Alain Bachmann has been appointed Food & Beverage Director at Rocco Forte�s The Lowry Hotel.

Overseeing all aspects of dining and food service in Manchester�s leading hotel, Swiss-born Alain will be responsible for The Lowry Hotel�s River Restaurant, The River Bar, conferencing, in-room dining, Spa menus and corporate hospitality.

Alain joins The Lowry Hotel from the prestigious Mandarin Oriental hotel in Washington DC, which he helped to launch as the opening Assistant Director of Food & Beverage in 2004.

Alain brings with him a wealth of experience gained from working at luxury hotels around the world.

In 2001, he joined The Peninsula Chicago, a Mobile Five Star, AAA Five Diamond hotel, which, since its opening, has consistently been rated the top hotel in the United States by the Zagat guide. Under Alain�s leadership, the hotel�s flagship restaurant Avenues was voted best new restaurant by Chicago Magazine and was heralded as �a triumph in hotel dining� by American Esquire magazine.

Prior to that, Alain worked for Ritz-Carlton in various locations and roles, one of them being an opening team member of The Ritz-Carlton, Philadelphia.

Alain, who holds an associate degree from Les Roches Hotel Management School, Crans-Montana, Switzerland, is delighted to be joining The Lowry Hotel: �It feels good to return to Europe, and I am looking forward to working hard to ensure that The Lowry Hotel remains the leading dining destination and functions venue in the North West.�

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For further information, please contact:

Sue Heady - Head of Media Relations Nicole Mitchell - Media Relations Manager Direct line: 020 7766 3107 Direct line: 020 7766 3116 Email: sueheady@rfhotels.com Email: nicolemitchell@rfhotels.com

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Rocco Forte Hotels was established in 1996 to create a collection of luxury hotels in Europe. The hotels have individual styles, with each hotel reflecting its nationality and location. The collection is linked together under the Rocco Forte Hotels brand, which guarantees attention to detail, quality and service delivery.

Current hotels within the Rocco Forte Hotels collection are: - Hotel de Russie, Rome - Hotel Savoy, Florence - The Balmoral, Edinburgh - The St David�s Hotel & Spa, Cardiff - The Lowry Hotel, Manchester - Hotel Astoria, St Petersburg - Hotel Amigo, Brussels - Le Richemond, Geneva - Brown�s Hotel, London (closed for refurbishment, will re-open late 2005) - Ch�teau de Bagnols, en Beaujolais (managed on behalf of Lady Hamlyn)

Future openings:

Villa Kennedy, Frankfurt - 2006 Hotel de Rome, Berlin - 2006 Verdura Golf & Spa Resort, Sicily � 2007 Munich � 2007

For further information and online reservations, please visit the Rocco Forte Hotels website: www.roccofortehotels.com.

- Angleterre Hotel, St Petersburg, is a newly-refurbished four-star sister to the Hotel Astoria (for information and reservations: www.angleterrehotel.com