How long have you been at Dorchester Collection and what brought you to the hospitality industry?

I started my accounting career in the UK public sector. It’s an excellent and very disciplined environment, but I always had an entrepreneurial spirit within me. My parents worked in hospitality and, when I qualified as a public sector accountant in my mid-20s, I thought, “How can I combine this with hospitality?” And that’s when I hit on hotels. I shifted gears and became a financial controller with Hilton Hotels. Within 18 months I was managing the London region of eight hotels… and I’ve not looked back. I joined Dorchester Collection in September 2017, after 12 years overseas – it’s coming up to six years now since I came back to the UK.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to start a career in finance?

Aim to get the education and the qualifications. In the end, they support your brainpower and your understanding of accounting. However, experience also counts for a lot. If I’m interviewing someone who hasn’t got an ‘official’ qualification but has ten years’ experience in the accounts department, I’ll place a huge amount of value on that. In fact, I’ve employed people who have started life in operations and just had an aptitude for finance. They’ve come in and worked their way up to the top. I’ve reached an age now where I’ve done most things, so my legacy is to train and develop people, and to share my knowledge and experience.

How important is your team to you?

Hugely. I have an excellent number two, whom I couldn’t do without, Iben Botha. Out in the hotels, the finance directors are equally as important, and together with their teams we all contribute to the company’s success. We are very structured and have succession planning and development reviews in place; it’s all very organised. But, more importantly, the day job gets done and we’re in the best shape we've ever been as borne out by our excellent annual audit reviews. That, to me, is the litmus test.

What do you think makes a good leader?

Being visible, being approachable and always making the time to speak to people. And that’s at all levels. Whenever I go to our hotels, I do a back-of-house walk, and I am not just referring to engaging with the finance teams. It’s about the whole operation and recognising what our people are doing and giving them credit for doing a great job. Listening to what they have to say and any challenges they may have. How can you help or make decisions if you don’t know what’s going on?

How do you make a difference to colleagues’ working lives at Dorchester Collection?

Through in-person contact and support. My door is always open. And, at the 1 Knightsbridge office, I make the time to have lunch with different colleagues on a regular basis. Sharing best practices, my knowledge and experiences is key to helping my colleagues across the business.

At our regular town halls, as you’d expect, I’m involved in updating employees on how the business is doing. It gives everyone security and comfort to know that we continue to perform well. We’ve been through a rocky time with Covid and employees appreciate that, were we not a financially viable company, it could potentially impact them.

However, employees also want to see the bigger picture, because to succeed it’s about going beyond your own hotel and beyond your own responsibilities. I ask them to consider what is it that we’re trying to achieve, how do we want to grow and how are we going to develop our current portfolio of hotels? Ultimately, this is how I make a difference. I aim to encourage and empower employees by sharing knowledge through my openness and visibility.

What’s the best part of your job?

Being empowered to make decisions. We can make things happen quickly here. I don’t procrastinate or pass on problems or decisions to somebody else. The ownership understands that I’ve only got one agenda, and that is the best interests of Dorchester Collection. That trust and that knowledge empowers me and gives them huge confidence.

And what would you change if you could?

This sounds clichéd, but I would say nothing because if something needed to change, I’ve probably already done it. I don’t put up with anything that isn’t right, and that goes for life outside work as well.

And what has been your biggest challenge to date?

Covid was an incredibly difficult time. The goalposts were moving every day. The finance teams could not take their foot off the gas and at times we worked day and night to keep the business afloat. In every country that we operate in, different rules were in place at different times. At any moment we might, say, open in Italy, close in London, partially open in LA and close in France.

It was a time of wall-to-wall Teams meetings and financial planning on a daily basis. We were looking at bank balances, forecasts, revenue opportunities and how they could be used to bridge financial gaps across our territories. Communication to the hotels was key to understanding what was going on, on the ground, and what support they needed.

Working in regions subject to different rules was hugely challenging, but our structure and discipline ultimately enabled us to survive. Not a single employee was made redundant and everyone remained on a full salary. The finance teams were incredible.

How has technology changed the role of the finance department?

We’ve become far more efficient and have systems in place for most things. It goes beyond our finance systems. We have a three-year strategic plan with regards to enhancements we still want, but never in the history of this hotel company have we developed so much technology. It’s automated and becoming more seamless and we are the leaders in terms of guest service systems, digital marketing, a fabulous new website and as such are the envy of our hospitality competitors. Our strategy is to provide our guests with the best possible service and our technology has certainly assisted us to do this.

Do you have any advice for leaders in hospitality?

Don’t complicate things. Don’t justify your existence by talking in a language that people won’t understand. Keep it simple so that people at all levels understand what you’re talking about, and therefore know what is going on and what you need them to do. I honestly believe that has been the secret of my success, clear direct communication!

What would you like wider employees of Dorchester Collection to know about what you and your team do?

That the guest is front and centre of everything that we do. And that it doesn’t matter whether you’re front of house, back of house or in the corporate office – the guest is everything without whom we would not have a business! We have a strong discipline around policies, procedures and reporting which allows us to make decisions pro-actively for the good of the business at hotel level and corporate office.

Do you have a favourite Dorchester Collection memory?

The first visit to Hôtel PIaza Athénée after the pandemic. When Mr Cowdray, Helen, Genio and I arrived at the hotel for the first time in over 18 months, the employees all gathered at the entrance to welcome us back. It was moving and powerful after everything we’d all been through as a team, in the hotels and at the corporate office. I’ll never forget it.