Happy New Year to you all.
So much has happened at HOSPA in January already - let me give you an update.
I believe the majority of The Overview readers know that Suzie Rose leaves us at the end of this month - she is going travelling around the Far East with a friend for a few months, and planning to end up in Australia where she hopes to find a job and stay for a year. Suzie has worked with HOSPA for nearly three years - so she has also had a busy January handing over. We all wish her well with her adventures. As is so often the case when people move on, Suzie is being replaced by two people!
Firstly, Jan Sullivan, who will be based in the Haslemere office. Jan will work closely with me to ensure the office and HOSPA’s membership and events run smoothly and efficiently. She is already a valuable asset to the team and she has fitted in well. I am looking forward to Jan keeping me organised and relieving me of some of the administrative work.
Secondly, many of you already know Caroline Leighfield. Caroline has worked with us over many years helping out with HOSPACE. She knows the hospitality industry well and understands all about HOSPA. Caroline will work part time and will look after everything related to HOSPA membership. Her IT background has enabled her to get stuckin from day one and is ironing out the last few ‘blips’ in our membership system and making sure all the interfaces and integrations are running securely and accurately. Caroline will ensure our membership data remains secure and up to date. I know that Caroline will do a great job and I am sure you will all notice the change. Having a single person focused on members will be of great benefit.
Alongside Jan and Caroline, Helen Marshall loyally works with us and our sponsors, whilst Helen Rhodes takes on many of the office based tasks - so we have a team of highly skilled professionals working towards a more powerful presence in the UK. We are a happy team - which I hope is obvious to you all.
This edition of The Overview covers the Professional Development Awards - a fine occasion at The Jumeirah Carlton Tower. This is the third year we have hosted this event as an afternoon tea - and we continue to receive very positive feedback. Thank you to all those that put people on our Finance and Revenue Management courses, and huge congratulations to all those who have completed the various stages of their study.
HOSPA’s professional development team is run out of our Wimborne office, ably led by Debra Adams. She and her team, Jane Scott and Gill Sommerseth, orchestrated the awards so we congratulate them too for producing such an inspiring event. Not only did we present awards to the highest achievers, we also heard the thoughts and opinions of a panel discussion, moderated by Debra. Harry Murray - HOSPA’s president, along with Liz Woodsell from Best Western, David Nicolson from Jumeirah and Roland Seddon from MRK Associates - who also sponsored the afternoon tea - discussed the challenges associated with employment in hospitality.
Finally, we are on the brink of announcing our plans for members’ meetings for the year. Hopefully by the time this goes to print, our calendar will be updated. I hope you will be impressed by the wide variety of topics we plan to cover during 2019.