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Front of House Manager of the Year Sponsored by Caterer.com


Front of House Manager of the Year


WINNER Ailsa Le Poidevin, the Ritz London 2023


THE SHORTLIST Petra Cappannari Park Plaza County Hall London


Nicole Cechmann Pan Pacific London


Alexis Petratos Hotel Café Royal Esther Pinedo


Castresana, the Belfry Hotel & Resort


Ailsa Le Poidevin The Ritz London


The Ritz London’s Ailsa Le Poidevin impressed the judges with her exceptional commitment to guest experience as well as her dedication to leading and developing her team and nurturing the industry’s future talent. Le Poidevin heads up a team of 22 peo-


ple who are responsible for the entire guest experience at the Ritz London, from arrival to departure, ensuring each guest’s stay is nothing short of perfect. Anticipating guests’ needs starts days before arrival and she ensures a high degree of preparation goes into each reservation. Through internet and social media searches, her team builds a profile of each guest to combine the experi- ence of the Ritz London with their interests. The hotel is on the doorstep to some of the world’s best theatre shows, museums, galler- ies and shopping experiences, so Le Poidevin encourages her team to know the wider area to offer the best recommendations, and they are tasked with answering potential questions on anything from where to buy aspirin to fun facts about Fortnum & Mason. Such dedication to the guest experience


led her team to achieve 100% in both arrival and departure sections in a leading qual- ity assurance audit, with Le Poidevin being mentioned as one of the ‘star employees’ of the mystery auditor’s experience. Le Poidevin also encourages her people


to spot opportunities to upsell, which has resulted in her team exceeding the hotel’s upsell targets by 5% in 2022, with in-room upselling revenue having doubled. Achieving such results is the product of


a collaborative and happy team, an attitude which comes from the top. Le Poidevin leads by example and encourages a two-way system whereby the team give her feedback on her performance, and she gives regular feedback


59


“‘Above and beyond’ doesn’t cover everything


Ailsa has done” Laura Thomason


on theirs. She also collates comments from guests and feeds them back to the team on a weekly basis. Her strong interpersonal skills and empa-


thetic nature have seen her train and develop young talent at the Ritz London, and in the past six months she has led the development, promotion and transition of a chef de brigade into an assistant reception manager, and men- tored a front office management trainee into a HR and training co-ordinator role. She also attends university and college recruitment days to promote hospitality as a career path. Her ability to inspire and coach has resulted


in one employee, Jude Haddad from the front office team, winning the International Asso- ciation of Receptionists’ Receptionist of the Year Award 2022, the first time a representa- tive from the Ritz London has won the award.


WHAT THE JUDGES SAID “‘Above and beyond’ doesn’t cover everything Ailsa has done – not only for her team, but her local community.” Laura Thomason


“Ailsa is a true hospitality superstar. Clearly committed to the guest experience and her team, Ailsa is certainly something special.” Thomas Ferrante


“Her commitment to the community and hospitality on the whole was impressive.” Linda Smith


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