Pieces of eight
Dirk Dalichau, 34
General manager, Trafalgar Hilton hotel, London
Salary range: not given
How did you come to be here? I went to hotel school in Switzerland and I joined Hilton in November 1992 in Germany, where I was born. I worked through various jobs and was sales and marketing director for eastern and central Europe before returning to the operations side and becoming a general manager at the Hilton in Main near Frankfurt.
GMs used to come through food and beverage, didn't they? At one time, yes, but I think that's changing. Especially in a "lifestyle" hotel, you need someone who is creative and innovative, and I think, coming from marketing, I already had that influence. Marketing is so important for GMs these days.
Was there ever another job for you? I wanted to be an artist.
What do you like about your job? Hilton give me the freedom to be innovative and go different ways. It was a different approach to hotel living. I'd already spent lots of time in design hotels, so I'm quite comfortable here.
Is art a bit of a passion then? Yes, I have 85 paintings at home, and I saw 35 flats in London before I found a converted paper bag warehouse that had the right space and light to exhibit them.
Do you want to travel further? Yes, I'd go anywhere. I really think I'd enjoy any culture and any climate. That is one of the best things about this job - you can be in Singapore or South America. I'll always keep that option open.
What advice would you give to other aspiring hoteliers? Be flexible and be prepared to move around the world to gain experience.
Niall Bird, 32
Deputy manager, Cambridge Belfry hotel, Cambridge
Salary range: £28,000-£34,000
Tell us about your hotel. The Cambridge Belfry is a 120-bedroom new-build hotel for Marston Hotels. It'll have 11 conference rooms, and we are due to open in the first week of June.
So you're not open - what do you do all day? My main responsibility now is helping to recruit people into the company and getting the company culture across to our new heads of department. When we open I'll be in charge of the day-to-day running of the operation.
Are you enjoying it? It's very challenging opening a new hotel and that was part of the attraction of the job. I've been with Marston Hotels for three-and-a-half years and have been a deputy GM at two other properties. So this is a good career step, too.
Will that step lead to a GM position? I hope so. My long-term ambition is to be a GM, but I recognise that I need experience in some areas. It's quite different being a deputy. I've been an acting GM to cover for someone, and I realise there is more paperwork and more personnel matters to deal with. I quite like working the floor.
What advice do you give others who want to follow in your footsteps? Don't copy the management style of others, but as you work with people you will take from them the ideas and initiatives that make them a good manager. I'd also advise that no matter how bad a job is, when you leave, try to take something positive from the experience.
Do you have any industry role models? I've always been fascinated by Sir Richard Branson. As long as you're willing to have a go, you can succeed.
Sophia Williams, 34General manager, Holdsworth House hotel, Halifax
Salary range: £30,000-£40,000
How did you get into hospitality? I studied catering at Manchester Polytechnic [now Manchester Metropolitan University]. Initially, I was going to be a chef, and worked at L'Escargot in London. I decided to be a manager and moved into hotels.
So you've done that ever since? I took a year out in 2002 and worked in a photographer's studio. I got to spend more time with my baby daughter, but I'm not a 9-5 person and I missed the customer contact. I got the chance to come to Holdsworth House in May 2003. It's a 40-bedroom Jacobean manor house owned by two sisters, and we're part of the Grand Heritage consortium.
Do you like working in a smaller hotel? I prefer it, definitely. I like being part of the day-to-day business and stepping in as restaurant manager if I have to. I worked in the Britannia hotel in Manchester earlier in my career and found that big hotels weren't for me.
What's it like being a GM at an independently owned hotel? You have to be a diplomat, because the owners really care about their property and have ideas about everything. It's not like working for a corporate body where you just report to your director and get on with it.
Who inspires you? Jeremy Castle, owner of the Grange hotel in York, and Philip Newman-Hall, with whom I worked when I was at Virgin Hotels. I was a young GM and Philip was really supportive.
Any advice for others? It's great to have young people who are keen to progress, but it's equally important to have those who are quite happy to stay in one role for a while - they're just as vital to the industry.
Tilak Sinha, 29
Head sommelier, Chewton Glen, Hampshire
Salary range: £20,000-£30,000
You're from Sydney, so how did you end up here? I was working as a waiter in a restaurant at the Canadian ski resort of Whistler, British Columbia, and served Chewton Glen's then managing director, Peter Crome, and his family one night. He gave me his card and said to let him know if I wanted to go to England. After a stint back home during the millennium and the Olympics, I took him up on the offer, and I arrived here in the spring of 2002.
As head sommelier what are your responsibilities? I have a team of four sommeliers and I'm responsible for the selection and presentation of our 500-bin wine list. I regard it as a library, and it needs lots of organisation - but the fun part is working with guests and seeing their satisfaction.
What's the best part? I've just come back from a short trip to Champagne, tasting with two houses, Bollinger and Bruno Paillard. I love the science and the art of wine and its creation.
What's the downside? There are a lot of glasses to shine - although I do less of that these days.
Where next? I take things one day at a time, so I'm not sure where next. I would like to build on my knowledge by working in the USA, perhaps California, in order to learn more about North and South American wines. I think I'd then be in a good position to return to Australia with a well-rounded knowledge of wine.
