Former owner of operating company of Small Luxury Hotels of the World joins Oddfellows

Brian Mills, former owner of Hill Goodridge & Associates, the company operating Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) and Luxury Hotel Partners (LHP), has been appointed as a non-executive director of Oddfellows Management Company.

Oddfellows Management Company manages boutique hotel group Oddfellows Hotels, which owns one property in Chester and is set to open a second in Manchester later this year. The group is searching for a third site within the north England and Midlands.

The appointment reunites Mills with Jonathan Slater, founder of Oddfellows Management Company, who in his previous role as managing director of the Chester Grosvenor hotel for more than 30 years was also chairman of SLH for nine years.

Slater said: "It is a triumph for us, as a burgeoning hotel management company, to secure Brian as a member of our board. He has a formidable amount of experience and expertise in our sector and is a master at building a brand. These will be considerable assets to us as we pursue our long-term expansion plans."

Mills, explained that the non-executive directorship role at Oddfellows appealed for several reasons. "Firstly, it is a boutique group that has managed to combine flair, design and individuality with exacting service standards. Secondly, I'm excited to be part of a strategy which, although it involves adding more hotels to the Oddfellows umbrella, is the antithesis of a homogenous brand roll-out.

After starting his hospitality career at Grand Metropolitan Hotels, Intercontinental Hotels Group and Cunard Hotels & Resorts, Mills formed Hill, Goodridge & Associates in 1992 alongside former colleague, Paul Kerr, to act as an outsourced global management company to SLH. In 2002, HGA expanded to create LHP as an operating company for small, luxury hotels.Â

By the time Mills sold Hill, Goodridge & Associates in 2015, SLH had grown to over 520 hotels in more than 70 countries, with 30 hotels managed by LHP.

The second Oddfellows hotel will open with 22 bedrooms in the restored 19th century Bruntwood Hall in Cheadle, Manchester.

Fun interiors set for Oddfellows On The Park >>

Jonathan Slater to step down as MD of the Chester Grosvenor >>

Oddfellows hotel to open second site >>

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