We had the opportunity to interview Rudding Park’s very own Managing Director, Peter Banks, and Hotel Operations Manager, Nuno César de Sá.
Peter started his hospitality career at the Savoy Group as a management trainee, and, over the past 27 years, has been responsible for helping oversee the development and growth of one of Yorkshire’s finest hotels, Rudding Park. Peter’s right-hand man, Nuno César de Sá, also carries an extensive background in hospitality, with experience in running other 5-star hotels. Throughout the last 20 years’ at Rudding Park, Nuno has undertaken various roles, from managing the food and beverage department to hotel operations and cultivating an enthusiastic and effective team. Let’s see what the duo had to say.
Firstly, what can people expect to get out of your joint presentation?
“You can expect real life stories, fun, enthusiasm, passion, and certainly an alternative way of thinking” The duo will dive into the importance of measuring guest feedback and explain how best to act on it. Nuno tells us, we cannot measure what isn’t managed!
“It is important to close the guest satisfaction cycle. Some of our best guests now, at one time, did encounter some sort of challenge with us. An issue raised or picked up is actually an opportunity for us to show how good we are.”
“It’s all about how you deal with feedback.” Nuno and Peter explain the importance of having a transparent culture. “Staff should have the freedom and confidence to raise challenges. Avoid having a witch-hunt culture…”
“The key is to be able to capture and correlate the feedback and challenges and then understand the reason for it. Once you have that you can ask the question, what can we do about it?”
What inspired you both to jump into the hospitality sector?
“The ability to create amazing timeless experiences for guests, through passion, problem solving and always finding ways to improve customer service. Over the years we have had the opportunity to meet some extraordinary people.
“It’s not just a job, it’s a way of living and it’s in our DNA. Our personality is part of our job and that creates the culture of the organisation.”
“We also wanted to be able to develop people, create leaders and be mentors to the next generation of hoteliers. Our personalities and experiences enables us to build effective and engaged teams whilst having fun doing it. This culture creates magical moments for each and every guest.”
Peter’s career advice – “Do something that uses your mouth, rather than your brain – try hotels”
What advice would you give to your teenage selves?
“Try harder, make mistakes, and learn from them. Do not create a culture of fear, work in a company that fits your culture and beliefs, move around and experience difference things. Hospitality, in our opinions, is the best profession in the world, no day is ever the same and the opportunities are world-wide.”
How would you define success in your careers?
“Overall being able to see where you came from and where you are now. Reflecting on your achievements and looking back on how you have improved and flourished as a person.”
“Being able to sleep at night knowing that you have done the right thing for your staff, guests, and peers. Ask yourself this, can you look yourself in the mirror in the morning when you are having a shave (or brushing your teeth) and feel that you have contributed to improve where you work?”
“Finally, competitiveness and proving the doubters wrong. Winning awards and validation from fellow hoteliers are also our motivators”
Concluding words
Thank you to Peter and Nuno for your insightful interview. Here at JudgeService, we love working with you and your team. Your inspiration and enthusiasm spreads throughout our team too. We look forward to receiving more insight and information into managing guest feedback and cultivating a culture where all feedback (particularly challenging) has a silver lining.
Are you a hotelier? Would you like to attend our event? It’s completely FREE. Look at our speaker line-up here or book your tickets online now alternatively call us on 01423 225166!