Harbour Hotels appoints former Hotel du Vin chief operating officer as MD

Harbour Hotels, the coastal hotel group, has appointed Michael Warren, a veteran of Hotel Du Vin and Malmaison, as managing director.

Warren has spent 17 years working with the two boutique brands, most recently as brand director and chief operating officer of Hotel du Vin.

He joined Hotel du Vin at the launch of the brand as general manager of the original Hotel du Vin in Winchester, following his appointment by the founders of the group, Robin Hutson and Gerard Basset.

During his earlier career he spent four years at Chewton Glen as well as time abroad at the Schlosshotel, Kronberg, Frankfurt, and Dromoland Castle and Country Club, County Clare, Ireland.

In his new role at Harbour Hotels, Warren will oversee the group's current portfolio of five sea-front hotels, which include the Christchurch Harbour and King's Arms in Dorset, the Salcombe Harbour and Sidmouth Harbour in Devon and the St Ives Harbour in Cornwall.

The company has recently relaunched the 50-bedroom Salcombe Harbour Hotel & Spa following a multi-million pound refurbishment of the Jetty restaurant and cinema room. It is also working on the development of the new £25m, 70-bedroom Southampton Harbour Hotel & Spa at Ocean Village, Hampshire, which is due to open as a five-star property in summer 2015.

Warren said he was delighted to be joining Harbour Hotels at such an exciting stage of its development. "We have an opportunity to do something very special here, as we not only position the Harbour Hotels brand with our new Salcombe Harbour Hotel & Spa, but grow the collection to become the number one UK coastal hotel group."

Nicolas Roach, chairman, Harbour Hotels, added: "This is an extremely important appointment for Harbour Hotels. Michael's strong background of growing and developing hotel groups will be pivotal in the development of the Harbour Hotels brand.

Harbour Hotels has been without a managing director since Mark Godfrey - now managing director of Deer Park Country House hotel in Honiton, Devon - left the role in summer 2012.

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