“Whatever you’re expecting, it will have evolved by the time you start.”

That’s usually the first thing I say to people thinking about joining our team. We don’t stand still here and I don’t mean that as a slogan. I mean it in a very real, practical sense.

There’s always new learnings, new ways of doing things and it’s by being curious about what can be done differently that I see a lot in my job.

I’m a Business Development Project Manager, working on new hotel openings. My role is to bring hotels to life; co-ordinating across Property, Operations, Procurement, Learning and Development and Recruitment so that when a hotel opens, it opens properly. Fully recruited. Fully trained. Ready for guests. And I stay with each hotel for its first 12 months to support the team through that crucial first year.

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What does “future-facing” actually look like day to day?

It means the work is constantly evolving. People sometimes assume new site openings are about repeating the same process, but that’s not the reality.

Right now, for example, I’m working with innovation teams on hotels trialling digital keys, where your phone becomes your room key. That changes how guests arrive, check in and move through the hotel and it changes how we train teams and support them operationally. Being involved in that kind of testing and learning keeps the role exciting and genuinely forward-looking.

We know what we do best – delivering a great night’s sleep, in a well-run hotel, with great food and great teams – that’s our bread and butter. But how we deliver it is always moving on.

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How did I get here in the first place?

I joined the business almost 20 years ago on the graduate programme and spent many years in hotel operations. I worked my way up through leadership roles and eventually became a Hotel Manager, running sites day in, day out.

One of my proudest moments was taking a hotel from average performance to a high-performing one. We earned an All Green WIN card, which at the time was recognition at the very top of the business. That recognition took me to Lisbon – but more importantly, it opened doors. I met people on that reward trip, I had conversations and started to see opportunities beyond the role I was in.

That upward movement didn’t happen by accident. I was curious, I asked questions, and I was supported to explore what else might be possible.

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Can you really move and grow here?

Absolutely — and I’m living proof of that.

I’ve never felt like there are doors you can’t walk through. If you’re interested in something, people will say, “Come and spend the day with me. Let me show you what that role is really like.” That openness is what allowed me to move from operations into training, then into new openings and, eventually, into project management.

My career hasn’t followed a straight line and I’ve never been expected to stand still. I’ve been encouraged to build new skills, take on different challenges and grow in ways that suit me, without having to leave the business to do it.

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Why do I love doing this role?

Because I can see the impact. I get to help build teams, support them through their first year and watch hotels I’ve worked on go on to win awards and deliver brilliant guest experiences.

For me, building the hotel of the future isn’t just about buildings or technology. It’s about people, opportunity and progress. If you enjoy learning, change and being part of something that’s genuinely moving forward, this is an incredibly exciting place to be.