This week we move back to hotels in big brand, big hotels and a big role. We got some time with Daniel Pedreschi, Regional Vice President Operations UK for PPHE Hotel Group (www.pphe.com).

As always, we get through a lot including early career job titles, big bundles of keys, career catch 22’s, pigeons, refurbs, C&B, choosing your boss, events, awards, busy years, Master Inn Holders, snakes & of course Daniel's excellent career journey so far.

Daniel talks us through his story with such energy and passion, it's clear he's doing what he was born to do. and there's also some cracking anecdotes involving pigeons and snakes.

Apologies for the sound dropping in the odd place.

Enjoy!

Show Transcription

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

hotel, running, banqueting, opportunity, grosvenor house, manager, general manager, years, people, holders, working, property, key, fantastic, gm

SPEAKERS

Daniel Pedreschi, Phil Street

Phil Street 00:01

Welcome to hospitality meets with me Phil street where we take a light hearted look into the stories and individuals that make up the wonderful world of hospitality. Today's guest is Daniel Pedreschi, Regional Vice President of Operations for the UK at PPHE group. Coming up on today's show... Daniel maps out the two key rules for becoming a successful hotel GM...

Daniel Pedreschi 00:23

Number one, don't burn the hotel down. And number two, don't pee in the flowerpots.

Phil Street 00:29

Phil may have missed something in the news... but there's nothing going on in the world And Daniel highlights that even after 25 years in the business, you've never quite seen it all...

Daniel Pedreschi 00:38

The security guard got a little bit cautious when the guy picked up a snake.

Phil Street 00:42

All that and so much more as Daniel talks us through his story and journey to date with real energy. This was recorded remotely and some occasional sound loss was experienced. So apologies for that. Don't forget to give us a like and a share. Enjoy. Hello and welcome to the next edition of hospitality meets with me Phil Street. Today we go big brand, big hotels, and a big role as we welcome to the show the Regional Vice President of Operations for the UK at PPHE Group. Daniel Pedreschi

Daniel Pedreschi 01:12

Morning, Phil,

Phil Street 01:13

How are you doing?

Daniel Pedreschi 01:14

Yeah, very good. Thank you Now all things considered.

Phil Street 01:17

Yeah. But there's nothing going on in the world is there?

Daniel Pedreschi 01:21

Depends which radio station you listen to

Phil Street 01:24

Its true, actually very true. Yeah. Where in the world are you at the moment?

Daniel Pedreschi 01:29

I'm in sitting this morning in our Park Plaza Victoria. So we've returned to our head office, which is located in the original County Hall buildings just behind the London Eye. And I try and start each morning by just popping into at least one of the properties before I get into the office of bogged down with all the day to day

Phil Street 01:52

Very good, Yeah, well, the sun is out today. It's like we're definitely getting an Indian summer at the moment.

Daniel Pedreschi 01:59

Yeah, most definitely. Thankfully, not as as hot or humid as it had been in August. But it's given us a nice little reminder.

Phil Street 02:08

Yeah, absolutely. Before we head into darkness anyway. Great. Well, as I mentioned in the little preamble, at the beginning, you've you've got certainly on the face of it something of a big role. But I'm guessing you didn't just arrive there must be a bit of a journey and a story to have gotten you there. So perhaps you could take us all the way back to the beginning. And just give us a walkthrough of your, your life so far, you don't have to start at birth, I should say that.

Daniel Pedreschi 02:39

Listen, I think it's been one of the great things about the whole of the lockdown, his people have become very, very creative in terms of their writing, they're reaching out and linking in and one of the things I've seen and all these great LinkedIn, you know, posts that people have put, and of course, other services are available. You know, people saying, you know, I've never been in the industry, 20 years, I've been at 25 years, they talk about how they started in their small local hotel, and local pub up washing all of that without any real desire to make catering or hotel keeping their profession and then become infected. And I'm guilty of all of the above.

Phil Street 03:20

Right?

Daniel Pedreschi 03:21

I started at the age of 15, basically, because I wanted to go on a holiday. And my mom said, Okay, if you want to go on the holiday go out and earn the money for it. So I knocked on the door of my local hotel, which is marine Hotel in Sutton and Dublin. And I started off with the glorious titled and what was called a lounge boy,

Phil Street 03:45

That conjures up some images...

Daniel Pedreschi 03:47

You're involved in table service, serving that. And then if you're on the early shift, it would involve stopping the bar cleaning the fires, resetting the farmer. And at one stage, the GM and the exec chefs, we said you seem to enjoy this. And would you ever consider doing it for a career? And at that stage, to be perfectly honest, I'd never thought about hotel keeping as a career, I had to look into it. And I thought Actually, you know what, I think this is right. So I went into the Dublin college a catering as it was then. And I did business studies and Hotel Management. And that really kind of set me on the on the route and fully embedded me, you know, into the industry. So at that stage, then I had to great, do great placements. My first placement I went to America, and I worked in food service there. I got my first exposure. So I work in the laundry department there as well during the summer, came back did my second year. And then I was recruited in Dublin for what was then the London Tara, which was owned by Aer Lingus. So that was in 1987. And that really was the foundation placement for me. So I'd worked in a 30 bed and then suddenly arrive in this 850 bedroom, hotel occupancy, mid 90s amazing leadership of Owen Dillon. That was the year he won, or during my placement period, he won hotelier of the year, we had, I think, two acorn winners, we have the executive housekeeper the Year award. So really, really dynamic property. Love that so much. I asked if I could come back on a management placement scheme. And they said, they didn't have one, they only had schemes for one year, you know, released from college to come back, I went up, I wrote out my own one year training plan. So before I left, I went to HR and knocked on the door and just said, oh, by the way, I said, I'm thinking I'm coming back next June. And I think this is the training programme I'm going to do. But I don't know whether it was a combination of luck, or blind ignorance on my part, but they take me back. After I left and graduated from Cobra Street, I came back and did a fantastic one year training in all around the hotel, every department that you can think of, and at the end of that, then I joined the duty management team. So it's, and it's something I still joke about with some of my colleagues, you know, from those days, because at 22 years of age, you were handed the biggest bunch of keys, or jangly or pre electronic locks. And you were given at least one pager sometimes to if somebody needed not stops for an hour or so. And then you became the duty manager of that hotel. And again, I think I think it was that whole seeing the opportunity rather than the pitfalls. And I had an amazing 18 months or so there working as a manager, include night management shifts, with a great, great team, you know, fantastic structure.

Phil Street 07:02

I think that's a key point on attitude. You know, that's, it's a hell of a lot of responsibility for a young person in inverted commas to take on. But you know, you I suppose you do look at these things in in one of two ways you either look at and go, Oh, my God, that's beyond me. Or you look at it and go, Wow, look at the opportunity I've been given. And it seems that you've, you took the latter approach.

Daniel Pedreschi 07:29

This is all of the duty managers in there. And they were generally six of us working at the time. It was we were all the same. We'd all graduated, we were all the same age, but I suppose that also reflect on the faith that the company had a particularly own Dillon in growing and developing all of us as young managers.

