Stars: Awards
Winner:
The Dorchester
The first rooftop restaurant in the 90-year history of The Dorchester was created shortly after the announcement that the hospitality sector could reopen for outdoors only. The team’s reaction was fast, transforming one of the rooftop suites into an F&B destination within 43 days! They produced six culinary pop-ups, with talented chefs Tom Booton, Jean-Philippe Blondet and Mario Perera all creating concepts. This was an opportunity to think differently and provide something legendary for guests to cherish. The success of the alfresco restaurant was not just for the F&B team but for the entire hotel and is a continuing project – The Dorchester Rooftop is very much alive and introduced its Mediterranean concept for summer 2022.
“The success of the alfresco restaurant was not just for the F&B team but for the entire hotel.”
Left to right: Vincent McGrath, hotel manager; Vincenzo Forza, area director of finance; Luca Virgilio, general manager; Richard Newell, director of food and beverage; Christopher Cowdray, CEO; Russell Platt, director of rooms; Mirko Cattini, former hotel manager and now general manager of Hotel Eden; Emma Jayne, area director of people and culture
Highly commended:
Hotel Eden
& Hotel Principe di Savoia
At the start of 2021 Hotel Principe di Savoia and Hotel Eden undertook a ‘Leadership Journey’.
“The aim, after a difficult and challenging 2020, both from a personal and professional point of view, was to help our leaders face 2021 with a renewed energy and positive attitude which would spread among all departments,” says Ezio Indiani, Hotel Principe di Savoia general manager.
Left to right: Guido Balestra, food and beverage manager at Hotel Principe di Savoia; Andrea Greggio, creative director of operations at Hotel Principe di Savoia; Luca Virgilio, previously general manager at Hotel Eden, now general manger at The Dorchester; Pietro Zanzot, previously resident manger at Hotel Eden, now acting general manager at 45 Park Lane; Ezio Indiani, general manager at Hotel Principe di Savoia; Christopher Cowdray, CEO; Daniele Colombo, director of operations at Hotel Eden; Mirko Cattini, general manager at Hotel Eden; Paola Iemmallo, area director of people and culture; Emanuela Sulpizi, director of people and culture at Hotel Eden; Laure Fiore, director of sales and marketing at Hotel Eden; Sergio Tissino, director of finance; Andrea Peana, financial controller at Hotel Eden; Marco Conte, resident manager; Federica Jansen, director of food and beverage at Hotel Eden
“This ‘Journey’ has changed every one of us. We have become stronger, we have increased our awareness towards our employees and ourselves and we feel very honoured to win this award for creativity. We will bring this experience with us for all of next year and the years to come and, by increasing the engagement of our people, we will, of course, increase the engagement of our guests.”
In a joint statement, Paola Iemmallo, area director, people and culture, Hotel Principe di Savoia, Emanuela Sulpizi, director of people and culture, Hotel Eden, Samantha Sarracino, learning and development manager, Hotel Principe di Savoia, and Federica Ceresi, learning and development supervisor, Hotel Eden, said: “We’re thrilled by this accolade. Creativity has been essential for the success of our leadership project, especially in a challenging moment where the online method was our unique chance to stay connected. We adopted a new way of communication, involving our teams from both hotels, and allowing them to share their experiences, fears, doubts, points of strengths and points to improve, with the common objective to enrich ourselves first and then our way of working.
“For us, it was crucial to put the wellbeing and the mental health of our leaders at the centre of the journey, and for this reason we organised special sessions focused, for example, on the importance of sleeping well, the relationships in our life and managing anxiety. We recognised more than ever that this was a priority since it has a great impact on our everyday life and our leadership style.
“We are so grateful for the proactive participation and passion that both teams in Milan and in Rome showed during this learning journey and we are delighted that it allowed our leaders to develop both personally and professionally.”
“We are so grateful for the proactive participation and passion that both teams in Milan and in Rome showed against this learning journey and we are delighted that allowed our leaders to develop both personally and professionally.”
Leadership at Hotel Principe di Savoia and Hotel Eden