Libra Group's Grace Hotels plans to have 30 more hotels open or under development in its portfolio in the next 10 years.
Grace Hotels currently has five hotels under development. The Grace Marrakech, Grace St. Moritz, Grace Kalamata and Grace Kea in Greece, and La Dolfina Grace in Argentina will join the group's current portfolio of six hotels, which include Greece's Grace Mykonos and Grace Santorini, Argentina's Grace Cafayate and New England's Grace Mayflower Inn & Spa, Grace Vanderbilt and Grace White Barn Inn & Spa.
As part of this the group's expansion plans, Robert Swade, CEO, began focusing on restructuring Grace Hotels' leadership upon joining the group in September 2016, and created three new leadership roles. Alison Styles, who previously worked at Mandarin Oriental and Fairmont Raffles, is now Grace's group commercial director. Tim Williams, who previously worked at Amam Group, joined the company as group HR director. Swade also hired Mike O'Mahoney, who has 25 years of experience in hospitality, as group finance director.
Swade and his new executive team will lead the development of Grace hotels while optimizing the company's existing properties. The team will focus on expansion in the EMEA region and North America—both in key gateway cities and leisure destinations. The company is already in talks to manage properties in Europe and the Caribbean.
The Grace Santorini, the Grace Mayflower Inn & Spa and the Grace White Barn Inn underwent extensive renovations in 2016. The company started with the Grace Santorini in March, refurbishing its guestrooms, suites, wellness facilities and dining outlets as well as adding a new bar lounge and two new suites completed in May 2016. The Grace Mayflower Inn & Spa also saw updates to its guestrooms and suites, wellness center and dining outlets, which were completed in early August 2016. Finally, the Grace White Barn Inn, where renovations were completed in late August, now has 11 updated guestrooms and suites, a new outdoor space and new dining outlets.