Showcase Hotel Café Royal


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018 was a year of considerable change for Hotel Café Royal. A grand lobby befitting of a grand luxury hotel was built, and this was followed by the opening of two new signa- ture restaurants: Laurent at Hotel Café Royal by renowned chef Laurent Tourondel, and Cakes & Bubbles, a unique dining experience centred around dessert and Champagne, led by leading pastry chef Albert Adrià. For 150 years, Café Royal has adapted as London has changed, remaining at the fore- front of luxury hospitality, and is now one of London’s finest five-star hotels. But an amazing product is only a beginning without the people within it – our amazing employees, who deliver outstanding service, day in, day out. Our heads of department (HOD) community is the lifeblood of Hotel Café Royal – these are the people who run the business from day to day and have the most influence on decisions involving guests. It is vital that this group are part of the hotel’s over- all decision-making process and have input into the strategic direction of the business. With this in mind, in 2019 we launched our first HOD development programme, gathering these managers together for a full- day workshop on delegation and leadership, led by an external leadership consultant. They were encouraged to think about their own role and how it fits into the overall hotel management, but also how to improve their skills on a daily basis and how to balance accountability with responsibility. As part of this process, the managers came up with their own capabilities matrix and the next step will be for individual teams to evaluate their managers against these capability state- ments, with a view to giving 360-degree feed- back and providing a safe space for colleagues and managers to be honest with each other. Following on from the initial workshop, the HODs meet monthly to discuss a range of subjects, from quality control to P&L, and


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will soon be taking part in further workshops, including finance and HR management, to further enhance their accountability and to enable HODs to be true business owners. Running alongside this HOD programme is a similar programme for supervisors (usually the number twos in the department) to develop their management skills to be future HODs, as well as a Management First programme for aspiring leaders comprising of five one-day workshops and a final presen- tation. We have also established a mentoring scheme as a development tool for HODs to not only learn from senior leadership, but also to enable them to have input into the develop- ment of future leaders. To incentivise and reward our HODs, and in recognition of the responsibility they carry,


CASE STUDY


Chiara Cargnoni, reception manager Chiara is one of Hotel Café Royal’s many success stories. She did not study hospitality but instead, like many people, started initially in tourism and later hotels


after leaving school. With 18 months’ experience in front office in Italy, she moved to London in 2015 to develop her career and quickly landed a job at Hotel Café Royal as a receptionist. After only a year she was promoted to


reception supervisor, and a year after that to duty manager at the forefront of our guest experience. After another 12 months, Chiara became assistant reception manager and, in January 2019, she was promoted once more to reception manager – from an entry-level role to head of department in little more than four years.


58 Chiara has been proactive in ensuring


her own development and has attended a number of internal courses, including completing the Management First programme with an inspiring project about making the hotel more family-friendly. She has also taken part in our mentoring programme, working alongside a senior manager to develop her leadership skills. Above all though, Chiara attributes her


success to three things: an inspirational manager, a massively positive and supportive team and a product of which to be truly proud. The team spirit has been instrumental in allowing her to be as good as she can be at her job. She thrives on the positive environment and manages her own team in the same positive way. Above all, it is the pride in the hotel itself and the people who work around her that have been the foundation of Chiara’s meteoric rise through the ranks.


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there is also a range of additional benefits – not only financial bonuses linked directly to KPIs and business performance, but also those geared towards personal security and well- being, such as private medical insurance, life assurance, enhanced pension provision and access to a financial advisor and a mortgage consultant. The aim is to invest time in devel- oping managers further along the leadership pathway, but also to invest the money to keep them in the business in the long term. We are committed to the development of all our colleagues at Hotel Café Royal and aspiring leaders will always be recognised and rewarded.


Contact www.hotelcaferoyal.com/careers careers@hotelcaferoyal.com


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