UK and Irish hotel group Jurys Inn has announced the appointment of Andy Besent as its new group head of sales.
Following the recent launch of the £2.9m integrated Stay Happy brand repositioning and marketing campaign, Besent will concentrate on maximising the Group’s growth through direct to consumer channels. He will be responsible for overseeing the continued expansion of all sales initiatives across the Jurys Inn portfolio, including the management and supervision of the regional sales managers.
With 7,300 rooms across 36 hotels (31 hotels in the UK, four in Ireland and one in Prague), Amaris Hospitality, the hotel group that owns and manages Jurys Inn, has made major investments over the last 24 months rebranding, renovating and extending the portfolio.
The M&E market will also figure strongly in Besent’s focus, having grown by 61% over the last year, Jurys Inn adding 20,000sqm of events space.
Besent will be based in Watford and report directly to Jason Carruthers, Jurys Inn MD. He was most recently managing director at HRS UK where he was responsible for creating new opportunities to continue the growth path of the company. He previously worked as sales director at Travelodge, in addition to holding senior sales positions at InterContinental Hotels Group and Guoman & Thistle Hotels.
