Recorded at the breathtaking oasis, ZOYA Health & Wellbeing Resort, in this week's episode of YNGH podcast Mark is joined by ZOYA’s VP of Business Development, Salem al Said. Salem, son of founder Ameer Said, gives us an inside look at the UAE’s first fully-integrated health resort and its unique and holistic approach to mind and body rejuvenation. Discover more about ZOYA's incredible treatments and facilities at zoyawellbeing.com ....
Dec 22, 2022•19 min
In this episode of Your Next Generation Hotel Podcast, Tolga Lacin - Area General Manager of Marriott International, sits down with Mark to chat all things sustainability and the wave of innovation sweeping across Dubai. Tolga has 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry and tells his story along with fascinating insights into their sustainable initiatives to reduce the environmental impact across their properties as well as Dubai. Tolga is the Area General Manager, Marriott Internatio...
Dec 15, 2022•30 min
This week on Your Next Generation Hotel Podcast we sit down with yet another inspiring leader in the industry, Laura Eggleton, General Manager at Hotel Indigo Dubai Downtown. Laura chats about her career so far, transitioning from UK hospitality to the Middle East and the importance self belief has had in her career so far! Laura discusses her thoughts on the importance of work life balance and how she empowers her team to be themselves at work. Starting in the industry at just 13, Laura went on...
Jun 29, 2022•22 min
We are back with another episode of Your Next Generation Hotel Podcast and we promise this is one of the best yet! This week we sit down with Jaime Simpson General Manager at Jumeirah Group / Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts to discuss balancing motherhood with career progression, the misconceptions that impact female leaders in the industry and both the challenges and learnings Jaime has had over the years of finding work-life balance. Jaime is one of the industry's most influential leaders, not o...
Jun 16, 2022•43 min
This week, Mark chats to Casper Schonfeldt, General Manager of Trump International Golf Club, on what sparked his interest in the hospitality sector and his journey to getting to where he is today. Casper offers advice to aspiring hoteliers and emphasises the importance of guiding and investing in talent. Casper now oversees the iconic and award-winning Trump International Golf Club in Dubai, with over 30 years experience in some of the world’s most renowned Golf Resorts across multiple regions....
Jan 12, 2022•22 min
This week Mark sits down with Samuel Njoroge, Quality Assurance Manager at JA Resorts and Hotels to discuss all things business excellence and sustainability. Samuel discusses his path in the industry so far, giving an insight to his passion for sustainability and the journey in becoming Dubai’s most sustainable 5 star resort hotel.
Dec 20, 2021•35 min•Season 3Ep. 3
In this week's episode Mark sits down with Najee Syriani, Corporate Vice President of Projects at Rotana Hotels to chat about everything from culture to hotel design. Najee highlights the importance of staying agile to keep up with the ever evolving guest expectation and shares how Rotana collaborates with the local community to enrich a strong culture for their travellers. After 18 years in the Architecture and design space, a Masters Degree and an Executive MBA, Najee celebrates over 16 years ...
Dec 08, 2021•28 min•Season 3Ep. 2
We are back with Series 3 of Your Next Generation Hotel Podcast, this season Mark heads to the Middle East to chat all things Hospitality, with some of the industries best leaders 🚀 Our first guest this season is one you won’t want to miss 👀 We sit down with Nathalie Cockayne , General Manager at Meliá Desert Palm, to discuss the highlights of her career thus far, inspiring future talent in the industry, and how Nathalie stays ahead of the ever-changing guest expectations at Meliá Desert Palm....
Dec 01, 2021•28 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Jon Davis is the CTO of Village Hotels. Village Hotels operates 31 hotels in the United Kingdom, with a plan to open 50 by 2025. The company was founded in 1995, and is now owned by Denver-based private equity firm KSL Capital Partners. Jon has a fascinating background from the operations side as hotel manager to running his own hotel technology consultancy business to his current role with Village Hotels. We discussed everything from the impact of covid to the use of chatbots after analysing ca...
Mar 17, 2021•20 min
Jane Pendlebury is the CEO of The Hospitality Professionals Association (HOSPA). HOSPA is the Association that helps hospitality’s professionals to develop their careers, network with colleagues and keep up-to-date with industry trends and developments. They also have a crisis support page on their website hospa.org that gives super valuable advice around COVID with help on re-opening being one example. In this episode we discussed topics varying from the benefits of having a Minister for Hospit...
Mar 03, 2021•20 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Chitra Stern is the recipient of the prestigious Deloitte Institute “Accomplished Entrepreneur Award” at the London Business School, “Person of the Year” Award by the international Family Travel Association and the “Family Traveler Award” for special contribution to the Family Travel Market. She is an Electronic Engineer, Chartered Accountant and MBA (London Business School). Between 2017 and 2019, Chitra was on the Committee of Portugal IN, a special task force created by the Portuguese Prime M...
Nov 18, 2020•26 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Constance Hotels & Resorts is a collection of luxury hotels in authentic destinations across the Indian Ocean. Beautiful Mauritius, Magical Maldives, True Seychelles & Authentic Madagascar. Don't they sound wonderful. We were delighted to be joined by Roshan Koonja who is the Chief Information Officer at Constance Hotels. We discussed all things technology on a luxury resort and how it differs from that of a city centre hotel. Please do share with some colleagues and friends. We hope you...
Nov 12, 2020•18 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Jan Hejny is the CEO of HotelTime Solutions, a company that provides cloud-based systems to hospitality industry in the EMEA region. They develop, distribute and support 4 main products - HotelTime (online property management system), Vento (ePOS system), Libero (PMS for wellness&spa centers) and Confero (Conferencing&Events system) and currently serve more than 500 customers in 11 countries world-wide. HotelTime is a long-established independent software developer and provider of cuttin...
