Hotel Cateys 2025: People Manager of the Year – Victoria Tweddell, Como Hotels & Resorts

Victoria Tweddell has transformed her HR department from a transactional, process-driven function into a strategic, people-centric powerhouse, making her this year’s much-deserved People Manager of the Year.

 

As the cluster director of people and culture for Como Hotels and Resorts in London, Tweddell leads a team of five to oversee HR across Como Metropolitan London, Como the Halkin, Monarch House, Nobu Park Lane, and Labombe by Trivet.

 

In her role, Tweddell manages the employee lifecycle, from recruitment and onboarding to performance management and offboarding. Her influence is seen at the very start of an employee’s journey, during their induction, which Tweddell helped to redesign to align with both business needs and employee experience. The new induction process includes Como Core workshops tailored to specific roles, a 12-week learning pathways for all new starters and comprehensive compliance training. This has delivered measurable results, with all departments now achieving 90% retention at the 12-week mark.

 

This retention rate is also down to the  career progression courses that Tweddell has devoted time and attention to. After recognising that individuals are often promoted without the necessary leadership skills, she introduced development sessions for aspiring and current people managers, with training focused on communication and team and employee engagement. This has contributed to a reduction in turnover from 2023 (42.9%) to 2024 (37.7%) and a significant improvement in retention at 70% over the past two years.

 

Tweddell and her team have also launched the Future Leaders Workshop, a 12-month development programme that prepares employees for management roles, with modules including finance for non-finance managers, interpreting proift and loss reports and delivering effective feedback. The programme bridges key capability gaps, blending theory and practical experience to equip participants to step confidently into leadership roles.

 

Such development opportunities have enabled a number of employees to secure promotions within Como. Over the past 12 months, 75% of her team have been promoted – clear evidence of her commitment to career progression and capability building. Beyond her immediate team, through structured training and talent and development initiatives, she has enabled multiple internal promotions over the past year.

 

Tweddle helps managers spot these high-fliers through a nine-box talent matrix system where, through a series of questions and key competencies, managers have been better able to identify the most effective performers through regular one-to-ones, enabling them to support succession planning, significantly boosting leadership development, internal mobility and retention.

 

Outside her day-to-day role, Tweddell partners with Elm Court, a school for students with learning difficulties, hosting employment insight days and inspiring confidence in young learners. Her collaboration with the Hotel School, which includes CV workshops and hands-on hospitality experiences, have led to employment opportunities for students, and her partnership with the Clink helps rehabilitate and reintegrate former prisoners into the workplace, reflecting her belief that hospitality can change lives.

 

Tweddell’s achievements, both impactful and magnificent, in the words of the judges, make her a much-deserved recipient of her award.

 

What the judges said

“Really impressed by the small but impactful initiatives, such as increasing retention so dramatically in the first 12 weeks, as well as the learning pathways and promotion of the HR team. Tweddle is putting people at the heart of what she does.”

Liz McGivern

 

“Tweddle showed a clear and tangible impact over a range of technical aspects of HR in a complex business.”

James Goulding

 

“What our winner has achieved with the resources available is quite magnificent, showing a full suite of improvement across the business and evidence-based leadership.”

Phil Street

 

The shortlist 

• Samantha Hamilton-Green, Dakota Hotels
• Rebecca Mannix, Crowne Plaza Chester (Valor Hospitality)
• Victoria Tweddell, Como Hotels & Resorts
• Sally Webster, the Savoy, London

The judges

• James Goulding, PPHE Hotel Group
• Liz McGivern, Red Carnation Hotels
• Kirsten Price, the Belfry Hotel & Resort
• Phil Street
• Sean Wheeler, Wheeler Consulting Ltd