My route to management in hotels

Nick Halliday, boutique hotel group Malmaison's regional manager for North-east England and Scotland, began his love affair with hotels and travel as a small boy. "My father was in civil aviation and as a child I was raised in Africa and the Middle East. The international scene and the hotel airports, which, in hindsight, were probably very average, seemed very glamorous to me," he says.

The excitement of hotels never wore off, and Halliday has been successfully climbing the hospitality career ladder ever since.

He trained in hotel management on a four-year programme with the Savoy Group in the mid-1980s, gaining a thorough grounding in all aspects of the hotel operation. "At the time, when you've just completed a 70-hour week in the pressured environment of the Savoy Grill kitchen, you wonder why you're doing it, but I look back on those days very fondly," he says. "There was no better management grounding."

The hard work paid off - Halliday, now 39, subsequently enjoyed a range of management positions in exotic locations in the Far East, the Caribbean and Europe, putting into practice skills learnt from Savoy.

Fast-forward to the present day, and Halliday, who joined the company in 1999, is based at the buzzing Newcastle Malmaison, one of the busiest and most profitable units, which is often full six nights a week. His job as regional manager means he has to orchestrate all the services and make sure everything comes together seamlessly. He also supports Malmaison's Glasgow and Edinburgh operations.

Halliday's day includes touching base with all major team players. "I'm normally in by 8.30am and, after 10 minutes with my night manager, check breakfast in the brasserie, paying attention to the presentation of the buffet, which we take a particular pride in. I'll also catch up with the breakfast supervisor and breakfast chef."

The personal touch is much in evidence, with Halliday greeting regulars personally and penning welcome notes to visiting celebrities and dignitaries. "We attract a lot of high-profile celebrities. We try to present them with a relaxed and private atmosphere," he says.

At about 10am, a "safety net" meeting of managers responsible for different areas of the operation is called to fine-tune the day.

Being there for the staff is crucial in a regional manager. Chefs and kitchen porters, for example, work some of the longest hours in the most difficult and pressured of environments. "At Newcastle we can serve up to 500 meals a day through our 130-seat brasserie," Halliday says. "When I pass through I'll always say a quick hello to the kitchen porters."

Afternoons will invariably be taken up with meetings - with human resources to detail and agree training and development plans, or arrange the popular grooming sessions where staff can book free haircuts and makeovers, finance forecasting, heads of department meetings, and to try out new menu "cook-offs".

Evenings are a time for networking. "High-profile hotels require high-profile managers," Halliday says. "I'll occasionally entertain clients at the hotel or attend dinners or Champagne receptions to thank regular clients or celebrate some landmark."

In order to manage some sort of work-life balance, Halliday is very disciplined planning his time. "I come in at 8.30 in the morning because I value a quality hour over breakfast with my six-year-old daughter, Esmee. I rarely get back to see her at bedtime and this isn't a Monday-to-Friday job."

So what's the most rewarding part of the job? "The best bit is seeing people succeed within the business," he says. "I've seen people come through, from even a casual bar job, to supervisory level and beyond in two to three years. Knowing I was there to coach and steer makes me feel partly instrumental in this."

Nick's tips

* Don't overlook the basics. Some parts of our business are dressed-up, hyped and packaged very well, but it's rather pointless if you can't serve a proper cup of coffee.

* Look after your staff - it sounds obvious, but they're a fundamental part of the atmosphere required to make your guests happy.

* Get an additional language under your belt early in your career.