Karen Kelly, 25
Hotel manager, Quality Station hotel, Ayr
Salary range: £20,000-£25,000
How did you get this job? I started in this hotel as a receptionist when I was 17. I worked my way up to head receptionist, front-of-house manager and deputy manager. The hotel was taken over by London & Edinburgh Inns from Choice Hotels in 2002, and I got promoted to hotel manager in December last year.
Did you consider any other career? I worked in a lawyer's office before I started, but it wasn't for me. I wanted to work in a hotel.
Do you have an average day? Not really. I can work the whole weekend if we've got functions on. Monday we do the figures, so I'm in early that day, but it really depends on what's happening here.
What's the best part of your job? I like seeing the customers happy. It is very rewarding and it pleases the staff, because they're doing their jobs well. Because I've been here so long, several of our guests are also good friends now.
Is there a downside? Not for me. I've chosen this career, and I know it means working late sometimes, but that's OK, I want to be here.
What's your ambition? I'd like to move around within the group and see other hotels. The company bought 13 Swallow hotels last year, so I think it will offer some good opportunities. I'd also like to go and work in New York at some point.
Sarah Williams, 26
Assistant food and beverage manager, Dorchester hotel, London
Salary range: £20,000-£23,000
When you said you wanted to go into hotels, what did you parents say? There was a lot of pressure not to do it. My parents wanted me to do business studies so I didn't limit myself. I think everyone thought I'd be going to university to learn to bake cakes.
Why the Dorchester? I wanted to come and work with Zoe Jenkins [food and beverage director] and work in food and beverage.
What do you do day to day? I am 50% operations and 50% deskbound, so there's a good variety. At the weekends I'm out on the floor and in the restaurants. I do enjoy the office stuff, especially when there are projects like the refurbishment of the Oriental restaurant and the Krug Room.
Is there a downside? I don't mind the hours. Of course there are times when you want a day off to be with friends and family, but I do this job because I enjoy it.
What's your ambition? I really want to be a food and beverage manager
and stay in London in the short term. Long term I'd like to travel and to be a general manager. I like the idea of working in a resort hotel - everyone is there because they want to be. In London, people are often here for business, and no matter how hard you try or how nice the hotels, they'd still rather be at home with their families.
Do you have any advice for others? Be realistic about your abilities when you leave a degree course. Some people think they should jump into a management role, but in a five-star hotel it is important to go up through a trainee scheme where you work on the floor and see how things work.
Thomas Lennard, 31
Private dining and events manager, Great Eastern hotel, London
Salary range: £40,000-£45,000
What does your job involve? Day-to-day I'm in charge of private dining, events and outside catering, but I'm also responsible for overseeing room service, back-of-house operations such as cleaning, and the staff canteen.
So you're on the floor at high-profile events? No, I don't run events. Traditionally, most conference and banqueting managers would. I see my role looking at the strategy of the department, where it is going, planning menus and thinking about future business possibilities. If you run the events, I don't think you can run the business.
How did you get here? I started in July 2002 having been assistant food and beverage manager at the Dorchester. Before that I worked as deputy conference and banqueting manager at the Savoy with Andrew Coy. And before that I was one of the conference and banqueting managers at the Grosvenor House hotel.
So you've done five-star hotels all the way? My work placement from college was at Cháteau Lake Louise in Canada and I enjoyed that environment. I got my first job at the Birmingham International Convention Centre, but it didn't have rooms and I missed that.
Were you always going into catering?
Yes, my parents run a catering company, and my first memories are of fairy cakes and finger sandwiches.
Where do you get inspiration for menus and themes? We're a lifestyle hotel, and I try to look at what's current in fashion and art. I read Vogue and Elle and pick up ideas from walking down Bond Street looking at shop windows.
Any top tips? Learn to read the customer. You can't talk to the CEO of a FTSE-100 company about a corporate function the way you talk to an artist who's arranging his gallery opening. Listen to the customer and hear what he doesn't say as well as what he does.
James Barrett, 34
Area director for London, Travelodge
Salary range: not given
Is your past in hotels? No. I worked for Scottish & Newcastle for 10 years. I graduated from the University of Surrey with an honours degree in hotel and catering management and started with Grand Met. The salaries were two-and-a-half those of trainee hotel managers in those days. I worked on the retail side of the business, travelling around Europe and to China and South Africa occasionally.
So how did you get to Travelodge? Last December I decided I really wanted to get back to hotels. I had been put off the four-star end of the market during my university years, but I'd watched with interest the way the hotel market has become polarised, with the budget sector really coming into its own.
Does your retail background help? Definitely. I shy away from using the word hotel in relation to Travelodge. We're retailers of sleep.
What does an area director do? I oversee the 16 Travelodges in London. They're managed by cluster managers who oversee between two and four properties each. I've just overseen the purchase and opening of the Covent Garden Travelodge, which we transformed from a 163-bedroom four-star Queens Moat House to a stripped-down Travelodge in a day. That took a huge amount of organisation and co-ordination. We still have work to do, and it will be a 200-bedroom Travelodge when the renovations are complete.
