Sofitel Suzhou has appointed Stephen Fewell as its new general manager.

An Australian, he has worked for a number of years in China, establishing the Australian hotel group, Argyle Hotels, and most recently overseeing the pre-opening of Argyle's flagship property in Shanghai. Prior to that he led the pre-opening team for the first Golden Tulip hotel in the Asia-Pacific region and spent time as general manager for the Rendezvous group of hotels.

First entering the hotel industry 13 years ago with the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne Australia, he has always focused on Asia, making the move some years ago by entering the booming China market.