Phil Street 07:50

Yeah.

Daniel Pedreschi 07:51

So yeah, I agree, I think but it was, I was able to avail of a fantastic opportunity, a fantastic setup, Fantastic ethos that was there. So you know, no, I battled against the odds. And everything was against me. It wasn't it was it was a very, it was a very smooth road to come down.

Phil Street 08:12

Yeah. And I guess, equally as important as having a leadership team who are happy to impart responsibility on those who don't necessarily have the experience. because how else did you get the experience? right?

Daniel Pedreschi 08:26

Correct. And you've nailed it in one Phil That, to me was the real opportunity. And I suppose the next thing then it's actually quite relevant to the situation we find ourselves in now because the company in the interim had been bought out by Copthorne. And they just opened the Copthorne Hotel in Slough. And that had opened and forgive me on the timing, but almost immediately after the opening of the hotel, there was the advent of the first Gulf War. Well, I when I when I talk about the first Gulf War, particularly with you know, my mouse 9192 they kind of got what a has ever been go for. And then was there more than one, which, which puts everything into relevance. And what happened then was the hotel was restructured in terms of the leadership team, because it couldn't sustain the opening team. And five of us were moved out from the what was then the Copthorne, Tara, and we were given ptld positions running the hotel, right. And that continued for three years. So we that was my first position then as a reception manager. So I run reception for a year, massive shock in whereas previously, as a duty manager when you finish your shift, as long as your log is written up, you've everything left you hand over your keys and your pager and you go off on your merry way. And that was the first real shock insofar as well. I had responsibility and you know, it didn't And like nobody to hand it over to. Yeah. So the three fantastic use there. So I spent my first year as manager, second year as front office manager. So I got night and the night auditor. And then the next year then I was made front of house manager. So yeah, again, fantastic opportunity, the times that we're in it, we all had to multi skill. So we would, depending on the day of the week and the pattern of arrival, I could quite as equally be the breakfast host welcoming everybody in until breakfast finished. And then Ben jump on the desk. Or if we had something in the evening, you do the bar, you know, the pre the pre dinner bar and conferencing, and then move over. So yeah, great, great time really, really enjoyed us. And then I started I made a change. And I moved over to the running meet Hotel in sorry, yeah. And I work there because my career to that stage I spent more or less five years in front. So I wanted to get back into food and beverage again, at a more senior level than I'd been when I was working through college. So I did just under a year in the running beaten sorry, as a bar and lounge manager, which was a fantastic experience. And if nothing else, you convinced me that it's different courses for different horses. And the challenge of running a an operation on the banks of the Thames that was absolutely entirely weather dependent. So if the sun wasn't shining, you were really busy. And on a on a Sunday or a Saturday, if the sun Sean and everybody decided to run the grand dad for a drive around the Riverton old Park, and come to us for afternoon tea or an early dinner, then you were beyond?

Phil Street 12:00

Yeah, I can imagine. I've actually seen that that hotel from the water have gone past it in a narrow boat. Yeah, it's just what an aspect it has.

Daniel Pedreschi 12:12

Listen, it was it was absolutely fantastic. And I think you know, in terms of the levy brothers, when they took it and how they developed it, you can see then how they took that footprint and used it for how they develop the growth. So you know, when I see the growth and the success of that and and the service offering, you can trace its DNA back to the running meat. Right. So that was there. Then I moved over for the first of my two stints in Grosvenor house. So I was fortunate I got the opportunity to go in as banqueting manager number six, right. So

Phil Street 12:48

That sounds like when people are handing out parts in theatre, the you know, your your banqueting manager number six, which means that there were many more people in front of you

Daniel Pedreschi 13:00

No, most definitely and, you know, I, I think if you think about the early 90s, in terms of the formality, the structure, Tails until six engine at six o'clock, into only with your rose, whether you were on the floor or just sitting in the office, doing admin, but it was a remarkable opportunity. You were given each anchoring role had specific responsibilities. So I was responsible for all of the private receptions that would happen before an event in the in the great room. There were up to 36 small suites, you may have to have private receptions in all of those.

Phil Street 13:46

I was gonna say, the facilities there are extensive

Daniel Pedreschi 13:50

Yeah

Phil Street 13:51

In that department aren't they

Daniel Pedreschi 13:52

Yeah. So you know, it was it was a massive, massive eye opener for me, you know, thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed that. In the last four months. There was a vacancy in the liquid department. So I ran the liquid to prop banqueting liquid department for profit, I think was about four months until the new incumbent came through. And I think and again, the numbers may have made me I think, at that stage, it was somewhere between an eight and 10 million pound liquor business was in there

Phil Street 14:19

Right

Daniel Pedreschi 14:20

Something like that

Phil Street 14:21

All of this is, you probably maybe didn't realise that at the time. Or maybe you did, I don't know. But you're, you're just kind of chipping away at little extra bits of experience that I'm guessing you'll ultimately make a big difference in to your knowledge of the business and how you can lead etc, etc. But did you know it at the time, were you conscious of making these decisions, or did they just kind of happen to you?

Daniel Pedreschi 14:45

I think because I always viewed myself as an operator. I always I was always of the opinion that you couldn't lead unless you could operate. Yeah. And and that that was something that probably it came from came from my father You know, just listen listening to him his work environment and what he was doing in terms of those who could who knew what they were talking about. And those who those who didn't. So I think for me, that was the important thing that I needed to know how to do it properly. It was they were relatively easy, easy decisions to make. So because of a great organisations, they were working with great people. And I suppose one thing I would say to people, you know, go, who's your boss, who you're going to work for? So who is it who's going to be able to offer you opportunities, see what potential you have and fly top cover for you as and when it's required? You know, I think one of the challenges occasionally is that people are put in the position where they make a mistake. You know, if I'm firmly of the opinion of somebody who works for me and make some mistake, what's my responsibility in them making the mistake? Yeah. And you know, one of one of the principles we've got is, you know, it wasn't a man, it wasn't a management decision. Yeah, Yes, it was. So did you answer the stakeholders? Did you have a look at it, you assess the opportunities, everything else? Okay, go wrong. Okay, fine. Did you learn Yeah, slash return, move on. And I suppose, you know, that was the thing for me. I was really able to learn so that period in Grosvenor house, I was working under Andrew coy. You know, for anybody in the banqueting worlds, and I will talk to the younger banqueting members that we have now, when they talk about innovation and what they've learned. You can almost draw a spider's web. And most of the key banqueting managers in London at some stage have all worked under Andrew Coyne. Right. So you know, I learned a lot my trade desperately under him. He moved then to one Whitehall place was in the national liberal club in Whitehall, adjacent and connected to the Royal Horseguards Hotel. And it had been the floors have been abandoned for a number of years. So when I went into the show round, there, were actually pigeons flying in the banqueting rooms. So I signed up with him on a one year contract as the pre opening operations manager. So so the whole way through construction, working all of that, so designing the spec, what did we want it to be? Again, Mr. Peel, from Thistle gave us a great opportunity to say okay, we don't have anything five star in the portfolio, you guys are going to come in. So there was five of us left Grosvenor house and went in at that stage to run it. Wow. a hell of a leap of faith, again, but made very, very simple in terms of the faith of Mr. Peel in terms of fissile and his vision as to what he wanted to be. And then the the move with Andrew coy And Mark Gannon, who was his number two there, and my immediate boss, in terms of how we were going to do it. Yeah, great, great opportunity. We saw it the whole way through right from construction. The I actually spent my gardening leave from Grosvenor house with the building firm, because they weren't able to take me on in my role as ops manager. And I just said, Well, listen, I'm free for a month if you're stuck for anything, and I got a call the next day. So I went and worked for the for the builders as a labour. So we got it up. We got it set and running. And that was absolutely fantastic, did it and then towards the end of my year, I got a call from Benny and say, dude, I want to go back to the...

