Comwell Bygholm Park appoints new managing director from Scandic

The Danish family-owned hotel chain Comwell Hotels has appointed Simon Kristensen as the new general manager at Comwell Bygholm Park in Horsens. He joins from a role as general manager at Scandic Opus Horsens and brings with him both solid management experience and in-depth knowledge of the local area. He is also returning to a hotel where he has previously worked.

Simon Kristensen is to become the new general manager at Comwell Bygholm Park. He has been at the helm of Scandic Opus Horsens since January 2023 and was previously general manager at Scandic Silkeborg for three and a half years.

From August 2015 to April 2018, he was head of reception at Bygholm Park, which was part of Scandic at the time. He is therefore already familiar with the hotel and, through his years in Horsens, has built up a good understanding of the town and the local market.

“I am very much looking forward to becoming part of the Comwell Group and returning to Bygholm Park – a truly unique hotel which, following an extensive refurbishment, now stands as a state-of-the-art hotel with a very special history and character. At the same time, I’m looking forward to meeting all my new colleagues and, together with them, building on the excellent progress the hotel is currently making,” says Simon Kristensen.

The post of hotel manager at Comwell Bygholm Park became vacant when Comwell Hotels carried out an internal reshuffle in August, with the former hotel manager at Comwell Bygholm Park, Frederik Jelstrup, moving to Comwell Kolding.

The post was advertised to explore opportunities and open up new perspectives from outside the organisation, and Comwell’s CEO, Peter Schelde, is delighted with the appointment of Simon Kristensen:

“Simon brings with him solid experience as a hotel manager and knows both Bygholm Park and Horsens well. This gives him a strong foundation from which to lead the hotel. At the same time, he brings new perspectives with him, and we look forward to him working with the staff to further develop Comwell Bygholm Park,” says Peter Schelde.

Experience with both people and hotel operations

Throughout his career, Simon Kristensen has worked in reception, organising meetings and conferences, as well as in the overall management of hotels.

As a hotel manager, he has been responsible for operations, finance and commercial development, with a focus on business guests, meeting and conference clients, and private guests.

Previously, he served as reception and conference manager at Scandic The Mayor in Aarhus and worked at Scandic Aarhus City, where he was part of the team behind the hotel’s opening in 2012. During his time as head of reception at Bygholm Park, he was selected for the Scandic Group’s talent programme as one of 19 participants from the chain’s then 280-odd hotels in Northern Europe. In 2019, he became hotel manager at Scandic Silkeborg.

Simon Kristensen will take up his post as General Manager at Comwell Bygholm Park on 1 January 2027.

About Comwell Hotels

Comwell is a Danish family-owned, nationwide hotel chain with hotels throughout Denmark, as well as ODEON in Odense and Comwell Centralværkstedet in Aarhus. For over 55 years, Comwell has been operating meeting and conference hotels and has won numerous awards over the years for its meeting, service and dining concepts.

Comwell was the first to introduce Danes to the modern meeting package back in 1969. Today, this remains Comwell’s core business. Comwell also caters for training and course programmes, workshops, job interviews, board meetings, exhibitions and events, and has over 2,500 rooms and 320 meeting and conference rooms at its disposal.