The chairman of the five-star Lucknam Park Hotel & Spa has stepped down after 25 years of service.
Harry Murray MBE, pictured, who is also president of The Hospitality Professionals Association (HOSPA), spent his last day in the role on New Years’s Eve.
He was appointed managing director of the luxury 42-bedroom hotel at Colerne in 1997 with a vision of making the hotel the best country house hotel in the UK.
In that role he helped develop it from AA Four Black Stars to AA Five Red Stars with a Michelin Star Restaurant and adding an award-winning £20m spa in 2008.
It has also opened six deluxe cottages on its 500-acre estate – with two more due to open this year.
Mr Murray became chairman of the privately owned hotel in 2010, the year it won both ‘Independent Hotel of the Year’ and the ‘AA Independent Hotel of the Year’ titles.
As well as being awarded the MBE for services to the hospitality sector, Mr Murray's commitment to, and support of, an industry in which he has spent five decades has been recognised with a clutch of awards.
These include the 1986 Hotelier of the Year, the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Cateys, an AA Lifetime Achievement Award, Outstanding Contribution to Tourism Award, an honorary MBA from the University of West London and an Honorary Degree from the University of Essex.
He will continue in his role as president of HOSPA, as an ambassador and patron at Hospitality Action, Springboard, Be Inclusive Hospitality, Institute of Hospitality and the Hoteliers Guild.
He will also continue supporting UK Hospitality and remain in his position as a governor of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts.
He said: “My time at Lucknam Park has been an enjoyable and memorable journey and any success I have achieved both personally and at the hotel is due to the full support of the owners, directors and a highly motivated and skilled team.
“I depart with a feeling of great pride as the hotel was recently named UK’s Best Hotel in Conde Nast 2021 Readers Choice Award. I wish the owners, directors and the team continued success.”
Lucknam Park, pictured, is a member of Relais & Châteaux, the exclusive collection of 500-plus of the finest hotels and gourmet hotels across the world.
