Eastlake two start own business

Two former directors of Express by Holiday Inn franchisee Eastlake Hospitality have left the company to launch their own hotel business.

Rod Carden-Lovell and Les Evans have secured more than £30m of funding to launch Parklake Hotels. The company has been awarded preferred development franchisee status from Cendant to expand its Days Hotel business. The pair said they had decided to leave Eastlake Hospitality after the group sold five of its Express by Holiday Inns to hotel group BDL.

Parklake will be based on the borders of Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire, focusing on acquiring sites and developing and operating hotels in the budget sector. It will start construction of its first hotel in Bristol next month, and is close to securing a further five sites for development.

Evans's wife Gill will be operations manager. She was formerly general manager of the Express by Holiday Inn in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.