Meet our leaders

Meet Ajit Menon, our seasoned leader with over 30 years of expertise in finance and hospitality. With a rich background, including 14 years at American Express and a significant stint at Holidaybreak, where he collaborated with renowned British brands like PGL, NST, and Eurocamp, Ajit brings a wealth of experience to the table.

Ajit's journey doesn't stop there—he's also the founder of a boutique corporate finance house, specializing in mergers & acquisitions and equity raising for small to mid-cap companies. In 2006, he successfully sold this venture to a listed Indian brokerage firm.

His remarkable career at Holidaybreak began in 2011 as Strategy Director, and by 2013, he was promoted to Deputy CEO. Ajit assumed the role of CEO in September 2019, providing invaluable strategic guidance to the business and its subsidiaries. In June 2020, he was appointed CEO of MEININGER Hotels, steering our brand toward new horizons.

As COO Thomas is responsible for the optimization and execution of an effective operational business strategy within the MEININGER Hotel group. His focus is to improve operational excellence and profitability, but also supporting MEININGER's growth strategy through implementation of efficient processes when launching new business units. Thomas is an accomplished global hospitality executive with extensive corporate and operational experience, who worked at Marriott and Starwood properties, before joining Radisson Hotel Group. After working his way up in operations, he took on various management roles and has extensive hands-on experience with hotel opening projects in over 30 countries worldwide. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMI) with specialization in hotel pre-openings.

His vast operational experience and strong cross-functional management skills enables him translating goals into creative operating plans. Thomas has a proven track record in managing complex projects in diverse multi-cultural environments with a strong strategic focus to achieve overall organizational milestones.

Malin holds many years of international work experience in commercial management within Sales, Marketing, Revenue and Central Reservations. She leads and develops the Commercial division, driving strategic alignment, ensuring accelerated growth and establishing MEININGER Hotels as a key hybrid hotel brand in European hospitality.

Prior to MEININGER Malin has held senior leadership positions in multi-brand franchise hotel chains and significant hotel brands such as Accor, Dorint, Pullman, Nikko & Westin Hotels. Malin has lived and worked in the USA, India, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and Germany. Malin holds a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from the Johnson & Wales University in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.

Vivian Schneider joined MEININGER Hotels in January 2021. She has over 25 years of international work experience in Finance holding Senior Leadership roles in Europe, Asia and the USA. Prior to joining MEININGER Hotels, Vivian has worked at Marcus Evans Group, a corporate marketing, information and events management company.

Vivian holds a German diploma in Business Economics and a master's degree in Business Administration from the Anglia Polytechnic University in the UK.

Nicolas joined MEININGER Hotels in September 2015 and has been instrumental in growing the MEININGER footprint from 16 to 30 hotels in 2021, and also expanding the geographic spread. During the pandemic, Nicolas and his team expanded their remit to include Asset Management, helping the company engage more effectively with landlords.

Before working at MEININGER Hotels, Nicolas worked for Motel One where he developed their hotels in the France and Benelux market. Prior to that, he worked for PKF hotelexperts, a consulting company focused on hotel development, feasibility studies and operator searches. He has also worked several years in operations with Hilton Hotels. Nicolas has a bachelor’s degree in business economics from the Vrije Universiteit Brussels and an MBA in Hospitality Administration from Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne.

Rick Medford joined MEININGER Hotels in 2019. In his role, he leads the IT team and oversees transformation projects aimed at increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of all the business processes of the MEININGER Hotels group.

Prior to joining MEININGER Hotels, Rick Medford helped develop change management processes at Marks & Spencer, Vertex Data Science, Sainsbury's, and Domino's Pizza. Rick has a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Newcastle University.