Brit List 2017 Hoteliers Profiles

Brit List
1000 562 Daniel Fountain
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In the coming weeks, Hotel Designs will be profiling the 50 finalists in the HD Brit List 2017 – this week, we continue with five more of the top 25 hoteliers…

ARUN KUMAR – THE LALIT LONDON
Arun has accumulated more than two decades of experience in the industry, and has plied his trade with some of the biggest names in the sector. But having been at the helm of the £50 million transformation of The LaLiT London, he is now making his mark in the capital.

With the LaLiT’s reputation cementing itself more and more with each passing week, Arun now has his eyes on expansion for the Suri family’s LaLiT Suri Hospitality group, which given the beautiful finish at the LaLiT we at Hotel Designs would be very excited to see.

CHARLES LOWTHER – ASKHAM HALL
Following buying and refurbishing the George and Dragon Clifton with his mother and the death of his father the 7th Earl of Lonsdale, Charles Lowther turned the private family home Askham Hall into a unique and contemporary luxury retreat with rooms, restaurant and wedding venue in 2013.
Together with his family including his wife Juno, an artist, his sister Marie-Louisa and mother Carolineand his mother bought and refurbished the George and Dragon Clifton – a country inn with bar, restaurant and bedrooms in Clifton in 2008, and transformed it into the popular foodie destination that it has now become.

ANDREW AND LOUISE MACBETH – BECK HALL HOTEL
Having left successful non-hospitality careers in the UAE behind, husband-and-wife duo Andrew and Louise also left London to transform a quaint-but-unloved former B&B into one of the most buzzed-about properties in northern England. Financial success has been coupled with a family-driven and (importantly for the Macbeths) a dog-friendly approach.

With four children under the age of two (two sets of twins), the Macbeths’ nomination for this evening’s Brit List is a nod to the hard-working families in hospitality; balancing family life with a love and passion for this most rewarding of industries.

JENNIFER McCABE – CHARLOTTE STREET HOTEL
Charlotte Street Hotel is part of the Firmdale Group of hotels – the brainchild of husband and wife team Tim and Kit Kemp and Charlotte Street is one of Kit Kemp’s earliest designs, renowned for its flamboyant elegance.

Jennifer has been with the Firmdale Group since 2009, starting off as Deputy General Manager at the Covent Garden Hotel before making the switch to Charlotte Street in 2014, and it has been a successful switch, with the hotel regularly featuring in ‘Best of London’ lists since.

PETER McCARTHY – CLEVEDON HALL
Peter bought Clevedon Hall in 1991, a Grade 2 * listed Victorian building, to house the three companies in the Group. 12 years later he sold the business but kept the Hall as managed service offices. Following the financial crisis in 2009 he and his son John, decided to create an exclusive wedding venue on the ground floor of the Hall as there had been many requests over the years for weddings to be held at the Hall. The first wedding was held in 2010.

In 2013 following feedback from clients, it was decided to completely refurbish the Hall and convert the old offices on the 2nd/3rd floor to luxury bedrooms. This took over 2 years but resulted in arguably the best venue with accommodation in the South West.

Daniel Fountain / 04.08.2017

Editor, Hotel Designs

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