Patrick Dempsey joins Staycity as a non-executive director
Patrick Dempsey, former managing director of Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants (WHR), has been appointed as a non-executive director for serviced apartment operator Staycity.
Staycity currently has 1,000 apartments and aparthotels within its portfolio across eight European cities with plans to increase this figure to 1,800 by the end of 2016. The firm, which in the UK has a presence in Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and London, intends to expand to around 10,000 apartments in Europe by 2020.
Tom Walsh, chief executive of Staycity, said: "It's a real coup to secure Patrick as a member of our board of directors. His formidable experience and expertise will be of immense benefit to Staycity as we forge ahead with the expansion of our business.
"In addition to his board commitment, Patrick has agreed to give more time to working with me on strategy. As a result of a personal investment in the business, he will also become a minority shareholder."
Dempsey added "Staycity is one of the leading operators in the exciting and expanding serviced apartment sector. I am looking forward to getting to know the business further and helping take it forward to strengthen its foothold in Europe."
During his 10 years with Whitbread, Dempsey was credited for doubling the size of its Premier Inn brand to 60,000 rooms, turning it into Britain's largest hotel company.
His career in the hotel sector began at Forte, where he became managing director of the Posthouse chain as well as the London Forte hotels division. In 2001 he was appointed CEO of Compass-owned Restaurant Associates UK & Ireland.
He joined Whitbread as managing director of Marriott UK in 2004 and became managing director for Premier Inn in 2005.
In 2009 he was appointed managing director of WHR and joined the main board as executive director. He was awarded an OBE in 2012 for services to the industry and left Whitbread in February this year.
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