Dorchester Collection's chief executive officer, Christopher Cowdray, will be awarded the Lifetime Achievement award at this year's European Hospitality Awards taking place on 1 November in London.

Now in its fourth year, this prestigious award recognises a person for 'service to the hotel community and their body of work'.  It is awarded by a panel of judges from the hospitality sector.

Christopher Cowdray has been chief executive officer of the London-based hotel management company, Dorchester Collection, since November 2007. A native of Zimbabwe and a graduate of the Columbia Business School Executive Programme, he brings over 30 years of extensive international experience in hotel management on four continents to his position. Previous roles include general manager of The Dorchester, managing director of Claridge's, London, and general manager of the Al Bustan Palace Hotel, Oman.  He is a Fellow of the Hotel Catering Institute Management Association, a Master Innholder, honorary Professor at Thames Valley University and past chairman of the British Hospitality Association.

Commenting on the award, Phin Foster, editor of Hotel Management International and chair of the judging panel for the European Hospitality Awards, said: 'Over the course of more than three decades in the hospitality sector, Christopher Cowdray has become universally acclaimed as an outstanding hotelier and business leader. His achievements of expanding and establishing Dorchester Collection as an exceptional luxury brand were preceded by a terrific front-of-house career, an increasingly rare career trajectory for CEOs of international hotel groups. The success Christopher has enjoyed creating a group founded upon service and uniqueness of experience is testament to an innate appreciation of what makes our industry tick.

'In short, Christopher embodies so many of the qualities we want to celebrate at the European Hospitality Awards - ambition, innovation, imagination and individuality. It is a real pleasure to commend him for a lifetime of achievement.'

Cowdray said: 'I am truly delighted to be recognised with this award from a panel of esteemed judges.  We have pursued consistently and diligently our vision at Dorchester Collection to create the ultimate hotel management company and I have been assisted by a dedicated team to ensure the focus remains on genuine guest engagement and our values of passion, personality, respect, working together and innovation.'

Other awards that will be presented at the European Hospitality ceremony in November include Green Hotel of the Year, Opening of the Year, International Hotel of the Year, Best Hotel Suite, Best Use of Technology, Hotelier of the Year, Hotel Spa of the Year, Innovation in Service of the Year and Best Hotel Restaurant.

Notes to editors

Dorchester Collection

Dorchester Collection is a portfolio of the world's foremost luxury hotels in Europe and the USA, each of which reflects the distinctive culture of its destination. By applying its unrivalled experience and capability in owning and operating some of the greatest individual hotels, the company's mission is to develop an impeccable group of the finest landmark hotels through acquisition as well as management of wholly-owned and part-owned hotels, and to enter into management agreements.

The current portfolio includes the following hotels (in order of them joining the group): The Dorchester, London; The Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills; Le Meurice, Paris; Hôtel Plaza Athénée, Paris; Hotel Principe di Savoia, Milan; Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles; Coworth Park, Ascot, UK; 45 Park Lane, London; Le Richemond, Geneva; and Hotel Eden, Rome.

dorchestercollection.com

For further information on
Dorchester Collection please contact:

Connie Fan or Angela Wong
at CatchOn Communications

Telephone: +852 2566 8988

Email: connie.fan@catchonco.com / angela.wong@catchonco.com