Swan Hellenic has appointed Philipp Reutener as its hotel director.
The hospitality and fine dining veteran will helm the first of the expedition cruise line's three new ships, the five-star Minerva, which will begin sailing this year-end.
Reutener's hospitality roots started young, helping his parents to run their bed and breakfast business in the historic town of Brunnen on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. Over his career, he has picked up roles as chef and front of house staff at renowned properties in his homeland and in Canada, then taking on senior management roles at the MythenForum Schwyz conference and event centre in Switzerland.
His first stint with the cruise line industry started with Norwegian Cruise Line, initially as F&B assistant manager, and then become its director between 2001 and 2002, leading to shore-based positions in human resources and culinary projects up to 2005.
Although he spent the next six years helming resorts for Amari, Anantara and Sandals in Thailand, the UAE and Jamaica respectively, Reutener returned to the high seas in 2013 as hotel director with Seabourn, mainly cruising the Baltic and his favourite region of the world, Antarctica.
The stalwart holds certifications from the Swiss Hotel Management School Lucerne, Switzerland, and Cornell University in New York, and is also fluent in multiple languages: his native Swiss German and German to French, English, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Thai.
“We're delighted to have Philipp moulding the hospitality experience aboard SH Minerva, with his immense experience, refined competence and sheer joie de vivre,” said Swan Hellenic vice president of hotel operations, Hans Heger. “We've already been hard at working selecting some very fine wines for the ship's cellar."