Nov 04, 2020•18 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Michael Bonsor is the Managing Director of the Rosewood London. An iconic hotel, an iconic brand and an exciting future. We discussed it all from keeping the team positive to tackling covid. Michael joined the Rosewood in 2013 as Hotel Manager before taking up the position of Managing Director in 2017. During this time, he has led the hotel to Forbes 5-star rating and Conde Nast #1 Hotel in London 2019. A true great in the hospitality industry who is leading the hotel into an exciting period whe...
Oct 27, 2020•28 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Welcome back to "Your Next Generation Hotel" podcast. Season 2 kicks off with Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality. UKHospitality is the powerful voice representing the broad hospitality sector – covering everything from bars, coffee shops, contract catering, hotels, nightclubs, visitor attractions and other leisure venues. Kate is facing the toughest challenge the industry has ever encountered with Covid-19. We discussed her suggestions to government on how to protect all that rely on this wonde...
Oct 21, 2020•25 min•Season 2Ep. 1
When brilliant, committed people come together, anything is possible. At a time when the governments' recent immigration policy announcement has understandably caused concern, it has been an absolute pleasure for us to welcome Louise Phelps, Robert Richardson and Chad Smith to collaborate on this episode to help the hospitality industry stand together and face our recruitment challenges constructively and head on, so as to stop them negatively impacting the next generation of hotels. This episod...
Jul 21, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Elaina Fitzgerald Kane is the 38th President of the Irish Hotels Federation, succeeding Michael Lennon. She is Sales Director of the Fitzgerald’s Woodlands House Hotel & Spa, a family-owned, four star hotel at Adare, Co Limerick. The 89 bedroom hotel, which currently employs 200 people, was established by her parents, Mary and Dick Fitzgerald in 1983. Mary Fitzgerald is a former President of the Irish Hotels Federation. A graduate of the Shannon School of Hotel Management, UCG and UCD’s Smur...
Jul 15, 2020•41 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Robin has worked in hospitality ever since he graduated from Oxford Brookes University in 1977, with his background prior to Bespoke consisting of a range of General Manager positions across the country, including the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews and the Royal Berkshire in Ascot, before becoming a Regional Operations Director for Forte Hotels, based primarily in Bath. Bespoke Hotels has grown to represent over 200 properties worldwide, and stands as the UK’s Largest Independent Hotel Group. Fo...
Jul 08, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Nassar Khalil FIH MBIFM has just been named an industry giant by Boutique Hotelier. Even by only looking at the list of roles he currently occupies it's hard not to see why. Nassar is the Owner & Chief Exec of Rogue City Hotel Group, Director of Hotels and Leisure at Henley PLC, CEO of his own independent hotel and hospitality consultancy, a Managing Director at no less than three hotels and a visiting lecturer at the Vatle Hotel Institute. If that wasn't enough previously he was also the He...
Jul 02, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Janice Gault is the CEO of the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation. On a positive day for hotels in Northern Ireland where the re opening date has been brought forward to July 3rd, we spoke to Janice about her time with the NIHF, how Covid has impacted hotels but more importantly how hotels will manage their way through this crisis. The Northern Ireland Hotels Federation is a not-for-profit limited company representing the hotel and guesthouse sectors in Northern Ireland; it's main roles are iden...
Jun 15, 2020•25 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Boostly is an award winning hospitality training and website design company which is owned by award winning social media guru Mark Simpson. Mark's goal is to help 1 million hospitality owners increase their direct bookings, cut down on commission costs and boost their profit margins. In this episode, Mark gives actionable insights on how to do that. In 2016 he became frustrated by the lack of online support for hospitality owners in Scarborough and Whitby with online marketing tactics, he decide...
Jun 11, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Just before Easter we had the pleasure of speaking to Robert Walton MBE. Robert is a recognised and respected figure in the hospitality industry and is President of the Restaurant Association of Great Britain. Having trained as a West-End chef and then becoming a hotel owner, he has unique hands-on experience and insider knowledge of the sector. Robert is the founder of The Nth Degree Global which runs some of the most prestigious hospitality events in the UK including the Michelin Revelation, Y...
Jun 01, 2020•25 min•Season 1Ep. 4
On this week's episode of Your Next Generation Hotel podcast we talked to Robert Richardson FIH, GM at The Grand Folkestone, boutique hospitality manager of the year 2019, and winner of many other awards (below). We discussed his own approach to the Covid-19 crisis as well as looking at how hotels can meaningfully incorporate technology to improve the guest experience. Below are a list of the distinguished awards Robert has won: • The Boutique Hotelier 2020 Power List – Young Trailblazer • Winne...
May 25, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Today on Your Next Generation Hotel we talked to senior lecturer Dr Nick Naumov about how he believes the hospitality industry can adapt and grow in a post-covid world. Listen out particularly for his insights into how rural hotels can leverage their location and what role technology has to play. Nick’s industry background is in hospitality management and more specifically, front office operations and F&B Management. Having worked in his native Bulgaria alongside the UK and USA, he is very i...
May 18, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 2
James Lemon is a leading start-up and travel consultant helping founders & enterprising leaders to grow their business in novel ways. His expertise in strategy & performance has been built over 10+ years in senior positions at IHG, Travelport, as well as COO of Series-B scale-up Hostmaker. James operates both independently under The Growth Works umbrella, and as a Partner at AJL Consulting, with a special focus on short stay and vacation rental management. He is currently on assignment w...
May 11, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 1
