DTZ has poached three top members of Cushman & Wakefield’s hotel team to head a new hotel division for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA)

The team will be headed by Martin Armistead, previously managing director of Cushman & Wakefield Hotels (C&W Hotels). Joining him will be fellow director Richard Candey and associate director Sabine Balzer.

The departures come less than a year after Cushman & Wakefield teamed up with RH International to launch Cushman & Wakefield Hotels as a 50:50 joint venture.

The team will provide advisory, acquisition, disposal and asset management services on EMEA hotel assets to DTZ’s global clients.

The hotel division will co-ordinate with the DTZ hospitality services group, which is based in New York and led by managing director Jon Kurnit. It will also work with DTZ’s hotel team in Asia Pacific.

Armistead joined RH International in September 2002 before the company created the Cushman & Wakefield joint venture in January last year. He previously worked for Trust House Forte and as vice president EMEA for Regent International Hotels.

Candey was appointed by Healey & Baker’s hotel division in 2000. He sold the La Manga resort in Spain for €146m (£97.9m) in 2004 and let the five-star hotel at More London, SE1, to Hilton International, creating an investment of around £60m.

Andrew Williams, chairman of C&W Hotels and owner of RHI, will take over the day-to-day running of C&W Hotels until replacements for the team are found.

‘We are in the process of actively recruiting new staff in the UK and across Europe,’ said Williams.