HVS managing director wins top hospitality lifetime achievement award

22-Dec-2011 - Last updated on 19-Mar-2024 at 13:58 GMT

Related tags Management

Russell Kett, the managing director of HVS London, collects a Lifetime Achievement Award from HOSPA

The managing director of hotel consultancy HVS London, Russell Kett, has won a lifetime acheivement award from the Hospitality Professionals Association for Finance, Revenue Management and IT (HOSPA) in honour of Kett's career as a respected hotel advisor.

HOSPA replaced the British Association of Hospitality Accountants (BAHA) in September and at their annual awards professionals working in the hospitality industry in finance, revenue and IT were recognised. Staff from The Langham Hotel, QMH and Mint Hotel group also took home prizes.

As managing director of HVS London since 1995, Kett has worked as a top advisor to hotels on areas such as valuations, appraisals and feasibility reports. Previously, Kett was Chairman of BAHA for six years and has also worked for Strand Hotels.

It is only the fourth time HOSPA or BAHA have given out a lifetime acheivement award but Kett was chosen for his 'outstanding commitment to improving best practice in hospitality financial management’.

HOSPA chief executive, Carl Weldon, said: "It was a great honour and privilege for me and HOSPA Chairman Paul Dukes to present Russell – a Fellow of HOSPA – with this well deserved award. He is one of the world’s great hotel professionals to whom BAHA owes an enormous debt of gratitude."

“Russell’s time as BAHA Chairman from 1988 to 1994 was one of the most productive in the Association’s history. For example, BAHA membership increased by 50%; the Association became truly educational with the introduction of our highly successful Education and Training Programme (ETP) for Finance, and the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme with Oxford Brookes University", Weldon added.

In September Weldon spoke to BigHospitality after the rebranding of BAHA to HOSPA which he said was designed to make the organisation more inclusive.

Full winners of The 2011 HOSPA Awards were:

Hospitality Finance Professional 2011, sponsored by PKF: Richard Harrington, regional director of finance, The Langham Hotel
Hospitality Revenue Management Professional 2011: Gary Mills, revenue manager, Mint Hotel group
Hospitality IT Professional 2011, sponsored by Fourteen IP: John Reid, IT department manager UK, QMH
Corporate Employer of the Year 2011: Starwood Hotels & Resorts
SME Employer of the Year 2011: Red Carnation Hotels

HOSPA Student Award Winners were also revealed at the event at London's Grosvenor House Hotel.