Luxury Family Hotels, one of the UK’s leading hospitality groups, has announced two key appointments to its senior leadership team. Mike Lashmar, who joins as finance director and Leanne Cleaver, the group’s new head of marketing, enter Luxury Family Hotels at a pivotal time for the business, with a series of developments and projects in the pipeline for 2022 and beyond.
In his role as Finance Director, Mike will work closely with MD, Simon Maguire, to deliver strategic growth ambitions and oversee financial operations at the group, a collection of five luxury properties across the South West and Suffolk.
He joins with more than 20 years’ experience, having most recently worked as Group Finance Director at The Ageas Bowl, home to a Hilton hotel and golf resort and Hampshire Cricket. During a transformative period, he was responsible for developing group strategies and delivering operational plans which saw a 75% increase in turnover and a 250% increase in profits.
Prior to that, Mike headed up the finance function at Harbour Hotels where he played an instrumental role in driving the hotel chain’s rapid growth from five to 13 properties. Mike first qualified with leading mid-market firm BDO, where he worked in the corporate finance practice, including working on stock market flotations and a secondment with Royal Bank of Scotland.
“I’m delighted to have been appointed my new role as Finance Director at Luxury Family Hotels at such an important time for the business,” comments Mike. “With a solid background in hospitality, I have a sound understanding of managing financial operations across some of the country’s most established hotel groups and look forward to utilising my skills and driving success in 2022 and beyond.”
In her role as group head of marketing, Leanne Cleaver will oversee the marketing department and implement a robust marketing strategy across the business with immediate effect.
With more than 12 years’ experience in hospitality, Leanne is a seasoned hospitality marketing specialist who has worked in multiple senior marketing roles with a range of luxury, lifestyle-led UK hotel collections. She has extensive experience formulating, building, and running successful results-driven marketing campaigns, including delivering omni-channel strategies with a fully integrated approach.
During Leanne’s previous roles, she was instrumental in the development of the UK’s first fully integrated online spa booking platform known as RevSpa, as well as the management of multiple website development projects from conception through to delivery. Leanne is passionate about UK hospitality and thrives on the opportunity to deliver a meaningful and purposeful guest experience without compromising on quality or what it means to deliver a great customer experience.
“I’m thrilled to have been appointed as group head of marketing at Luxury Family Hotels,” says Leanne. “With five beautiful properties operating across the South of England and a whole host of investments and projects in the pipeline, it’s such an exciting time to be joining the business and I look forward to working closely with my new team to bring new ideas to the table in 2022.”
The appointments come as Luxury Family Hotels announce a further programme of investment for Fowey Hall, the group’s newly refurbished South Cornwall hotel. The works are due to be completed by Spring 2022. The project will include 24 new bedrooms, a new outdoor swimming pool and a total relandscaping of the grounds and driveway, building on last year’s multi-million-pound refurbishment of the existing bedrooms and communal spaces.
