First woman GM goes in Cliveden shake-up

The first woman general manager of Cliveden has left the job after less than a year.

Vivien Sirotkin has been made redundant because of a reorganisation of the Cliveden Group, which leaves group operations director Laurence Beere doubling up as general manager at the hotel near Taplow, Buckinghamshire.

The change, which the group puts down to "global events" including the 11 September attacks, is because the planned expansion of the group in the UK and Europe has been halted for the time being.

Cliveden Group is owned by the US company Destination Hotels & Resorts, which is in turn owned by Lowe Enterprises, and these companies have decided to concentrate their expansion in the USA for the present.

Beere was keen to stress that Sirotkin's departure was no reflection on her performance in the job at the hotel, which is leased by the National Trust to the group.

Beere said: "She has done a great job here in the short time she has been with us."

Sirotkin said that she was sad to leave the hotel but that her severance terms had been "as generous as possible in the circumstances".

During her 10 months in charge she had kept occupancy at the 39-bedroom stately home at more than 70% in a difficult year, just 4.5% down on a bumper year in 2000.

Beere now wants to invest in Cliveden, but obtaining the money to do this depends on the satisfactory conclusion of negotiations with merchant bank Lazards, which is one of the main funding partners for the group. It is understood that if the negotiations are successful, Lazards will cease to be involved with Cliveden and a new investor will come in.

Cliveden Group owns Cliveden itself, the Royal Crescent hotel in Bath and the Cliveden Town House hotel in London.

by David Harris

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 21 - 27 March 2002