Welcome to hospitality meets with me Phil

street where we take a light hearted look into the stories

and individuals that make up the wonderful world of hospitality.

Today's guest is Daniel Pedreschi, Regional Vice

President of Operations for the UK at PPHE group. Coming up on

today's show...

Daniel maps out the two key rules for becoming a successful

hotel GM...

Number one, don't burn the hotel down. And number

two, don't pee in the flowerpots.

Phil may have missed something in the news...

but there's nothing going on in the world

And Daniel highlights that even after 25 years in the business,

you've never quite seen it all...

The security guard got a little bit cautious when

the guy picked up a snake.

All that and so much more as Daniel talks us

through his story and journey to date with real energy. This was

recorded remotely and some occasional sound loss was

experienced. So apologies for that. Don't forget to give us a

like and a share. Enjoy.

Hello and welcome to the next edition of hospitality meets

with me Phil Street. Today we go big brand, big hotels, and a big

role as we welcome to the show the Regional Vice President of

Operations for the UK at PPHE Group. Daniel Pedreschi

Morning, Phil,

how you doing?

Yeah, very good. Thank you Now all things

considered.

Yeah. But there's nothing going on in the world is

there?

Depends which radio station you listen to

Its true, actually very true. Yeah. Where in the

world are you at the moment?

I'm in sitting this morning in our Park Plaza

Victoria. So we've returned to our head office, which is

located in the original County Hall buildings just behind the

London Eye. And I try and start each morning by just popping

into at least one of the properties before I get into the

office of bogged down with all the day to day

Very good, Yeah, well, the sun is out today. It's

like we're definitely getting an Indian summer at the moment.

Yeah, most definitely. Thankfully, not as

as hot or humid as it had been in August. But it's given us a

nice little reminder.

Yeah, absolutely. Before we head into darkness

anyway. Great. Well, as I mentioned in the little

preamble, at the beginning, you've you've got certainly on

the face of it something of a big role. But I'm guessing you

didn't just arrive there must be a bit of a journey and a story

to have gotten you there. So perhaps you could take us all

the way back to the beginning. And just give us a walkthrough

of your, your life so far, you don't have to start at birth, I

should say that.

Listen, I think it's been one of the great

things about the whole of the lockdown, his people have become

very, very creative in terms of their writing, they're reaching

out and linking in and one of the things I've seen and all

these great LinkedIn, you know, posts that people have put, and

of course, other services are available. You know, people

saying, you know, I've never been in the industry, 20 years,

I've been at 25 years, they talk about how they started in their

small local hotel, and local pub up washing all of that without

any real desire to make catering or hotel keeping their

profession and then become infected. And I'm guilty of all

of the above.

Right?

I started at the age of 15, basically, because I

wanted to go on a holiday. And my mom said, Okay, if you want

to go on the holiday go out and earn the money for it. So I

knocked on the door of my local hotel, which is marine Hotel in

Sutton and Dublin. And I started off with the glorious titled and

what was called a lounge boy,

That conjures up some images...

You're involved in table service, serving that. And

then if you're on the early shift, it would involve stopping

the bar cleaning the fires, resetting the farmer. And at one

stage, the GM and the exec chefs, we said you seem to enjoy

this. And would you ever consider doing it for a career?

And at that stage, to be perfectly honest, I'd never

thought about hotel keeping as a career, I had to look into it.

And I thought Actually, you know what, I think this is right. So

I went into the Dublin college a catering as it was then. And I

did business studies and Hotel Management. And that really kind

of set me on the on the route and fully embedded me, you know,

into the industry. So at that stage, then I had to great, do

great placements. My first placement I went to America, and

I worked in food service there. I got my first exposure. So I

work in the laundry department there as well during the summer,

came back did my second year. And then I was recruited in

Dublin for what was then the London Tara, which was owned by

Aer Lingus. So that was in 1987. And that really was the

foundation placement for me. So I'd worked in a 30 bed and then

suddenly arrive in this 850 bedroom, hotel occupancy, mid

90s amazing leadership of Owen Dillon. That was the year he

won, or during my placement period, he won hotelier of the

year, we had, I think, two acorn winners, we have the executive

housekeeper the Year award. So really, really dynamic property.

Love that so much. I asked if I could come back on a management

placement scheme. And they said, they didn't have one, they only

had schemes for one year, you know, released from college to

come back, I went up, I wrote out my own one year training

plan. So before I left, I went to HR and knocked on the door

and just said, oh, by the way, I said, I'm thinking I'm coming

back next June. And I think this is the training programme I'm

going to do. But I don't know whether it was a combination of

luck, or blind ignorance on my part, but they take me back.

After I left and graduated from Cobra Street, I came back and

did a fantastic one year training in all around the

hotel, every department that you can think of, and at the end of

that, then I joined the duty management team. So it's, and

it's something I still joke about with some of my

colleagues, you know, from those days, because at 22 years of

age, you were handed the biggest bunch of keys, or jangly or pre

electronic locks. And you were given at least one pager

sometimes to if somebody needed not stops for an hour or so. And

then you became the duty manager of that hotel. And again, I

think I think it was that whole seeing the opportunity rather

than the pitfalls. And I had an amazing 18 months or so there

working as a manager, include night management shifts, with a

great, great team, you know, fantastic structure.

I think that's a key point on attitude. You know,

that's, it's a hell of a lot of responsibility for a young

person in inverted commas to take on. But you know, you I

suppose you do look at these things in in one of two ways you

either look at and go, Oh, my God, that's beyond me. Or you

look at it and go, Wow, look at the opportunity I've been given.

And it seems that you've, you took the latter approach.

This is all of the duty managers in there. And they

were generally six of us working at the time. It was we were all

the same. We'd all graduated, we were all the same age, but I

suppose that also reflect on the faith that the company had a

particularly own Dillon in growing and developing all of us

as young managers.

Yeah.

