Leadership in today’s hospitality industry and successfully driving change requires clarity in communication, honesty and trust. So said Louvre Hotels Group’s CEO Federico González, speaking on stage at IHIF EMEA 2025.
Throughout a distinguished career, including senior management positions at Proctor & Gamble, Disneyland Paris, NH Hotel Group, Federico González has demonstrated a talent for leading transformative change within large organisations.
Driving change
At NH Hotel Group, he focused on financial recovery and brand revitalisation. When he took over in 2012, the company was saddled with €1 billion of debt which he reduced by selling off non-essential assets, particularly in Spain. Concurrently, González introduced a branding overhaul, dividing NH Hotels into three distinct categories: NH Collection (premium hotels), NH Hotels (standard business hotels), and Nhow (modern, lifestyle-focused hotels), which helped to reposition the company and enhance customer recognition.
In May 2023, he was appointed as the CEO of Louvre Hotels Group while continuing to serve as the executive vice chairman of Radisson Hotel Group. Both Radisson and Louvre are subsidiaries of the Chinese group Jin Jiang International.
With 1,752 hotels and 30,000 employees worldwide, Louvre is the second largest hotel chain in Europe after Accor and González is engaged in a five-year plan with a reported budget of €400 million to renovate 80 per cent of the group’s French hotels by 2028 and enhance its market positioning.
Communication
Speaking at the session titled Global CEO leading change: Bold choices, big challenges, real results, González said direct and clear communication was fundamental when embarking on major change projects.
“The biggest resistance to change comes from a lack of clarity; when people don’t understand what is happening,” he said. “So, you must be very concrete about what’s going to happen and how you are going to execute it. Nothing changes until people accept it and can visualise the difference. People need examples.”
The refurbishment programme needs to win over investors and franchisees and González said one tranche of room upgrades was completed within four months. “It involved huge work by the teams, and it was a way to show that change is possible at an affordable price.”
Full details of the renovation of a Campanile hotel in Toulouse can be found here.
Communicating the same information to people at all levels in the organisation is important, he added, during the conversation with Joanne Dreyfus, partner, Deloitte: “I need to tell the owners, investors, operators, receptionists what is going to be changing.”
Honesty and trust
When he starts a new role or a new project, he sets out his goals in no more than four PowerPoint slides. Within six months, consensus and clarity should be established on the goals and the course of action. This requires honesty and trust.
“I need the teams to do it,” he said. “When you build a transformational company, you need everyone to say what they really think because you have no time. If people start with politics and say what they don’t really think, it’s impossible to get ahead and get things done on time.”
He added: “I also like people to contradict me, not too often, but I am not so wise that I am always right. They need to say what they think without fear.”
Being direct and honest from the start helps team members decide whether they want to stay in the company or not, he said: “Identify those who resist change and help them leave quickly.”
When asked for a definition of leadership, González chose a quote attributed to John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States (1825 -1829): “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
Commenting on the quote, González said: “It’s not how you are, it’s actually the impact of what you do. I am not able to change Radisson or Louvre on my own. These hotels are full of people. It’s not how smart or bright you are, it’s about what you do to drive different behaviour.”