Elite Hotels has appointed Graham Copeman as its new managing director, with effect from January 2026.
Copeman will succeed Graeme Bateman, who has led the hotel group for the past 30 years and will move into the role of executive chairman of Elite Hotels and its charitable arm, The Rotherwick Foundation.
Copeman joins Elite Hotels from Exclusive Collection, where he served as general manager of Pennyhill Park for more than six years.
His previous senior roles include positions at The Zetter Group, St James’s Hotel and Club and The Goring in London.
As managing director, Copeman will have responsibility for Elite Hotels’ three properties: Tylney Hall Hotel in Hampshire, Ashdown Park Hotel and Country Club in East Sussex, and The Grand Hotel in Eastbourne.
Additionally, as part of the leadership changes, Bateman will take over as chairman of Elite Hotels and The Rotherwick Foundation from Andrew Dixon, who is retiring after ten years in the role. Dixon will continue to support the foundation as a trustee.
Bateman said he was grateful for Dixon’s contribution to the business and the foundation over the past decade.
Copeman said: “Elite Hotels has been shaped by Graeme Bateman’s leadership over the past 30 years, and I am enormously excited and incredibly proud to be joining the business at this point in its development.”
Bateman added: “We are delighted to welcome Graham Copeman to Elite Hotels and have every confidence that his wealth of experience will serve him well as he takes over responsibility for the day-to-day running of the company in 2026.”
