Distinguished Hotels International Marketing & Management Consortium To Launch In London At World Travel Market 2004

NEW YORK | Distinguished Hotels International (DHI), a new marketing and management consortium of more than 150 independent hotels around the world, will officially launch in London Nov. 8-11 during World Travel Market 2004. The company will be headquartered in New York, NY and will operate sales office in New York and London.

The creation of DHI represents the merger of United Kingdom-based Grand Heritage Hotels International with Distinguished Hotels International in the United States, which features seven hotels managed by the Magna Hospitality Group LLC. The new company will offer corporate and leisure travelers a prestigious collection of luxury properties in the United Kingdom, Ireland, mainland Europe, Africa, the West Indies, and North America. Each hotel is described as "uniquely different" with exceptional amenities and significant architectural and/or historical features.

DHI's formation reunites William F. Burruss, who founded and served as president of Grand Heritage Hotels International until the company was sold in 1997, with Timothy Hadcock-Mackay, the current owner and CEO of Grand Heritage Hotels International in Europe. As president, Burruss will handle the day-to-day operations for Distinguished Hotels International, and Hadcock-Mackay will serve as chairman, focusing on new hotel membership.

"We will offer leisure and business travelers a 'one-of-a-kind' travel experience with very high standards," said Burruss, who also serves as chairman of Magna Hospitality. "They will be able to choose from a list of more than 150 independent, luxury hotels, castles, chateaux, stately homes, resorts, and health spas and inns located around the world. Unlike chain hotels, each DHI property -- whether city center or resort hotels -- will be unforgettably unique, offering the top-quality guest amenities and architectural elegance for which Grand Heritage has always been known."

Although Distinguished Hotels International will manage some of the properties, its central role out of the New York sales office will be to market its hotel affiliates to potential visitors, including leisure travelers, business travelers, company executives, government dignitaries, celebrities, and meeting and trade show planners. Potential guests, executive hotel club members, and executives of potential hotel affiliates may contact a sales representative at (888) 280-5008 or [email protected] to request a directory of DHI hotels and/or other company

information and make reservations. In-depth information is available at .

"I am delighted to be working again with Bill Burruss and see this as a significant opportunity to satisfy the growing demand in the marketplace for quality, independent hotels, thereby attracting new members and clients globally," added Hadcock-Mackay, who will be based at DHI's London sales and marketing office. "Distinguished Hotels International is the perfect sales and marketing solution for prominent independent hotels. Current and future members of Distinguished Hotels International will benefit substantially from expanded sales, public relations, marketing and advances in travel technology. They will also be part of a very high profile group, having access to marketing programs they would not be able to get on their own."

Grand Heritage hotels that will be members of Distinguished Hotels International include The Hotel Le Tourville in Paris; The Palazzo Abadessa in Venice; The Hotel Ambassador in Vienna; The Royal Park Hotel in London; and The Dalhousie Castle & Spa in Scotland.

Magna Hospitality-managed hotels that will be members of Distinguished Hotels International are The Tides, The Kent, Casa Grand Suite in Miami; The Eastland Park in Portland, Maine; The Hotel Lawrence in Dallas; The Cartwright in San Francisco; and Le Grand Lodge in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. Thirty Thirty in New York and The River Terrace Inn in Napa, California are also new DHI member hotels.

Burruss has worked in hospitality management for more than 20 years. He began his career in mid-level management at the Ritz Carlton Washington (D.C.) in 1979. After leaving Ritz Carlton, he joined Wisco Diversified, one of the largest grocery store retailers in the Southeast. He became regional director of the company's six restaurants in North Carolina and Tennessee with more than $8 million in annual revenues. In 1985, he joined the Potomac Hotel Group in Washington, D.C., holding stints as the general manager of a 300-room Sheraton property and regional director of operations. Two years later, he joined Historic Inns of America as vice president of operations for five hotels. In 1989, Burruss founded Grand Heritage Hotels International, which was dedicated to revitalization, ownership and management of historic hotel properties. He and his partners sold Grand Heritage Hotels, the management company, along with multiple hotels to Patriot American Hospitality/Wyndham International in 1997. At the time of the sale, Grand Heritage operated 25 domestic hotels and held management and marketing agreements with more than 80 hotels in Europe that carried the Grand Heritage name. Revenues were in excess of $75 million annually.

Hadcock-Mackay started his hospitality career as a young manager working for the infamous Terry Holmes (who remains his mentor) at The Stafford Hotel in St. James, England, in 1985. After that, he held various executive positions in sales and management for The Ritz, The Stafford and The Dukes hotels and Small Luxury Hotels of the World in England. In 1992, he founded Grand Heritage Hotels International in Europe with friend and colleague David Owen. With U.S. investment from Burruss, GHI was officially launched in London in 1993 at a small dinner hosted by celebrity friends Christopher Biggins, Joan Collins, Lorraine Chase, Lesley Joseph, and Diana Moran. In June 1999, the company left Patriot/Wyndham International to become a sole United Kingdom-owned company under Hadcock-Mackay's ownership.