DDA hires Keith Iddins to lead hotel relationships as Warburton heads for retirement

DDA has hired Keith Iddins as travel relationship director for its DDA Travel and Logistics (Live) arm, in a newly created post, according to Variety which published details on 1 October 2026. The title tells the job. He will look after the hotel side of a business that lives on relationships.

Iddins brings more than 30 years of experience in luxury hospitality and entertainment, Variety reported. He has worked with three noted hotel groups: Dorchester Collection, Maybourne and Oetker. That is a career spent at the top end of the market, where discretion, service and long relationships with regular guests count for everything. For a business that moves actors, directors, executives and press around the world, those contacts matter. It is quiet, detailed work. Get it right and nobody notices. Get it wrong and everyone does.

He will report to Daniel Starmer, vice president of Live at DDA, according to Variety. Starmer leads the Live operation, which covers travel and logistics. Iddins will take responsibility for hotel logistics from Caroline Warburton. In practice, that means negotiating room blocks, matching VIP needs to the right properties, and making sure large groups land in the right beds on busy nights.

Warburton was until recently chief executive of DDA Event Management, Variety reported. She was recruited by DDA founder Dennis Davidson in 1997 as a coordinator in the Market Services division. Almost three decades later, she plans to retire at the end of 2027. Starting as a coordinator and rising to chief executive marks a full career inside one company. The long notice sets up a gradual handover rather than a sudden exit.

The appointment follows DDA's recent acquisition of DDA Event Management, which has now been integrated into DDA's Live division, according to Variety. The wider company employs 175 staff across four cities: Los Angeles, New York, London and Dubai. Live sits alongside its publicity and communications work, handling the practical side of getting people where they need to be. It is a reminder of how global even a mid-sized agency has become.

What makes this stand out is the overlap. Iddins arrives well over a year before Warburton departs. That gives clients and hotel partners a familiar face for the transition, and gives Iddins time to learn a very personal business before he holds the book alone.