Former Premier Inn ops director to oversee SLG hotels division

08 November 2018 by
Former Premier Inn ops director to oversee SLG hotels division

Specialist Leisure Group (formerly Shearings Leisure Group) has appointed Andrew Francis as managing director of its hotel division.

He joins the group from Premier Inn, where he was operations director. He has also previously held both operational and senior sales roles at Marriott International. Francis takes over from Vince Flower, who recently retired after more than 35 years with Specialist Leisure Group.

Richard Calvert, chief executive of Specialist Leisure Group, said: "I am delighted to have someone of Andrew's ability and track record joining the Specialist Leisure Group team. I'm sure that with his wide range of hotel sector experience he will bring some new ideas into the hotel division, as well as continuing the great job that Vince Flower did over the years for the group."

Francis added: "I am excited to be joining the team and the business at this important time in the evolution of its three hotel brands. We have a real opportunity to build upon everyone's brilliant work, by further differentiating the brands to meet the needs of a broader mix of business and the growing expectations of our existing clients."

Specialist Leisure Group's hotel properties are split between three brands: Coast & Country Hotels (12 properties), Bay Hotels (30 properties) and Country Living Hotels (two properties). The group is owned by private equity investor Lone Star Funds.

The group partnered with Country Living magazine to launch Country Living Hotels, believed to be the first time in the UK a hotel group has been magazine-branded, following the signing of a licensing agreement with Hearst, the owner of Country Living. The Lansdown Grove in Bath and the St George in Harrogate subsequently underwent multi-million pound refurbishments before relaunching.

Shearings rebrands as Specialist Leisure Group >>

Exclusive: Shearings to launch Country Living Hotels >>

Shearings puts three hotels on the market >>

Get The Caterer every week on your smartphone, tablet, or even in good old-fashioned hard copy (or all three!).

The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking