WE ❤️ HOSPITALITY - Ellie Nuttall

The last year has been terrible for the hospitality sector. Most businesses have seen extreme financial challenges and its reputation as an employer has been severely affected. We are now hearing from many, many of our clients about their fears for the future from staff shortages to skills gaps and top mid-senior talent moving to other sectors.

Krishnan Doyle is sharing his conversations with service industry leaders and operators on all that is good about hospitality & catering with the purpose to improve the sector's reputation as one of the largest employer worldwide but also as a great place to develop your career. 

How did you get into hotels & resorts? 

Through my love of cooking, thought I was going to be a Pastry Chef. This led me to City of Bristol College where I studied for my BTEC National Diploma in catering & hospitality. Soon I realised I wanted to be a wedding planner in hotels, like in the movies!

Do you think it is important to have studied a related topic to be a success in the sector? 

Yes and no, I do think it was very useful and gave me a good grounding, though is definitely not essential! 

You can learn on the job and there are many fantastic qualifications that Hospitality employers can support with to help you along your way. Using myself as an example, I have worked my way from reception through the various departments, waiting, housekeeping to large-scale conference & events sales. 

Having taken a leap of faith five years ago into a new stem of the industry, I now find myself as Group HR Manager for Bespoke Hotels and am really enjoying it.

Which leader / figure inspired you and why? 

This does sound really cliché but honestly, I was inspired by watching MasterChef! I became familiar with certain celebrity chefs and well-known hotels in the industry. Suddenly these hotels became an aspiration for me to join!

The most inspiring leaders I have come across so far in my career are the Co-founders of Bespoke Hotels - Haydn Fentum and Robin Sheppard; I feel very privileged to work with such great hoteliers and continue to work for them today.

What keeps you in the sector and why do you enjoy working in it? 

I really am passionate about watching people grow through their careers in hospitality, especially those individuals who start with little or no qualifications and achieve great things! 

What hospitality has really proven to me over the last 12 months is that we as a collective are such a resilient bunch, we’ve shown real strength and determination to get through these fluid times. There are so many kind and hospitable people in our industry that are passionate about providing good service, great teamwork and ultimately making others happy; that’s why we all do what we do!

Tell us about the development / training that you give to your teams and management

With Bespoke Hotels now having 82 hotels in our portfolio, the training is extensive. We introduced a calendar of virtual training sessions pre-opening aimed at senior management to team member levels, which was a great success. I believe we are likely to see much more blended learning in the future with a combination of virtual and on-site training. Times are constantly changing but luckily in our industry we are used to change so its ok, the future is bright (we hope).

What advice would you give to those starting out in the sector? 

You can achieve anything you want to with great care and passion.

If you could go back and tell yourself one piece of advice as you started your career, what would it be? 

Don’t worry about mistakes, you only learn from them and be confident in yourself!

If you would like to take part as a leader in this thriving sector, get in touch with Krishnan (krishnan@corecruitment.com)