(Posted 24th July 2025)
UAE-headquartered Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the world’s largest alliance of independent hotel brands, has announced three appointments to strengthen its leadership team – all held by accomplished female executives. Katharina Dein has been promoted to Vice President Commercial, Jelena Kezika becomes Vice President Strategy, and Andrea Krenn takes on the new Senior Vice President Communications role.
Katharina Dein was the first member of the GHA Commercial team back in 2013, overseeing a growing portfolio of brands and building strong relationships. Dein has been instrumental in many initiatives, including the development of an online training platform for hotels used by tens of thousands of people across the world. In her new role as Vice President Commercial, Dein will broaden her scope of responsibilities, placing emphasis on optimising the performance of newly integrated properties during their critical launch phase. In addition to overseeing brand onboarding, she will work with the Development team to assess potential new brands while also being involved with identifying and then rolling out new products and services to the alliance’s member brands. Leveraging her expertise and holistic understanding of the business, she will play a key role in shaping the value proposition for GHA’s member brands.
A results-driven business strategist, Jelena Kezika, who has also been with GHA since 2013, has played an instrumental part in shaping GHA’s growth story through the ongoing evolution of its award-winning loyalty programme, GHA DISCOVERY. She has conceptualised and implemented strategic initiatives to boost member engagement and improve GHA’s commercial success by driving member acquisition and increasing cross-brand revenue for GHA hotels. Kezika has also spearheaded the alliance’s sustainability efforts and fostered a culture of corporate responsibility. In her new role as Vice President Strategy, Kezika will continue to shape GHA’s future, planning, developing and implementing new strategies as well as significantly growing GHA’s partnerships area to expand the reach of the GHA’s loyalty ecosystem.
Andrea Krenn, appointed Senior Vice President Communications, has led global public relations efforts for GHA since 2021, bringing a wealth of international experience in corporate communications and media relations to the company with previous positions held at Atlantis, The Palm and Dubai Tourism before founding her own consultancy. Her strategic approach has strengthened GHA’s brand awareness and media presence, supporting the alliance’s growth across key markets. In this role, she will continue to lead GHA’s global communications strategy to further elevate the alliance’s visibility and reputation.
With women making up nearly two-thirds of the total GHA workforce and 60% of the leadership team, the alliance stands out as a leader in championing female representation in the hospitality industry.
Chris Hartley, CEO of Global Hotel Alliance, commented: “At GHA, we are proud to recognise the exceptional talent of Katharina, Jelena, and Andrea, who each bring expertise, dedication and passion to their roles. Their leadership will continue to shape the future of our business, with each of them bringing a unique and powerful skill set that will help us sharpen our focus, deepen our impact, and create even more value for our hotel brands and loyal GHA DISCOVERY members.”
These appointments come at a time of strong growth for GHA, with new brands such as Cinnamon Hotels (Sri Lanka), Sunway (Malaysia), and Rotana (UAE) joining in 2025 as the alliance continues to expand and innovate in the travel and hospitality space.