So yeah, I agree, I think but it was, I was able to

avail of a fantastic opportunity, a fantastic setup,

Fantastic ethos that was there. So you know, no, I battled

against the odds. And everything was against me. It wasn't it was

it was a very, it was a very smooth road to come down.

Yeah. And I guess, equally as important as having a

leadership team who are happy to impart responsibility on those

who don't necessarily have the experience. because how else did

you get the experience? right?

Correct. And you've nailed it in one Phil That, to

me was the real opportunity. And I suppose the next thing then

it's actually quite relevant to the situation we find ourselves

in now because the company in the interim had been bought out

by optim. And they just opened the Copthorne Hotel in Sao. And

that had opened and forgive me on the timing, but almost

immediately after the opening of the hotel, there was the advent

of the first Gulf War. Well, I when I when I talk about the

first Gulf War, particularly with you know, my mouse 9192

they kind of got what a has ever been go for. And then was there

more than one, which, which puts everything into relevance. And

what happened then was the hotel was restructured in terms of the

leadership team, because it couldn't sustain the opening

team. And five of us were moved out from the what was then the

Copthorne, Tara, and we were given ptld positions running the

hotel, right. And that continued for three years. So we that was

my first position then as a reception manager. So I run

reception for a year, massive shock in whereas previously, as

a duty manager when you finish your shift, as long as your log

is written up, you've everything left you hand over your keys and

your pager and you go off on your merry way. And that was the

first real shock insofar as well. I had responsibility and

you know, it didn't And like nobody to hand it over to. Yeah.

So the three fantastic use there. So I spent my first year

as manager, second year as front office manager. So I got night

and the night auditor. And then the next year then I was made

front of house manager. So yeah, again, fantastic opportunity,

the times that we're in it, we all had to multi skill. So we

would, depending on the day of the week and the pattern of

arrival, I could quite as equally be the breakfast host

welcoming everybody in until breakfast finished. And then Ben

jump on the desk. Or if we had something in the evening, you do

the bar, you know, the pre the pre dinner bar and conferencing,

and then move over. So yeah, great, great time really, really

enjoyed us. And then I started I made a change. And I moved over

to the running meet Hotel in sorry, yeah. And I work there

because my career to that stage I spent more or less five years

in front. So I wanted to get back into food and beverage

again, at a more senior level than I'd been when I was working

through college. So I did just under a year in the running

beaten sorry, as a bar and lounge manager, which was a

fantastic experience. And if nothing else, you convinced me

that it's different courses for different horses. And the

challenge of running a an operation on the banks of the

Thames that was absolutely entirely weather dependent. So

if the sun wasn't shining, you were really busy. And on a on a

Sunday or a Saturday, if the sun Sean and everybody decided to

run the granddad for a drive around the riverton old Park,

and come to us for afternoon tea or an early dinner, then you

were beyond?

Yeah, I can imagine. I've actually seen that

that hotel from the water have gone past it in a narrow boat.

Yeah, it's just what an aspect it has.

Listen, it was it was absolutely fantastic. And I

think you know, in terms of the levy brothers, when they took it

and how they developed it, you can see then how they took that

footprint and used it for how they develop the growth. So you

know, when I see the growth and the success of that and and the

service offering, you can trace its DNA back to the running

meat. Right. So that was there. Then I moved over for the first

of my two stints in Grosvenor house. So I was fortunate I got

the opportunity to go in as banqueting manager number six,

right. So

That sounds like when people are handing out

parts in theatre, the you know, your your banqueting manager

number six, which means that there were many more people in

front of you

No, most definitely and, you know, I, I think if you

think about the early 90s, in terms of the formality, the

structure, Tails until six engine at six o'clock, into only

with your rose, whether you were on the floor or just sitting in

the office, doing admin, but it was a remarkable opportunity.

You were given each anchoring role had specific

responsibilities. So I was responsible for all of the

private receptions that would happen before an event in the in

the great room. There were up to 36 small suites, you may have to

have private receptions in all of those.

I was gonna say, the facilities there are

extensive

Yeah

In that department aren't they

Yeah. So you know, it was it was a massive, massive

eye opener for me, you know, thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed

that. In the last four months. There was a vacancy in the

liquid department. So I ran the liquid to prop banqueting liquid

department for profit, I think was about four months until the

new incumbent came through. And I think and again, the numbers

may have made me I think, at that stage, it was somewhere

between an eight and 10 million pound liquor business was in

there

Right

Something like that

All of this is, you probably maybe didn't realise

that at the time. Or maybe you did, I don't know. But you're,

you're just kind of chipping away at little extra bits of

experience that I'm guessing you'll ultimately make a big

difference in to your knowledge of the business and how you can

lead etc, etc. But did you know it at the time, were you

conscious of making these decisions, or did they just kind

I think because I always viewed myself as an

of happen to you?

operator. I always I was always of the opinion that you couldn't

lead unless you could operate. Yeah. And and that that was

something that probably it came from came from my father You

know, just listen listening to him his work environment and

what he was doing in terms of those who could who knew what

they were talking about. And those who those who didn't. So I

think for me, that was the important thing that I needed to

know how to do it properly. It was they were relatively easy,

easy decisions to make. So because of a great

organisations, they were working with great people. And I suppose

one thing I would say to people, you know, go, who's your boss,

who you're going to work for? So who is it who's going to be able

to offer you opportunities, see what potential you have and fly

top cover for you as and when it's required? You know, I think

one of the challenges occasionally is that people are

put in the position where they make a mistake. You know, if I'm

firmly of the opinion of somebody who works for me and

make some mistake, what's my responsibility in them making

the mistake? Yeah. And you know, one of one of the principles

we've got is, you know, it wasn't a man, it wasn't a

management decision. Yeah, Yes, it was. So did you answer the

stakeholders? Did you have a look at it, you assess the

opportunities, everything else? Okay, go wrong. Okay, fine. Did

you learn Yeah, slash return, move on. And I suppose, you

know, that was the thing for me. I was really able to learn so

that period in Grosvenor house, I was working under Andrew coy.

You know, for anybody in the banqueting worlds, and I will

talk to the younger banqueting members that we have now, when

they talk about innovation and what they've learned. You can

almost draw a spider's web. And most of the key banqueting

managers in London at some stage have all worked under Andrew

Coyne. Right. So you know, I learned a lot my trade

desperately under him. He moved then to one Whitehall place was

in the national liberal club in Whitehall, adjacent and

connected to the Royal horseguards Hotel. And it had

been the floors have been abandoned for a number of years.

So when I went into the show round, there, were actually

pigeons flying in the banqueting rooms. So I signed up with him

on a one year contract as the pre opening operations manager.

So so the whole way through construction, working all of

that, so designing the spec, what did we want it to be?

Again, Mr. Peel, from Thistle gave us a great opportunity to

say okay, we don't have anything five star in the portfolio, you

guys are going to come in. So there was five of us left

Grosvenor house and went in at that stage to run it. Wow. a

hell of a leap of faith, again, but made very, very simple in

terms of the faith of Mr. Peel in terms of fissile and his

vision as to what he wanted to be. And then the the move with

Andrew coy And Mark Gannon, who was his number two there, and my

immediate boss, in terms of how we were going to do it. Yeah,

great, great opportunity. We saw it the whole way through right

from construction. The I actually spent my gardening

leave from Grosvenor house with the building firm, because they

weren't able to take me on in my role as ops manager. And I just

said, Well, listen, I'm free for a month if you're stuck for

anything, and I got a call the next day. So I went and worked

for the for the builders as a labour. So we got it up. We got

it set and running. And that was absolutely fantastic, did it and

then towards the end of my year, I got a call from Benny and say,

dude, I want to go back to the company. And at that stage, the

Millennium Bally's hotel was at its first refurb and was

converted into a boutique hotel. So was really one of the new

boutique hotels at the time

Yeah

So I had the opportunity to go there, the

Millennium Gloucester next door along with the Millenium

conference centre. So I was hired and I went back as the

front of house manager for the complex. So I ran the two

reception teams, portraits, concierge, everything, both

properties. So again, combined, just under just over 800

bedrooms. I did that for I think about 15 months and then I was

asked if I wanted to become the Operations Manager just for

Bailey's itself. And so I took over as Operations Manager for

Bailey's. So I was responsible for all of the food and beverage

and the front office. And I think after about a year I was

asked then if I would be the food and beverage director for

complex working alongside Chris Thompson, who's now at the

Mandarin Oriental. And so he was heading up the Millennium

Conference Centre. And if I'd worked alongside him as the

director of food and beverage for the complex, so did that for

again approximately a year. So I spent just four years on complex

there and then I got the call to ask If I wanted to go back to

Grosvenor house, I was the director of food and beverage

operations, right. So for just over five years after I'd left

Grosvenor house, I returned then, and that was where there

was a significant structural change. Previously, you had

three very distinct businesses that operated in Grosvenor

house, you had conference and banqueting. You had 86 Park

Lane, the 22, beautifully appointed small meeting rooms on

the first floor, and then you had the food and beverage offer.

And they all had their separate structures, separate directors

and operated under the very dynamic Paolo be shown he, he

wanted to unite the three of them. So I came as the director

of food and beverage operations, working under poor bidgood, who

had just a bad stage done the reorganisation of cafe royal. I

stayed at Grosvenor house, then for three years and eventually

went when Paul moved and relocated to Australia, I became

the director of food and beverage there. So fantastic

time, lots of change. And And again, it's another period of

what happens when there's massive uncertainty in the

marketplace. And what happened then Phil was, that was during

the period of 911.

Right, okay

And that was momentous on different

occasions, because it was also the date of the birth of my

firstborn.

Oh, wow.

She was actually born on the morning.

So you remember it for two reasons.

Most definitely do. And what happened, then,

obviously, the financial shock that came with the back of that.

And you may remember that was at the period with the Royal Bank

of Scotland

Yeah

Where they had compiled this massive portfolio

with Le Meridian. The Grosvenor house was rebranded the

Meridian, a whole host of hotels were included in that deal, the

walled off was there at the Cumberland was involved.

I'd actually forgotten about that.

Yeah. And working, then in parallel with Keith and

Chris Cooper at restaurant associates, the buzzword of the

period then was about sticking to core activity. So the

principle was that the food and beverage would go to a

specialist and restaurants associate, we're going to take

over from memory, I think there were 18 hotels in the London

portfolio, they were going to run all the food and beverage in

that, which meant then that the hotel operators and the general

managers would just concentrate on their key function, which was

a combination

Right

So the first hotel that came over was the Waldorf

Hotel. So the reorganisation of that the new food and beverage

concepts of restaurants associated all of that. And then

one of the next ones to go was to be the Cumberland and closely

followed by Grosvenor house. So I was very fortunate, I got a

tap on the shoulder from restaurants associates, and they

said to me, Well, listen, you know, we're going to be taking

over all of the food and beverage anyway. So your

position won't exist in Grosvenor house, would you like

to come across and help us in restaurants associated become an

operation

Right

With the world wild as we take everything over? So I

said, Yeah,

Very interesting project, I guess.

Yeah, it was because that was the direction

of travel at that time, you know, all of the buzz words, all

of the consultants, that was the future of the industry, right.

And you know, it again, I suppose you you come to another

juncture in the road where you know, you're at a crossroads or

that you're at a why, okay, I can stay and become the

traditional, or it's very clearly this is how the

direction and how things are going. And I have an opportunity

to get in there right at the very, very beginning and get on

board on that. And, you know, the whole team at restaurant

associates are pulled together again, goes back to the

leadership piece. You know, I knew Chris at Grosvenor house,

because the reason I became banqueting number of managers

think he was banqueting manager number three, and he moved on.

So we're looking for a slot. I worked with Chris during his

notice period, and you know, this really impressed with him.

So for me, it was very simple. And it goes back to the whole

thing about choosing your boss. Yeah. So what they said then was

okay, well, first and foremost, you have to be a unit manager

and moving over into, you know, in essence, a contract catering

company, brand new for me, I hadn't done it previously. So he

said, Well, we only have one five star venue that's currently

in our portfolio. And that was Somerset House. Right. So I

moved over then as General Manager catering for Somerset

House, which again, in point to think of the time 2000 And

three, the public courtyard with the fountains. And that was a

millennium project. Number one, remember that period when all

that money was splashed, and all of the big projects that was one

of those, so it was still very, very new. Sinead melotti

sketched a solution, great heights. She was the first

general manager in there and really put on what it was superb

events, superb qualities. So it was very easy for me to slip in,

and just try and try and maintain the fantastic work that

they're so I was at Somerset House for three years. And of

course, that was during the period lots and lots of pop ups.

So again, that's something else. That's a very common vernacular.

But at the period when I went there, our pups weren't. So we

would have the pop up summer terrorists, which would be

introduced in and around Easter to anyone that fell through mid

September, or next weeks. And then the next pop up was the ice

rink cafe. So that would always be open by the last week in

November, carried through to the very last week in January. And

during the summer, then we would have the popcorn. So I think at

the height there were two or three of them in two different

sets, running through in parallel to all these absolutely

fantastic high high level corporate events, either in the

courtyard with marquees or in the Siemens waiting Hall. So in

addition to that, we had a Morgan Mannier he was running

the Admiralty restaurant, you know a fantastic chef, he was

there. We had the Admiralty deli. So a retail offer that was

involved there. You know, very, very dynamic, very seasonal,

lots of things coming up. And yeah, I learned a massive,

massive amount

I was gonna say a little bit of a different focus

for you a different way of doing things but nevertheless, you

know, I making you more rounded as the days go by.

Yeah. And I think at four o'clock in the morning

when I was packing away the bars after a pop concerts, Looking

for this is helping me.

