Star General Manager Flies into Thistle London Heathrow

LONDON, April 12, 2011 - Thistle has announced the appointment of Paul Watson as general manager
of its Thistle London Heathrow hotel. Having worked for the company for
almost three years, Watson has proved to be a respected and highly capable
manager, and has ambitious plans for the Heathrow airport-based hotel.

After finishing university, Watson began his hotel career as Food &
Beverage manager at Stapleford Park and quickly developed a passion for the
hotel industry. Over the proceeding five years, he has worked his way up to
take on a number of senior roles, including operations manager and hotel
manager for Thistle, before taking on his current role as general manager.

In his new role, Watson will oversee the day-to-day management of the
hotel and its staff, along with the overall direction of the hotel in
Heathrow (
www.thistle.com/en/hotels/united_kingdom/london/thistle_london_heathro
w/index.html). Located next door to Heathrow Airport, an immediate focus for
him will be to build on the hotel's unrivalled location and help drive
occupancy rates amongst the leisure and business markets - as well as
enhancing the meeting and events offering within the hotel's Conference
Centre (www.thistle.com/en/group/meetings_and_events/index.html).

Paul Watson commented: "It's incredibly exciting to be given the
opportunity to oversee Thistle London Heathrow and really make my mark on the
hotel. Customer service and great hospitality is at the heart of our business
and my immediate focus will be to ensure all our guests experience seamless
levels of customer care throughout every department of our hotel."

Simon Farr, operations director, Thistle Hotels, commented: "Our London
Heathrow hotel benefits from a high volume of business and leisure travellers
coming into and out of the airport. With Paul's proven track record and
dedication, we're extremely confident that with him on board, both the
profile, and the overall guest satisfaction of Thistle London Heathrow will
continue to rise."

Watson graduated from Sheffield Hallam University with a degree in Hotel
& Catering Management.

- Ends -

About Thistle

Thistle Hotels (www.thistle.com/en/index.html) is part of Guoman
Hotel Management (UK) Limited which operates hotels (
www.thistle.com/en/group/find_a_hotel_map.html) throughout the UK.
Thistle has 33 hotels across the country, many in city centre locations,
including eleven in central London. With a selection of restaurants and a
choice of health and leisure facilities, Thistle has something to offer
everyone.

Thistle Hotels is the first hotel group to achieve Hospitality Assured
accreditation, across its entire UK portfolio. Created by the Institute of
Hospitality, the Hospitality Assured standard measures the quality within
customer facing businesses across the hospitality, tourism and leisure
industry.

    For further press information please contact:
    Kymberley Hill
    Thistle press office
    Red Consultancy
    41-44 Great Windmill Street
    London
    W1D 7NF
    +44(0)20-7025-6664

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