Sir David Michels, former group chief executive of Hilton, has joined forces with one time colleague, Hugh Taylor, to launch a new hotel asset management business.
The pair already asset manage 60 Hilton and Marriott hotels across the UK, through Hilmar Hotel Management. Now, under the new trading name of Michels & Taylor, they are opening up their service to new owners of branded hotels of over 100 bedrooms across Europe.
The new venture will specialise solely in the major international brands in the UK and the rest of Europe, where the extensive growth of management contracts has followed a decade of hotel companies divesting their assets to external investors.
Sir David Michels, who left Hilton in 2006 after selling Hilton International to HHC for £4b and launching Ladbrokes as a stand-alone public company, said that he has believed for some time that European hotel asset management needs to get real.
“It shouldn’t be just an analysis, oversight and reporting game, as it so often is today, but rather one of driving profits for owners through hands-on, pro-active management of the hotels and their operators,” he explained. “In other words, working out what needs to be done is only a small part of it – getting it done for the owner is the real task and I think that’s what the M&T team are able to deliver.”
Michels is currently chairman of EasyJet, deputy chairman of Marks and Spencer and chairman of Paramount Restaurants. He is also a board member of Strategic Hotels and Resorts, Jumeirah Hotels and president of the British Hospitality Association.
Taylor previously worked with Michel as a regional vice president of the company, with responsibility for 30 hotels before moving over to the owning side of the industry to run the hotel interests of Igal Ahouvi and his partners.
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By Janet Harmer
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