RIU appointment

RIU Hotels & Resorts has appointed Sergi Ruiz Piqué as the new vice-president of business development and partner marketing in North America. Ruiz Pique joins the company wanting to strengthen the brand’s relationships and channels of communications with the leading networks of vacation sales representatives, tour operators and travel agents in Canada and the US. At the same time, he will be responsible for groups and weddings, a segment in which RIU plans to increase its market share. Ruiz Piqué brings more than 15 years of professional hotel experience to RIU. His career began in his hometown of Barcelona, working in hotels specializing in groups and conventions. His entry into the vacation hotel business was with RIU in 1997, where he now returns after 10 years of holding various managing positions in sales and marketing at Meliá Hotels International. He has a degree in tourism from the University of Madrid in Spain, and will be working out of RIU’s Miami office.