Carmen Riu and Luis Riu win Ernst & Young's 'Entrepreneur Of The Year'
Carmen and Luis Riu Güell, CEO’s of RIU Hotels & Resorts, have been chosen as winners of the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2010 award organised by Ernst & Young. This prestigious accolade was presented to the Riu Güell siblings at a distinguished ceremony celebrated yesterday at the historical and emblematic Madrid Casino. This award has since 1996 recognised the most prominent companies in Spain and the responsibility and innovation they employ in daily leading their companies.
In the first phase of the selection process conducted in November 2010, Carmen and Luis Riu were chosen as national finalists representing the Balearic region of Spain, after which they were selected as winners of Spain’s national Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Along with the winners from each of the 50 countries which celebrate the award, Carmen and Luis are now candidates for the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year Award to be presented in June 2011.
In awarding this prize to the third generation of the Riu family, the prestigious consulting firm has taken into account its continued and strong growth in both accommodation offer, revenue and number of employees; their process of internationalisation and their constant evolution and innovation in the hotel business.
RIU Hotels & Resorts is a hotel chain that was inaugurated in 1953 in Palma de Mallorca with a small hotel and currently has over 100 hotels in 19 countries and 23,400 employees who annually receive more than 3 million customers. The company was focused on holiday resorts and currently has hotels in the best beach resorts of Mexico, the Caribbean, Costa Rica, North Africa and Europe. In 2010, RIU took another decisive step in its history with the creation of a new range of city hotels: Riu Plaza, the first exponent is the new Riu Plaza Panama, opened in the financial centre of Panama City in September 2010.
At the photo: José Miguel Andrés, Chairman of Ernst & Young delivers the Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2010 at Carmen and Luis Riu (with the prize in his hand), CEO’s of RIU Hotels & Resorts.
About the Entrepreneur of the Year Award: This award is an initiative of Ernst & Young that has its origin 24 years ago in the U.S. and currently is celebrated in 50 countries. It is the best known and most prestigious award in the international arena that rewards the work and activity of entrepreneurs and enterprising companies. In Spain, the dynamic activity of businessmen and entrepreneurs is one of the primary sources of job creation and wealth of our economy. For this reason, Ernst & Young began to pay this tribute from 1996 to recognise the effort and innovation that Spanish companies and their leaders employ every day.
About RIU: The international RIU chain was founded by the Riu family in 1953 as a small holiday firm and is still owned by the family’s third generation. The company specialises in sun and sand holiday resorts. More than 50% of its resorts offer RIU’s acclaimed all-inclusive by RIU formula. With the inauguration of its first urban hotel in 2010, RIU widens its range of product with a new city hotel product line called RIU PLAZA. RIU Hotels & Resorts now has more than 100 hotels in 19 countries and 23,400 employees which welcome over 3 million guests a year. RIU is currently the world’s 27th ranked chain (according to HOTELS magazine in 2010), one of the Caribbean’s most popular and the fourth largest in Spain.
For more information: Press Department Tel.: +34 971 74 30 30 // [email protected]
Palma de Majorca, February 21th, 2011
