Mr Redaelli, who speaks fluent French and English apart from his native Italian, will assist the general manager in the running of the hotel as it moves from the opening period, which is the 12 months immediately subsequent to opening, to the operational period. He has particular responsibility for the food and beverage departments, and plans to redefine them, putting increased emphasis on food festivals, special promotions, and events.

Mr Redaelli has worked in the catering industry for 20 years and is a graduate of the Geneva Hotel School. Before his move to New Caledonia, he was director of food and beverage at the five-star InterContinental Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia, one of the biggest InterContinental food and beverage operations in Africa and the Middle East.

His strong events skills – he organised and prepared the opening cocktail reception for the 2001 Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum – are set to develop the groundwork of success already laid down by InterContinental Malta in the field of conferences and events. Mr Redaelli says that his is a customer-oriented sales approach, with the emphasis on the three Ps of “people, product, profit”.