WE ❤️ HOSPITALITY - Jon Dawson

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 hospitality? 

I fell into it by mistake as back in the day I was a decent footballer but just fell short of signing professional so I played semi professional for a few years and decided to take a course in leisure and tourism management. I then went on to study a Hospitality Management degree and ended up starting my hospitality career on a 18 month internship in the US before finishing university and joining Marriott on their graduate program, it was here where I then moved in to the wonderful world of People and HR. 

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

I think it certainly helps but the great thing about our industry is that you have so many options and career paths that even if you have not studied hospitality if you find the right employer they could potentially support and pay for your studies so you can always pick this up as you grow and develop your career if you wished to. 

Which leader / figure inspired you and why?

Ive been lucky enough to have worked with and been mentored by many great leaders along my career path. I love working with my current boss at Lore Group David Taylor whom ive worked with in the past when we were part of the team that launched the EDITION brand. David is a true gentleman, very inspirational and always seem to know what future hospitality trends look like before they happen as well as having a knack at creating high performing teams that really work well together in a fun and engaging environment.   

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

The constant variety and new opportunities that keep arising. What’s great about hospitality is that so many new hotels / restaurants / bars keep been developed which pushes standards and innovations to new heights. The industry is constantly evolving in some shape or form and along the way in your career you meet so many new people. Im lucky enough to have a large network of great people who Ive met in different roles, many who have now become great friends, that’s what I enjoy about the industry. 

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

As a small independent group one of the advantages that this brings is that it enables us to grow and develop people quickly and help them move around at our 6 hotels in 3 different countries. 3 recent examples in the last few months is where Dan Pimentel our EAM from our Sea Containers hotel moved into our new hotel opening Lyle in Washington DC as the hotel manager, replacing Dan is Floris Kouijzer who moved from our Pulitzer hotel in Amsterdam to London, meaning the Rooms Ops Manager Caroline Van Kessel was promoted to the hotel manager at Pulizer. All these people have been with the group a number of years and have gradually progress steadily to now having senior roles in our hotels. In addition to the above we are currently looking to launch a new graduate program later this year so watch this space as this will be something unique to the Lore Group and the hotels / locations we operate. 

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

The same advice that was given to me in my early days in my career. “You will only get out of your career what your willing to put in”. There are some great opportunities in the industry and if your willing to work hard enough for them the industry can take you anywhere you want to.

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

Keep listening and learning as every day is a school day as they say !

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