Acorn winners 2012 – Claire Livingston
Age 29
Position General manager, Jurys Inn Edinburgh
Nominator Deborah Taylor
Proudest career moment Being promoted to general manager of Jurys Inn Edinburgh at the age of 27.
Greatest inspiration My mother. She taught me from a young age that anything is possible as long as you work hard. She has always encouraged me to push myself and to be the best I can be. With this encouragement I have been able to achieve a lot of my goals already.
Ambition Ultimately to become CEO of a successful hotel chain.
After graduating in Hospitality and Tourism Management, in 2004 Claire Livingston took a job in reservations at Edinburgh's Paramount Carlton hotel. By the following year, she had been promoted to events manager and was soon handling more than £1m of business.
Her Jurys Inn journey began in 2007 when she took the sales manager role at its Edinburgh property. Her talent in garnering over £100,000 worth of new accounts in her first year was noted, and in 2008 she was promoted to revenue manager. Claire excelled and in 2009 became deputy general manager of the hotel. Under her stewardship, it achieved Gold in the Green Tourism Business Scheme and won several industry awards for sustainable tourism. Last year, Claire was named general manager. She now has 11 managers and 60 staff reporting into her, and under her guidance the hotel generates £3m in bottom line revenue.
