Kellie Rixon MBE FIH: Views from a hospitality girl… Home.
Hello from your resident hospitality cheerleader, digging deep to find inspiration on a cold February morning. When thinking about these columns I usually just write instinctively in a single throw, I write about what’s happening in my head at that moment and hopefully straight from the heart. Today I have one singular thought. A song resounding in my head and a message in my heart. Home. Now as Michael Bublé’s song rings loud in my ear I’ll explain what I mean.
It’s been a strange old month. Crazy weather brings out the crazy in everyone and from the devastating storms to snow blizzards and literally weeks of sub-zero temperatures, I’m currently based in Aberdeen, and it’s tough for us hospitality folk everywhere to stay motivated. As the month progresses, we fight with all the elements to get off to a good start for what is for most the final quarter of the year. Goodness we all wished we were at home.
My January has been an interesting one. In some strange twist of fate, I find myself right back where I started (not geographically) but running a hotel. In essence back HOME. It’s been twenty years since I was completely responsible for the running of a property and although it’s like riding a bike it’s not come without some revelations and personal discoveries.
So, back being a General Manager, what have been the biggest lessons I’m discovering in hospitality right now? Well, the biggest lesson I’ve learnt in the past month is that hospitality at the front line is much tougher than it used to be. Honestly.
The saturated market, the lack of disposable income, the lack of new talent coming into the sector and most importantly the virtual impossibility of the margins means that every penny is hard fought and quickly lost (get out of my head Bublé).
Guest expectations have changed too over the last 20 years or so. It feels a little like we have lost some of our magical operational power as hoteliers. That respect that came with our guest believing what we did was somewhat important, even vital, to society. It feels a little like we may be a little more disposable. In this time of quick fixes and new trends I can’t help but ask the questions – is the art of hospitality being lost? and does anyone even care?
When pondering life, I’m always amazed by the fact of when I ask the ‘big’ questions of myself, something or most often someone shows me the answer I needed all along. So, as I sat wondering if the hospitality of my youth was gone forever, I was presented with this opportunity to jump back in.
Let me tell you what I found was a passion for our people, our guests and the industry as a whole. I was relieved to meet with new talent finding their way into the sector. I was inspired by the loyalty and tenacity of our long-serving teams. For me, it quickly felt like home once again.
Next, I spent some time with the amazing team at IHG at their annual conference and left feeling inspired and very proud (I think it should have been me helping them feel that way). My hope was restored that we can do this. Their annual results blew my mind but more importantly spending a few days in the company of such talented, professional and really lovely people really did restore my faith.
So, I headed back “up north” with a renewed sense of optimism. Back to my roots in operational hospitality and I’m genuinely so in love with it all over again. I love seeing a team emerge strong and galvanised with a single mission. I’m encouraged by watching talent step up and feel empowered to lead. I feel a huge sense of pride when we get it right and my heart breaks a little when we don’t, but that’s life isn’t it? Home isn’t always the picture-perfect place we imagine. But we love it just the same.
For some of us home is 500 law graduates having the best party in your function room on a Saturday night and you’re producing 1,500 plates of food while the power keeps tripping. Home can be chaos too. But in those moments, it’s the people that make things amazing. The thank you’s, the laughing and cheering as the last plate goes out or the box of chocolates one of your team drops at your desk on Monday morning “just to say thanks”. That feels like home to me.
So, my final lesson this month is home (and more importantly hospitality) isn’t a place it’s a feeling. When I’m surrounded by people I care about, when I’m respected and valued in a place where I can be the real me, that is my kind of home. Now I’m not sure how long I’ll be in this position (it’s a temporary assignment), but I have to say while I’m here it feels just like home. I will love it, care for it, organise it, structure it. I will tell it when it’s wonderful and definitely tell it when it’s not. I will help in any way I can, because that’s what you do when you’re home, right?
