Andrew Cony

"Daddy, I've pooed," were the first words I heard this morning. I got up around 5.30am and this was the first thing my five-year-old son chose to say to me.

I live in Kent, so I catch a train into London. It's the same train as Gary Rhodes gets, so we share a platform every morning and occasionally jostle for taxis in the evening.

The first thing I do when I reach the hotel, at about 7.30am, is walk around all the public areas to check that everything looks in order.

Much to my wife's annoyance, I never have breakfast, just a coffee. I'll drink this while checking my e-mail, which I hate. It's one of those things that drives people, rather than the other way around. It's good to get it done before the phone starts ringing, however.

At 8.30am I have my daily meeting with the senior team. It's a chance to go over daily challenges and talk about how we're going to drive sales and rebuild people's conceptions about the hotel.

The Cavendish was long neglected under its previous ownership and was seen as rather a poor, slightly embarrassing neighbour within Jermyn Street. Our job is to show people it's changed. We've had the refurbishment, so now we have to work on raising guests' expectations and reshaping people's perception of the hotel.

This means changing staff attitudes, too. I spend a lot of time every day talking to different departments about the changes so far and any ideas they've had to change things further. We have to involve all levels of staff in the process of transformation or the level of service they provide won't match the culture we're trying to create.

This means I might meet up with the breakfast crew mid-morning or check in with the innovations team we've set up. This team is specifically designed to think of ways to make the hotel memorable to guests. Also, we've got staff members trying out new uniforms at the moment, so I might talk to them to find out if they're enjoying the uniforms or would like changes in the colours or styles.

At 10am it's time for the daily operations meeting, where we go through the night before, yesterday's figures and the day ahead. My background is in sales, so I'm very focused on getting people in to the hotel to show them how much it's changed.

Lunchtime is usually spent with a client after showing them around the hotel. The hotel is also now part of the Jermyn Street Association, so I have a lot of members around for lunch. If there's no client to entertain, I'll eat in the staff canteen.

At 2pm there's another meeting, this time for forecasting. It's about half-an-hour with senior staff to go over sales figures.

Then it's time to go through any correspondence and write personalised cards for important or regular guests. It's also an opportunity to catch up on general administration or for a member of staff to come and have an individual chat. I also try to give myself one-on-one time with all heads of department to maintain the momentum of the hotel's development.

I might also have other meetings to do with the relationship we're building with a charity called Born Free. Today I had a meeting with Joanna Lumley, who is a trustee. We're trying to think of ways to involve guests in fundraising. We're now putting a tag on closet hangers to tell guests that a donation of £2.50 will buy a drip holder for sick baby elephants to replace the hangers that are currently being used because of lack of funds.

At 4pm it's time to check in with the conference organisers before doing a spot check on some of the bedrooms. And I'll endeavour to say hello to some of the arriving guests and maybe have a drink with some of them in the early evening.

By 8pm, if I'm not entertaining, which I do two or three nights a week, I'll go home and have dinner with my wife.

Interview by Jessica Gunn
Factfile
De Vere Cavendish St James's Hotel
81 Jermyn Street, London SW1Y 6JF
Tel: 020 7930 2111
Web: www.devereonline.co.uk

Number of rooms: 230
Standard double rate: £240

Just a minute…

Tell us a secret When I was at school we all had to pick three career options for ourselves. My first choice was actor; second, undertaker; and third, general manager of a hotel.

Who would be your ideal dinner companions? Margaret Thatcher or Kylie Minogue.

Tell us one of your most embarrassing moments When I was training to be a chef, I was asked to turn out a pâté for a dish ordered by a member of the Royal Family. I decided to ease it out by putting it into a bain-marie, but unfortunately I dropped it in altogether.

It came out liquid, the royal guest didn't get their pâté - and I got a red ear.