Yeah (Laughs)

Yeah, this this is doing me some good in terms of

that. No, that was that was a that was a fantastic opportunity

in terms of that. And off the back of that then I had the

opportunity to get back into mainstream hotels and large

scale banqueting. And I had the opportunity to go and run the

cafe royal as it was, prior to its closure.

Yeah

running that with Le Meridian, Piccadilly, so

under and under Anna Dowling was the general manager for both.

Yeah

15,16 months exclusively at the Cafe Royal.

And then I moved over as the EAM to Le Meridian, Piccadilly, with

the kind of overview of the Cafe Royal when number two there Paul

Boon stepped up. And we managed the Cafe Royal through to

closure and return back to the crown in advance of the

construction work that was done before the hotel itself was

built

Yeah

So that was fine. That took me up to the financial

crisis in 2000 and 2009. And then the position was made

redundant in liberating Piccadilly. So I had a period

when I was off, before I was invited back by Starwood to

start with the parent company. And I was invited to join the

procurement team. So that was the period when Turnberry were

just finishing or Starwood refurbishment. So I was doing

some assisting, not a huge amount during the time I was

there. Again, that was another great experience growing up and

seeing that seeing how we can help them I suppose. your

earlier question, Phil, in terms of funding, and I think if I'd

ever sat down and wrote a job that my career was heading

towards, and the absolute ideal job for me, not desperately

trying not to speak in cliches. I think that was the job at

Westminster Bridge, because it just pulled everything together.

So as 19 bedrooms 36 meeting rooms, a ballroom that we were

told could take 800 but that was only because it was mapped

incorrectly quite easily take 1200 six different food and

beverage outlets, you know, sitting very happily within the

opera for Our market in terms of what it was. So that was it. So

I joined approximately six months prior to the opening,

responsible for ironically, as it turned out all of the

procurement for the OS & E to get everything up and running

within Park Plaza, they had never opened a hotel of that

size. So, under Andrew swindells, who was the

Metropole, in Birmingham, he pulled together a team, a number

of with either five star experience or large scale hotel

experience. And we open mash.

I remember when it hit the scene to be honest, it

was like that. Obviously, it's a massive property, but actually

from the outside, it doesn't look like it's gonna be a huge

property. It's a it's a bit of a Tardis.

No, that's it. I mean, you know, it's very

interesting, because I've subsequently got to meet the

architect who designed it. And I've had the opportunity to

learn, you know, his thoughts and philosophy. So even when

you're in the hotel itself, it's deliberately designed and

curved, so that you don't see these expansive long corridors.

Right. So the longest corridor that you can see, only has 28

bedrooms. Right, and that's split on both sides. So very,

very cleverly done. Fantastic in terms of how to move people

around, you know, with the I was asked to give a presentation to

some students a couple of years ago, and on on the day itself. I

went on Google, and I looked for population size of towns and

cities in the UK. And we figured on the night, I was talking to

the students, the price of Westminster Bridge was the 888th

largest town or city in the UK.

That's a fantastic statistic to deliver. That's

amazing.

So that was that. So I ran. I was the hotel

manager for two years. And then under swindells, moved up into

Chief Operating Officer. And then I was very fortunate mine

was made the General Manager. So I was General Manager for six

years. And in the interim, then I also became the general

manager of the central reservations office. Right. So

that was a thing that we created you you may argue by stealth or

by accident, because prior to that reservations was located on

property on each individual property. But one of the hotels

had a GM Soria raised manager and vacancy. So they needed some

assistance. We said, Well, why didn't you just pulled come down

and sit in our office, and we'll help you there. So they moved in

and decided they didn't want to leave, then another hotel had

exactly the same. So over the period of a year, all of the

London hotels, then we're operating in the reservations

office. And so I ran that department as well, for a couple

of years. 100 rooms commercial. Yeah. So after six years on

there, I had the opportunity to become the regional GM for the

UK. So that was responsible just for the hotels themselves, not

only the commercial functions. And then 18 months ago, now, I

became the VP and in that I took over the commercial functions,

and some of the other head of functions as well

Yeah

So Phil, you made the first real mistake in so far

as you asked me a very short question. And and unfortunately

I've given you I think a 45 minute response from one

question

(Laughs) That's exactly what what we're, what

we're looking for is absolutely supposed to be about, about your

journey and kind of your your decision making. And you know,

how these things come about, because every journey is

completely different. And some people, you are benefactors of

just being in the right place at the right time. Some people

force the issue. Some people make mistakes before they settle

on a path. But it seems to me like your journey is it's been

very much been about almost a mix of kind of whatever life

throws at you, let's let's give this a go. And it doesn't feel

like you've made too many career errors. Everything had something

some part to play in you ending up where you are.

You know, it's interesting, quite often when,

you know, students ask me and you know, when we do the

lectures or anything else that we you know, how do you become a

general manager? I said, it's a very, very simple to become a

general manager. Yeah, there are only two rules number one, don't

burn the hotel down. And number two, don't pee in the

flowerpots. So they, they always look at me very, very

frequently. And I said, Okay, let me give me give you a little

bit more clarity. I don't burn the hotel down. It means you

just do The job you're in to the very, very best of your ability,

because your boss needs to promote you more than you need

to be promoted. Yeah, you know, when you're doing succession

planning, when you're doing team building or whatever else, the

core issue you've got is, so if you, if you're just dedicated at

your job, you just get your head down, you do it, you learn, you

know, you fulfil all of the promises, you know, once you get

to a certain level, that's, that's you just assume that you

understand all of those bits and pieces, but your boss is more

concerned about promoting you than you are. Okay. You

technically more than you need him. So just don't bring the

hotel down. And, you know, in terms of then of the don't pee

in the fireball, is integrity.

Yeah

You know, just behave yourself. Resist the

temptation, you know. First thing is know what you're doing.

You know, it's, you know, I always say, you know,

thankfully, I made most of the key mistakes, particularly, you

know, in terms of not paying the flowerpots early enough in my

career that a gentle tap on the shoulder and whisper in the ear

with sufficient I'll be back on track. Yeah, but you know, and

it's To me, it's just, it's just very, very clear. Yeah. You

know, just Just do your job to the very, very best of your

ability.

Yeah, the other thing about that is, if you're

doing your job to the, to the best of your ability, then, you

know, if you do step out a line slightly, just because you

didn't know any better than the likelihood of forgiveness in

that scenario was much greater. And I say that out of

experience, because I remember being very young and given my

first management role, and I was a head down crack on kind of a

guy and was, was making very, very good progress. And then

it'll had a moment a lapse in concentration, let's call it

that. And as you just said, I was, I suppose rather than

reprimanded, I was given a rap across the knuckles, and that

was enough to make me realise, you know, that's not the path I

want to go down.

