Hotel Cateys 2025: Front of House Team of the Year – the Montague on the Gardens, London

The Montague on the Gardens’ front of house team includes 21 team members across reception, concierge and night staff. They are primarily responsible for maintaining the highest of standards for guests staying in the hotel’s 101 bedrooms, as well as those enjoying a cocktail in the Leopard Bar, lunch or dinner in the Blue Door Bistro or afternoon tea on one of the terraces.

The long-serving team includes Mustafa El’Omari, who leads a team at the Red Carnation property that includes Abi Olugbemi, Levente Ciaba, Sebastian Grzeskow, James Hilton, Megan Murphy and Harriet Davy. Between them, they have more than 93 years of front of house expertise, two are members of Les Clefs D’Or and there is one junior concierge.

The team works together to ensure every guest has the best possible experience. Recently, this has included finding out a VIP guest had just attended a gin-making class in Edinburgh and secretly organising for their batch to be delivered to the hotel and to be waiting for them in their room, and taking a last-minute booking for a family of four – one of whom was about to celebrate her 18th birthday – and delighting her at breakfast with flowers, decorations, cake and the team singing happy birthday.

These moments are co-ordinated through the Hotel Manager App, which allows guests and the hotel team to record requests and plans, enabling them to tailor a guests’ stay and share the information with relevant departments. For example, housekeeping receives room and bedding requests, the kitchen is alerted to amenity requests and the concierge team is briefed on arrival times and parking requirements.

Meanwhile, the team has also led the transition from Maestro PMS to Opera Cloud PMS, and since then has been responsible for the creation of standard operating procedures that have been distributed to all Red Carnation properties, incorporating AA four-star, AA five-star, Forbes four-star and Forbes five-star requirements.

They are a creative group too. The team came up with a winter lodge fondue package that became the most successful Q1 package ever run, leading to a 10% increase in occupancy year-on-year and a 5% increase in total revenue.

They also boast a number of collective accolades. Front of house manager Hilton was accepted onto the Innholder scholarship programme, front office manager Murphy was given a place on this year’s Master Innholders Aspiring leaders programme, reception manager Davy was awarded an Acorn Award in this year’s top 30 under 30, and India Adams, a degree apprentice, graduated with first-class honours. They can now add a collective title of a Hotel Catey to their list of achievements.

What the judges said

“This department exemplifies excellence in hospitality, not only for their guests but also for nurturing young talent.”

Justin Pinchbeck

“The team clearly go above and beyond and it is impressive to see such examples of colleagues being involved with the Master Innholders.”

Mairead Gleeson

“This team have shown thorough commitment to every guest, through their personalised experiences and guest satisfaction scores.”

Charlotte Karadag

The shortlist

• The Grand, York
• Kimpton Charlotte Square hotel, Edinburgh
• London Hilton on Park Lane
• The Montague on the Gardens, London
• Raffles London at the OWO
• The Westminster London, Curio Collection by Hilton

The judges

• Anna Blondet, the Ritz London
• Mairead Gleeson, the Ned
• Charlotte Karadag, De Vere Tortworth Court
• Alisa Le Poidevin, the Ritz London
• Justin Pinchbeck, Sheraton Grand London Park Lane