Well-known hotelier Seamus Coen is to oversee a £1million-plus upgrade of the facilities at Belton Woods after being appointed as new general manager at the top Lincolnshire golf resort.
Coen will bring more than 20 years’ industry experience to his new job at the Grantham venue – part of QHotels, the UK’s largest golf resort operator – having been employed in a succession of major roles at Macdonald Hotels, Malmaison and Jury’s Hotel Group.
As part of the new position, he will be responsible for the hotel’s significant conference and events offering, which includes 10 purpose-built meeting and conference rooms for up to 270 delegates, as well as its spa, health club and two PGA Championship-approved golf courses with a total of 45 holes.
The hotel’s new chief will also implement significant investments including a £700,000 bedroom refurbishment programme, a £350,000 upgrade to Belton Woods’ spa facilities and an investment of around £20,000 in improving its driving range, including the installation of the latest FlightScope launch monitor technology.
Coen joins the QHotels group having successfully managed seven hotels individually and regionally within the UK. He has achieved a host of industry accolades during his career including being named Scottish General Manager of the Year at the 2009 Scottish Hotel Awards and, during his tenure with Macdonald Hotels, was awarded Golf Tourism Scotland Hotel of Year in 2008, 2009 and 2013.
He said: “Belton Woods has a fantastic reputation as a conference and events venue and as a destination for golf and family leisure breaks, so I was thrilled to be offered this role.
“Using customer feedback and insights allows us to continually enhance and drive key areas of the business, such as conferencing and events, training, banqueting, golf and leisure, to ensure our offering surpasses customers’ expectations.
“As resort general manager, I’ll be taking a quality-first approach, using our talented team and unique offering to drive business performance to the next level.”
Michael Purtill, managing director at QHotels, said: “Seamus’ impressive career has equipped him with the rare qualities that are essential to our general management team, such as the ability to understand our customers’ needs and respond as these needs change.
“Seamus also shares the belief that the performance of any hotel stems from the quality of the leadership, and I believe he has the personality and intuition to be a huge success at Belton Woods.”
Part of QHotels – the AA Hotel Group of the Year 2014/15 – Belton Woods is a PGA championship-approved venue and a golfer’s paradise. With three challenging courses to play and fantastic facilities, it is regarded as one of the finest golfing venues in East Midlands.
Established in 1991, Belton Woods features 45 holes of golf over three challenging and picturesque courses including the Championship Lakes course – home of the oldest PGA tournament in the world, the Midlands PGA Championships. With its long holes, thin fairways and, as the name suggest, plenty of water hazards, this is a challenging course for any golfer.
The picturesque Woodside course has gentle undulating fairways, which makes local knowledge the key to a low score. The course runs alongside many of the wooded areas surrounding the resort and has a number of newly-constructed pot bunkers to catch you out.
Belton Woods www.qhotels.co.uk/golf
QHotels www.qhotels.co.uk