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UK-based independent hotel group De Vere has announced the appointment of Laurie Nicol and Alan Corlett to the role of co-chief executive officer.
Nicol and Corlett have each been with De Vere (previously The Principal Hotel Company) for more than a decade, latterly as chief operating officer and chief commercial officer respectively.
De Vere’s current CEO, James Burrell, is taking on a new role as executive chairman of De Vere and will continue to support the group and its shareholder Starwood Capital.
De Vere is a collection of historic mansion house estates and contemporary hotels around London, the southeast and the Cotswolds. Recently, the country estate hotels have undergone a multi-million-pound refurbishment.
Nicol said: “My time as COO of De Vere has been incredibly rewarding and I am delighted to take on this new challenge as Co-CEO. I will continue to support the hotels and focus particularly on driving the ESG strategy, creative food and beverage, people and culture development and strategic capex investment growth initiatives planned for 2024 and beyond to ultimately drive operational excellence.
“We have a wonderful team across our De Vere and I am grateful to my colleagues for their hard work to achieve these successes. I look forward to leading the group alongside Alan.”
Corlett added: “Having been the CCO for De Vere, now stepping up to the Co-CEO role is a fantastic opportunity. I am very excited about the times ahead at De Vere as we continue to grow the business with our existing loyal customers as well as new clients and relationships.
“It remains a key focus that I continue to drive De Vere’s revenue through our excellent sales and marketing platforms, improving the financial and commercial performance of the hotels, as well as ensuring best-in-class IT and systems for our guests. Laurie and I have worked together successfully for many years supporting the shareholder in creating value and we are confident De Vere will continue its strong growth trajectory under our ongoing partnership as Co-CEOs. “
Burell concluded: “We are delighted to promote Laurie and Alan to their new roles as Co-CEO. This is a well-deserved internal succession appointment for Laurie and Alan, recognising their significant contributions to the success of De Vere and Principal Hotel Company across many years of service. We are confident that under their leadership, De Vere will continue to flourish and based on our current trading, we are optimistic about business momentum in 2024.”
