Alan O'Dea is appointed MD of Campbell Gray Hotels

Campbell Gray Hotels has appointed Alan O'Dea from Swiss-based Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts to the new role of managing director.

O'Dea will oversee the day-to-day running of the company, which today comprises five operational hotels and one, the Alex on Lake Zurich, Switzerland, under development.

Alongside the 45-bedroom Machrie hotel, which opened on the Isle of Islay in September last year, all the other properties in the Campbell Gray Hotels are overseas in Valletta, Malta (the Phoenicia); Beirut, Lebanon (Le Gray); Amman, Jordan (Campbell Gray Living Hotel & Residences); Manama, Bahrain (the Merchant House); and Monrovia, Liberia (the Farmington hotel).

Gordon Campbell Gray, founder of Campbell Gray Hotels and 2002 Hotelier of the Year, will retain "an integral role" in the business, overseeing new hotel design and "protecting the company's unique DNA for the future".

He said: "It's a pleasure to welcome Alan as managing director, his role will be crucial as the company continues to evolve. We're looking forward to an exciting year ahead and to continued success."

Saad Audeh, chairman of Campbell Gray Hotels and founder of its parent company the Audeh Group, added: "We are delighted to welcome Alan to the team and are confident his diverse experience will be invaluable as he leads our ongoing expansion. He will also combine some of our other hospitality and engineering divisions, providing more services to developers and our existing portfolio."

A hotel and catering management graduate from the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology in his native Ireland, O'Dea spent 12 years with Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, most recently as senior vice president Africa, based in Dubai. He also worked for the company in Paris, Zurich and Cairo.

Prior to joining Mövenpick, O'Dea was regional director of revenue management, France, for InterContinental Hotels Group and director of revenue management, Le Meridien in Paris.

O'Dea has joined Campbell Gray Hotels two months after Iain Hamilton took over as general manager of the 47-bedroom Machrie, replacing Anne Schaeflein, who has moved on to become project development manager for the group. Hamilton was previously general manager of the Loch Lomond Arms hotel, where he spent nearly five years.

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