"As Director of Sales, this role is all about being the face of the hotel.

It is about creating strong, genuine, trustworthy relationships which result in commercial wins. My day-to-day involves customer meetings, show rounds of the hotel, with new or existing clients. The role also takes me away from the property, visiting customer’s offices, doing presentations and showcasing our offering. There is also time spent analysing data, reviewing the pipeline, leads and strategically planning our sales activity in order to find business opportunities that will support in the hotel's performance vs budget."

"I worked at a wedding venue in my holidays from university. After supporting the weddings, and running them operationally as well as selling the weddings, I was offered a permanent position after my university course – I couldn’t turn down a paid role so I jumped at the opportunity to join the wonderful world of weddings.

I worked in operations, sales and coordination of weddings before jumping into the corporate world and joining a different hotel group – this was my first London role and from there worked as a coordinator, before taking the leap into Telesales Executive at a brand new sales hub in the central London office.

This was a hard-core telesales role - qualifying leads and booking appointments. After this role I took on my first face-to-face proactive role in Surrey as Regional Sales Manager. From that role I have worked in other properties including five star hotels, international and privately owned brands and now I enter my sixth year with Harbour Hotels, a brand I not only love to sell but enjoy spending my personal time within!"

"Resilience – don’t give up! Working in the telesales office taught me that. Some sales wins take a long time to get over the line. There is a quote “80% of sales wins are made between the fifth and twelfth contact”.

I think with this, don’t be pestering but do remember it is about perseverance, and also changing tact – be human, be engaging and be resilient."

"When I was working for another brand (Principal Hayley - Grand Connaught Rooms & Hotel Russell) back in 2012, there was a Sales Director and group of Sales Managers who I feel inspired me to take the route into proactive sales. They were engaging, vibrant and really inspiring. They made their work look fun and were successful within their roles. I ended up supporting some of their “Fam Trips” which enabled me to get my first taste of the proactive world."

"Every day is so different – our customers are all different, so the variety in the sales conversations is always changing and that is great in a role as it allows you to put different hats on! 

Naturally the biggest enjoyment comes from seeing the results from a successful business relationship, whether that be a corporate win, meeting win or a new local relationship. Some of those leads can take months to come into fruition so once it is finally over the line, and successfully performing, it is a great feeling!"

"I have had so many, but Farnborough Air Show 2022 and 2024 remains a strong highlight for my time at Harbour Hotel Guildford.

Some big business was won, lots of repeat business between the two Air Shows. And, getting to meet customers who I have won virtually from 'across the pond!'

We welcomed groups from the USA, as well as European locations and to finally get to meet them, host them and give them a memorable experience was a strong highlight for me."

"Firstly, identify your path and recognise ways to achieve your goal; be realistic in your timings but push yourself to uncover opportunities. Secondly, network within your work place and your industry, identify role models, create strong allies with your peers and don’t be afraid to ask questions to senior leaders, it shows you’re willing to learn and are invested to move forward personally and professionally."

I am delighted to say that I am about to embark on a real career highlight – from Monday 17th March I will be taking on a new role within Harbour Hotels, and this certainly an exciting move for me!

"I think a way we can drive the theme forward in our business is to create a mentorship scheme within the business. Identify some rising female stars (mentees) within the business and buddy them up to a senior female (mentor) within the business.

This should help support our younger women identify ways to progress and develop while also allowing our senior women to give something back, which is important. 

It may also support employee retention, as we can accelerate their progression through identifying ways to support in the mentorship programme."