Yeah, listen, you know, it filled the, you know,

we we touched on it earlier, if you have a look at the massive,

massive responsibility that's available, you know, at a very

early stage in your career. Yeah, you know, the potential

for all of the pitfalls, better around the, you know, you've got

really, really intense, you know, relationships in terms of

commitment, the hours people are working on, isn't enough. Mom,

as you say, momentarily, lapse of judgement. But yeah,

as you're young, and you're kind of learning life

and all of that, I think these these moments are inevitable. A

lot rests on your own attitude towards your own kind of

misdemeanours, but also the the leadership's that you have, you

know, you can be you can be lucky or not, I suppose. And I

think it sounds like you, you had good leaders, I'd certainly

had great leaders on my journey as well.

Yeah, I don't know, initially, I've you've you've

nailed that one on the head. So absolutely. Great stuff.

So it's nice to get some things right occasionally

on this show. And I wanted to talk to you about 2019 because

on the face of it, it was quite a successful year for for your,

I suppose pocket of the PPHE group. You were the a large

Hotel Group of the Year as I understand it, and and also you

you joined the FTSE 250, that's a busy year.

Yeah, it's interesting, and it's almost

then a chicken and egg scenario

Right

So it was the aspiration of the owners to join

the FTSE 250 and had been for a number of years. But in order to

do that, you've obviously all of the corporate governance pieces

there. You need to have a clearly defined strategy. So you

know, that the real work for the footsie 250 problem began five

years in advance. Sure. And in order to have that discipline

and you know, and move from an entrepreneurial hotel, you know,

company you know, I'm one of one of the key USPS for Park Plaza

is that we decision making process is astoundingly fast if

need be right you know it's it's for not not even for me but for

a number of other leaders in other positions more company.

You get access to the chairman and the CEO whenever you want.

You know, they see you they come into your hotels. So to from

that kind of business. We are to the No, we we have to have more

structure, we have to ensure corporate governance, all of

those elements. That journey began five years ago. And as a

byproduct of that in clearly defining the strategy, then in

terms of, you know, the usual culprits, our people our

property, how we operate, what we're going to do, you then

begin to draw up the guidelines. And the the key the two key

areas in terms of what really surprised me about the A, the a

process and what we were commended for, it wasn't

necessarily just the physical element of the of the

properties, which I suppose in my youthful naivety, I would

have thought so. And it was about the human capital, right.

And it was a recognition of everything that we were doing in

terms of our team development, the training modules, the

ability to show advancement, at all levels through the

organisation into ships, and how we run them. So now you're quite

right. It was it was a busy year, but it was busier more in

terms of recognition, and the hard work. So the hard work had

been going on for probably five years prior.

Yeah. That's a lesson in perseverance, if ever

I've heard it, and and also, I think the, the point there was,

was actually the point about people was that you you can have

the list comes up on in numerous conversations. And it's, you

know, it's a bit cliched, but it's completely true. I mean,

you can have the most beautiful buildings in the world that

people can recognise and give you credit for. But the the

buildings are nothing without your are really wonderful team

behind them.

Yeah, look, That's... And I suppose that's

become even more relevant now. As everybody's under the immense

pressure that they're under. Yeah, you know, and it was

funny, I was talking to one of the junior managers for one of

our operations managers, and he had an issue in his hotel. And

he was he was he was reaching out to me for a solution and

kind of I said, Listen, listen, when you call for help. I said,

I want to hear an echo. And he said, What do you mean, you want

to hear an echo? I said, I want to hear if your team are in a

hole. Yeah, I want to hear an echo. Because you're in the hole

with them. Yeah. And if if I don't hear an echo, it's because

they're in the hole. And you're at the top, looking down at them

in the hole. And what we what we found, and again, I'm

desperately trying to avoid the cliches, but that's exactly what

we found through all of this crisis. Okay, is that first and

foremost, or the ops managers or the general managers, everybody

are working alongside the team? Yeah. You know, we, we had, and

he won't lie, he won't mind me saying yes, but Nile waters are

gentlemen, we have you had somebody coming in from the show

round about two weeks ago, and the person arrive 10 minutes

early, and went to use the facilities to freshen up. And

when he went down, the he started to talk to the attendant

who was cleaning the toilets. Yeah. Attendance, they are

refreshing everything. He went up, and he sat down off the

general manager, administrator, the gentleman who was down

cleaning the toilets, and making sure they were ready in advance

to show run. Yeah. You know, and that's absolutely typical,

through all of the properties at the moment, you know, in terms

of returning, and that's even when team members have known

that some of their colleagues have lost a position while have

extended team members still on furlough, and replacing that

additional responsibility. The general managers have built up,

built up enough credibility with their individual team members.

And the team members know that yes, we're in a hole. But there

is an echo. And the echo is because the gentleman in the

hole with them. Yeah, no shouting from the lip of it

down.

Yeah, I think that's a massive point,

actually, in the time that we're in, it's inevitable that tough

decisions have to be made in this kind of crisis that we're

in and more will have to be made, I'm sure. But you're there

is a way that you can go about that. That still means that

everybody's respect is intact. And that's the key point for me,

whether with any business, I mean, if you're focused on the

human element of what we're going through, then then the

decision making that that you'll make won't be too far away, I

think from from where you need to be.

Yeah, and, you know, I think it is, it is it is

painful. And the whole point about it is to whatever you do

do with the touch of humanity and humility

Yeah,

Yeah

The one thing We'll say just to move away from that

wonderful subject matter. But you've on a couple of occasions,

you've tried to avoid cliches, as you say. But cliches are

inevitable on the show. That is not a show that goes by without

a cliche coming out. So So don't ever worry about cliches being

around me. That I think one of the main takeaways from from

your journey for me, it's very much about the fact that you

said at the beginning, your your 25 years, pretty much in the

industry, in that time you've seen for economic hits, if you'd

like I mean, at the end of the day, that just demonstrates that

adversity is absolutely inevitable

Yeah, I think listen the, within within one

hour of the, you know, the decision made in terms of the

lockdown. I called all of the general managers together. All

of all of the all of the regional leaders, and I said to

them exactly what Paolo shoni said to me in 2001, with 911,

and we were in Grosvenor house, and he said to me, in Grosvenor

hands, no matter what happens in the world. We will be the last

Hotel in London to close if need, and we will keep going on

for that period. Yeah. And I said exactly the same thing to

the team. So it didn't come up with anything new. I just

rebadged it. repolish. And then the one thing I said to them, is

it the great thing now is I'm hearing the language coming back

me is we will be fittest longest.

Yep.

Very, very simple message. guys will be fittest

longest.

Yeah.

So whatever we're doing, and when we're making

those hard decisions, we're not breaking things down. We're

making them stronger. Yeah. And we're building them to be the

fittest team for the longest possibility that we have.

Yeah.

And that's that's just that's just part and

parcel, I think.

Yeah, absolutely. And you're your Master Inn

holder, I believe.

Yes. Very, very proud.

That's just talk me through that. Because that's not

something I think that you can go and pursue. That's something

that is, I suppose bestowed upon you.

