Hand Picked Hotels

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Hand Picked Hotels was set up by financier Guy Hands and his wife Julia, owns and operates a collection of individual and historic country house hotels. Julia, a former lawyer, now runs Hand Picked Hotels.

TIMELINE

• 1999: Early in the year, the Hands buy seven hotels from Virgin for around £20m and name their new company Hand Picked Hotels. In November, they snap up 11 Arcadian hotels from Wyndham International for £75m.

• September 2001: A massive refurbishment programme, worth more than £50m, begins.

• October 2003: The refurbished estate is relaunched as Hand Picked Hotels and the Arcadian name disappears. By this time, 12 hotels have been awarded two AA rosettes, seven have improved their star rating and four have won Red Star status, putting them in the AA top 200 hotel bracket.

• December 2007: Major extensions completed to Rookery Hall (adding 24 bedrooms, spa and banqueting suites), Rhinefield House (adding 16 bedrooms, meeting rooms and health club), and Norton House (36 bedrooms, banqueting suites and leisure spa)

• February 2008: Audleys Wood, Hendon Hall and New Hall bought from Bridgehouse Hotels, adding 190 rooms to the group

Number of hotels: 17

Number of bedrooms: approximately 950

Audleys Wood, Basingstoke, Hampshire; Brandshatch Place, Fawkham Green, Kent; Buxted Park, Uckfield, Sussex; Chilston Park, Maidstone, Kent; Crathorne Hall, North Yorkshire; Ettington Park, Stratford-upon-Avon; Hendon Hall, Hendon, London; L’Horizon, St Brelade’s Bay, Jersey; New Hall, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands; Norton House, Edinburgh; Nutfield Priory, Redhill, Surrey; Priest House, Castle Donington, near Derby; Rhinefield House, New Forest, Hampshire; Rookery Hall, Nantwich, Cheshire; Seiont Manor, Snowdonia; Wood Hall, Wetherby, West Yorkshire; Woodlands Park, Cobham, Surrey.

“Our vision at Hand Picked Hotels is to create a collection of unconventional, vibrant, modern country-house hotels which offer guests the highest standards of service, cuisine and accommodation, while maintaining a family-run feel to each property.” Source: company press release, April 2003

CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE Julia Hands

KEY DIRECTORS

Commercial Director: Ken Arkley

Operations Director: Douglas Waddell

Finance Director: Mandy Newton

[edit] References

The Times February 5, 2008: Hands-on approach puts hotel chain among the nation's star performers

Caterer & Hotelkeeper September 5 2002: A hands-on approach / Rosalind Mullen

Caterer & Hotelkeeper October 2, 2003: A Show of Hands / Karl Cushing

The Daily Telegraph October 9 2004: Hotel boss wins award without helping Hands / Kate Rankine

[edit] External links

• Hand Picked Hotels web site
• Caterersearch data on Hand Picked Hotels

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