CASE STUDY 59
Link London to establish proper procedures for managing the 40 staff at the hotel. Business Link London also signposted Samantha to several experts in HR and staff training, such as Personnel Plus, which helped her with writing job descriptions.
More recently, Samantha has been enrolling staff for NVQs on the Train to Gain programme. Senior staff have also been on business management training,“ which was really good,” she says. Not wanting to neglect her own training and development, Samantha embarked on a MBA on the recommendations of Business Link London.“ The best advice I received from Business Link London was to do with my personal development and made me see how I needed to be recruiting the right people and developing staff,” she says.
Samantha obtained funding early on in the business’ development to seek one-to-one business training from an ex-hotelier.“ It also helped that my client services manager was a specialist in the hotel and tourism sector, as he knew about the challenges that businesses in the industry face,” she says.
As the Bingham upgrades from a three-star to fourstar hotel, the training of staff will become even more
important.“ I’ m really focusing on raising the standards and developing our team through training and staff motivation,”
says Samantha. To this end, she is working towards gaining Investors in People accreditation and has now recruited a hotel manager so she can focus on some of the more strategic issues involved in running the business, including the possibility of buying a second hotel.
Having recently undergone an extensive refurbishment, the hotel is also beginning to look like the upmarket boutique hotel Samantha had always envisaged. Turnover is expected to increase this financial year to £ 1.8m and, more importantly, the hotel is now profitable.
“ The support I’ ve received from Business Link London has been really, really good,” concludes Samantha.“ I probably wouldn’ t have made it as far as I have done without the contacts and support they’ ve given me over the last few years. I can honestly say that without their help I’ d have been struggling at best, or at worst, I would have given up.”
Samantha’ s top tips
n If I were to start all over again, I’ d spend more on recruiting good management staff from the beginning. In the long run, you end up growing the business quicker with stronger foundations. n Make clear what each staff member’ s role entails and provide an induction as part of your HR processes. n Don’ t take on too much – it’ s hard not to when you’ ve not got much money to start with, but if you invest more in staff, you can do far more with the business.
“ The best advice I received from Business Link London was to do with my personal development and made me see how I needed to be recruiting the right people and developing staff,”
ISSUE SIX 2008 engage | uk