Look, I think the and we just had the AGM last

week, and the amazing Danny Pecorelli handed over to David

Morgan-Hewitt

Yeah

In terms of that, and I suppose I'm fortunate

enough in that I've been able to see the great transition in the

master in holders, where they're reaching out so much more in the

last five or six years. Actually, sorry, it's longer

than that, because they're on cohort nine. So they're on with

the master in holders, aspiring leaders development programme.

Yep. Run with Dr. Hilary Cook, with the massive, massive

investment in young young leaders coming through. So you

know, it's formed from the Worshipful Company of in

holders, they received their culture in 1515. So over 500

years of existence, coming through, and it really is it's

about everything to how do we promote the industry? What do we

do to ensure we're adding back and the one thing that I was

very, very impressed with the master in holders is that

continual ethos about helping and reaching out? And Funny

enough, the liveliest debate at the AGM this year and indeed

last year, was the mentoring scheme.

Right

Yeah. How many mentors how many m eyes are

currently mentoring? How many people are we reaching? Either

for more, where it where it comes. And you know, they also

the magnificent sponsorship opportunities, you know, I was

fortunate enough, in terms of I received a scholarship to go to

Cornell to join the General Manager's programme. Some of the

operations managers at that level is coming on. So that's,

that's the bit which helps you make the transition from being

an operator to being a strategic leader, and how you can manage

the company. So I'm eternally grateful to the opportunity to

master in order to, you know, and the whole of everything

about their ethos, what they do, how they do it. And as I said,

that the liveliest debate amongst, you know, all of the

holders who were on the zoom call was about the growth and

development. Yeah. How are we helping? What are we doing for

the industry, where it goes, you know, and the the Mia al,

monster in the holders, aspiring leaders There's a lie. And

that's one thing I would say to any listeners on your call, who

are in positions of leadership that's open across a broad,

broad spectrum, not just hotels, or if you've got some young

talent that's coming through, it's done over a series of

weekends, it's hosted at the most amazing holes all around

the country. And again, I think, all in my general manager

properties. So they do that i think it's a particular seven

weekend, taking them through what they're learning what

they're seeing, building fantastic networks. So I think

the you know, the the real shame in terms of the mastering

holders is we haven't reached as many people yet as possible. And

the number of applications we need here are actually

increasing year on year, I think last year was a record in terms

of the number of people who completed the application

process.

Great. Yeah, I think the the giving back thing,

and also kind of raising the profile man, I can't imagine the

amount of knowledge and experience that that that sits

in, in a master in holders networking event, you know, if

you haven't, if not one of those people have dealt with

something, then it's not worth worth dealing with, I would

imagine. But also, I think the key point for me is the for and

this is one of the reasons I started this podcast was

sometimes the word that gets out about hospitality is just all

the perceived negative stuff, but actually Day in Day out for

the people who live and breathe this industry there. You know,

it's just full of wonderful things all the time. And it's

just such an amazing career. And I just wanted to do my bit in

terms of trying to tell the world that actually what you may

have heard is not true. And look at all these amazing journeys

and look at all these amazing things, and fun and stupid

things that happen along the way. If you want to have a

laugh, but also make a serious career. It's I don't think

there's a better career to choose.

No, and I think that you're quite right, Phil

and I that's the the big, big challenge. You know, it's very

interesting in my daughter's school and my son's school, when

they have the job fairs. Yeah. Where they invite the parents to

come in and set up the stalls. I can count on one hand, the

number of parents who've approached me over all of the

years that I've been doing it and both of those schools

really, yeah, the kids approached me. And again, it's

trying to get over those preconceptions of, you know,

what is the industry have to offer? What does it do and and

everything else, but it is it's absolutely incredible. You know,

my daughter is now 19, when she was 16, she did a her school

were very, very good, again on her own, but she lined up five

different sets of work experience. And I deliberately

left hotels to the very end, and she worked in all sorts of

environments coming through. And when she got to the end, and I

said to her, how did you find it? He said, I didn't realise

she said, but hotels were the most professional organisation

out of all of the ones that you did. Yeah, I won't name the ones

the companies that you went to, but they were all blue chip.

Most of them were footsie. And I think, you know, that's why it's

incumbent upon all of us in terms of to indentify young

talent exactly as you know, Rosemary did my first GM when I

was 16, it's It seems this is this is great. I had no

intention whatsoever in going into hotels, Exactly as you

said, I wouldn't, I wouldn't change anything.

Yeah. Well, I'm glad about that. Because you're,

you're quite deep in now.

(Laughs) no, that's great. I, I'm getting a little

(Laughs)

bit conscious of time. But if you'll indulge me for a little

while longer, there's a question that I like to ask everyone.

Which is, from your career so far? Do you have any funny

stories that you could share with us? Because I'm sure there

are some that you can't

Good heavens, do I have any? Well, I suppose I I

joke. Westminster Bridge. We spoke about it in terms of the

size and scale and everything that you see. It's not unusual

on a Saturday night of 2500 sleepers coming, coming into

that hotel, so you see everything because one of the

things to say about hotels is that there are a microphone

glass on life. Yeah, very good. You see absolutely everything.

And I thought I'd seen everything. So with my my number

two, you know, suit when I was there, and when I moved out, he

took over as GM. He said, we would joke if something popped

up. I take them, you can put that one in your autobiography,

cuz I've had, I've had one of them before. And that's how we

trade stories. So he, he phoned me last Monday. And he said,

I've had one over the weekend, he said, but I'm keeping it from

my autobiography, said, What's that? He said, Well, we had we

had a couple of youngsters, they took the tweet, they were

getting a little bit loud. So security went and dealt with

them. And then we we asked their additional guests to leave when

they had a small little dog and I went yeah OK, Said, But the

security guard got a little bit cautious when the guy picked up

a snake

Oh Jeez, yeah, I definitely wouldn't be a little

bit cautious, I'd have been running the other direction

So there we go, Phil. And I think that's a

perfect one to finish it. No matter what you think you've

seen, no matter what you think you've done even after all these

years there's stills something else that will come along and

give you that extra bit of experience.

Absolutely. Great stuff. Well, if people want to

get a hold of you to chew the fat and learn a little bit more

about you and the company what's what's the best method for them

to do that

Oh Listen, all the usual I'm on LinkedIn, pop your

message through LinkedIn, or alternatively on that one, my

email address is dpedreschi@pphe.com

Fabulous. Well, that's been great. I really

appreciate your time. And thank you for for sharing your your

journey with us today. It's been it's been a cracker.

Not at all. It's been quite cathartic. It's a

confession for me. So thanks for the opportunity.

You're very, very welcome. And I wish you and all

your teams the very best through this this next interesting

period.

Great. Thanks very much, Phil, hope to talk to you

soon,

Will do, thanks Daniel. Bye, bye.

And there we have it. A fabulous career so far for Daniel talk

with such energy and vigour. Daniels story also highlights

what can happen when you take responsibility for your own

actions and get your head down and crack on. Nice one, Daniel.

Don't forget, we launch a brand new episode each week. So hit

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can. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.