Granada hotels rejig puts Neep in top role

By Jon Rees

Granada is centralising the marketing for its hotels into one division headed by Paul Neep, now senior planning director for the recently acquired Forte Group.

Neep will replace Richard Carrick, who was worldwide mar keting director for the Forte hotel group and is now returning to Airtours.

Carrick left Airtours to join Forte just days before Granada launched its hostile bid last November.

The centralisation means the group will concentrate on the Post House, Heritage and Meri dien brands and will scrap the separate hotel chain’s management structure, including marketing director posts.

Neep is being described by sources as a temporary replacement for Carrick.

The changes are expected to be announced within the company this week and will be part of Granada’s avowed post-acquisition policy of concentrating on fewer brands.

Granada has just completed its first disposal since taking over Forte in January, with the sale of the White Hart chain to Regal Hotels for 121.7m.

Granada is planning to cut a further 300 jobs from staff at Forte’s head office and within its central management structure.

The cuts would follow the departure of 100 head office staff soon after Granada won the bitterly contested 3.9bn takeover battle.

The changes are part of a restructuring plan being carried out by Charles Allen, the group chief executive. Granada aims to save 100m in its first year of ownership.