Elsa Guerreiro joins Mercan Properties Group to lead the Human Resources Department

Ace Hospitality Management, a company of the Mercan Properties group, announces the hiring of Elsa Guerreiro for the position of HR Senior Group Director. With more than 20 years of experience in the field, she will lead the Human Resources team with transversal responsibility across all group units, including hospitality, food & beverage, and the corporate structure, strengthening strategy and talent development.

To support the group’s expansion — which in the past year has almost doubled its number of hires — the strength of the Human Resources department is being reinforced. In this context, Elsa Guerreiro takes on the role of HR Senior Group Director in a group with a portfolio of 32 hospitality projects, of which 15 hotels and 12 restaurants are in operation, ensuring a management approach suited to the scale and strategic objectives.

“We are in a phase of accelerated growth and will surpass 30 hotels under management over the next three years. To sustain this growth, it is essential to consolidate our culture and create an environment that promotes innovation and ensures Human Resources policies are aligned with this new stage,” explains Mariano Faz, CEO of the hotel management company.

Jordi Vilanova, President of Mercan Properties, adds that “AHM plays a central role in the group’s growth strategy in Portugal and will be instrumental in the new openings planned for the coming years. The integration of Elsa Guerreiro as Senior Group HR Director reinforces our conviction that the success and sustainability of our projects depend, above all, on people. Investing in talent, structure, and leadership across all areas of the group is essential to ensure consistent growth, operational excellence, and the continuous development of our teams.”

According to Elsa Guerreiro, the group’s new Human Resources director, “in a fast-growing company, especially in the hospitality sector, managing people efficiently is essential. My challenge will be precisely that: to create structures and processes that foster the development of each employee, value their talent, and ensure that the Group continues to grow in a sustainable way. It is a great honor to embrace this project, but also a great responsibility.”

Elsa Guerreiro completed a degree in Hotel Management at the Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo do Algarve and later explored and deepened her interest in the field with a postgraduate degree in Strategic Human Resources Management at Universidade Europeia.

At the same time, she held operational roles in the field across several renowned hotel chains before moving on to coordinate the Human Resources department at Hilton Vilamoura, where she remained for seven years. In 2023, she accepted the invitation to lead people management at the AP Hotels & Resorts group and today has around ten years of experience in training, team development, and performance management. She is also a trainer certified by Turismo de Portugal, contributing to the qualification of professionals in the hospitality and tourism sector.