of the Kempinski Ishtar Dead Sea in Jordan. In this position, he was responsible for ten pre-openings of Kempinski properties in the region. In 2008, he was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Kempinski Hotels and joined the management board at the same time.
Duncan O’Rourke joined Accor at the end of 2016, as the COO Europe for the luxury segment, where he was responsible for the operational management of 140 luxury hotels in the Europe region until end of 2019. In September 2018, he additionally took over the position of COO Central Europewhere he led the teams in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
As CEO of the premium, midscale and economy brands for Middle East, Africa, Turkey and Asia Pacific, Duncan oversees 1,000 operating properties.Additionally, there areover 200 properties in the pipeline, with brands including Swissotel, Movenpick, Pullman, Grand Mercure, Mercure, Novotel, Novotel Suites, Adagio, Ibis, ibis budget and ibis styles.
Duncan became a member of the Group’s Executive Committee in October 2020. In his capacity, he manages the business for the premium, midscale and economy divisions for Accor across 44 countries.
