Interchange & Consort Hotels, the parent brand of Best Western Great Britain, Beacon Purchasing and Innfutures has announced the appointment of Richard Lewis as chief executive.

Lewis has over 35 years experience in the hospitality and travel industries including over thirteen years in international markets.

Previous senior roles include managing director Preferred Hotel Group, EMEA; chief operating officer WorldRes; vice president Hotel Distribution, Turner Broadcasting CNN International; and international marketing operations director, Forte and Le Merdien Hotels.

After completing a four year management training course with the Savoy Hotel Group, London, Lewis took a number of operational roles in the UK, Libya, Egypt and Malta and to further his cross-industry knowledge, Lewis developed his career within advertising and marketing agencies in the UAE and London.

Lewis ‘rejoined’ the hotel industry in the early 1990’s and his background in executive positions within operations, sales, marketing, e-commerce, distribution and brand development will be of significant benefit to Best Western, as it drives forward with the successful ‘Hotels with personality’ strategy and to Beacon, as the purchasing solutions company enhances its online capability.

Commenting on his appointment Lewis said: “I am delighted to be joining Interchange & Consort Hotels at this time and look forward to building on the platform established and progress made over the past five years.

“The team in York and the board of directors are focused on pushing forward with our development plans for our businesses.

“The achievements of Best Western over the past two years have been particularly encouraging with hotel revenue increasing by 20 per cent in the first half of this year alone.

“We are determined to invest in our people and our businesses for the benefit of our hotels, their guests and all our customers and business partners,” added Lewis.

Lewis will be based at the company’s central office in York and report directly to the board of directors.