Hotel Cateys 2017: Concierge Award winner, David Young, Brown's hotel
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David Young is head concierge at the five-red-AA-star, 115-bedroom Brown's hotel in Mayfair. Since joining Brown's in 2014, his department consistently achieves more than 90% in all areas of the leading quality assurance audits.
He has been recognised on numerous occasions for his contribution to the hotel and his profession. He is a winner of the Les Clefs d'Or Concierge of the Year London award, and was recently nominated by the hotel for the Team of the Year award at the annual Rocco Forte Hotels Awards. Last year, he was given the St Julian Scholarship to attend Cranfield University, only the second concierge to have received this in the history of the programme.
He has established Brown's first ‘house car', a Bentley Mulsanne, at zero cost to the hotel, to offer a complimentary service to guests. In addition, he has pioneered the first concierge charitable bookings system, raising over £3,000 in three months for a children's hospice through working with local restaurants and the community.
He has also driven the cross-selling of the hotel's food and beverage outlets by organising an annual trip, inviting 15 head concierges from other hotels to have drinks in the bar, dinner in the restaurant, and dessert in the English tea room to promote the outlets. He then set up a system where the reservations team can track all bookings that have come from other hotel concierges, and to offer their guests a complimentary glass of Champagne on behalf of the booker.
He is a mentor to the junior members of his team and he orchestrated the first Rocco Forte concierge get-together at the last Union Internationale des Concierges d'Hôtels Les Clef d'Or Congress, opening the channels of communication among head concierges in the Rocco Forte Group using WhatsApp.
In addition, he has introduced a monthly concierge cultural calendar that lists key activities and events in London and which is distributed to the team to improve guest engagement. He also recently set up a ‘concierge safari', where he takes members of his team to three new openings a month, ensuring they can keep up to date with what's on in London.
His team is very proactive in contacting arriving guests and using their preferences to anticipate the needs of their upcoming stay. For return guests, Young and his team scrutinise past itineraries, which allows them to inform the guests of any new offerings in the city.
Young is a mentor to the junior employees in the concierge team and has successfully promoted eight members since joining Brown's. This is coupled with very low annual staff turnover (12.5%) and the highest employee engagement scores for the entire hotel (96%).
His managing director describes him as "incredibly self-motivated", pointing out that even having recently become a father, Young juggles the responsibilities of parenthood and work "extremely well, excelling in both". He is described as "an asset to the hotel, the company and industry".
What the judges said
"David's passion for his hotel, guests and team really stands out and shows what a great leader he is. Not only is he an ambassador for Rocco Forte Hotels, but also for the concierge world both in London and internationally." Alixandra Mellor
"David stood out as a real leader in his field. He has not only set the example in excellent guest service, but mentored and developed his team to progress in their own careers." Laura Godman
Shortlisted
Oscar Fernandez, InterContinental London Park Lane
Jack McCarthy, The Cavendish London
Dan McCask,i Grosvenor House Suites by Jumeirah Living, London
David Young, Brown's hotel, London
Past winners
2016 Anton Coburn, Rockliffe Hall
2015 Alixandra Mellor, Charlotte Street hotel, London
2014 Burak Ipekci, South Place hotel, London
