Knight Frank gets Rogers on the rebound

Martin Rogers is returning to property agents Knight Frank just two months after taking up the position of estates and development director at private hotel group Von Essen.

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	Von Essen Hotels, the group that owns Cliveden (above), will retain Martin Rogers's services as a consultant

Rogers, who joined Von Essen on 1 May, will go back to Knight Frank to take up his old position as head of the hotel division this month. His move follows the departure of his successor Simon Stevens, who left Knight Frank to join rival Christie & Co. Nicholas Romano, operations director at Von Essen, said the group had agreed to release Rogers from his contract on the condition he remained a permanent consultant to the company. He said the group had released Rogers because having an independent agent working on its acquisitions had proved more effective than an in-house purchaser. Romano added that the group was close to securing a deal to buy the 19-bedroom Homewood Park hotel in Bath and was in negotiations to buy five or six other hotels in the UK, including a hotel with three AA rosettes in the South Hams area of Devon. *Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 15 July 2004*