The winners were:
- 2017 HOSPA Inspirational Leader Professional of the Year for Hospitality Finance, sponsored by BDO: Cesco Righetti, Director of Finance, The Bulgari Hotel, London
- 2017 HOSPA Inspirational Leader Professional of the Year for Hospitality Revenue Management, sponsored by IDeaS: Anal Peu, Director of Revenue Management, Kew Green Hotels
- 2017 HOSPA Inspirational Leader Professional of the Year for Hospitality IT, sponsored by Opendoor by Keystep Solutions: Barry Thomas, Area Director of Information Technology, Rosewood London.
Presentations of engraved crystal trophies were made to each of the award recipients at the Royal Lancaster London by the Chairs of the HOSPA Finance, Revenue Management and IT committees Ð David Nicolson, Ally Northfield and David Derbyshire respectively. They were assisted by the sponsors of each award: Stuart Collins, Partner, BDO London; Warren Mandelbaum, Sales Director EMEA, IDeaS; and Andrew Evans, Chief Executive, Opendoor by Keystep Solutions. Also taking part in the ceremony were guest speaker: former England and Harlequins rugby union captain Nick Easter; and the host of HOSPACE2017: Pride of Britain Chief Executive Peter Hancock.
The three winners were nominated by HOSPA Fellows and Members, and then put forward to a special HOSPA selection committee. The recipients had to have: an exemplary track record; be willing to train and lead their staff; be totally dedicated to the hospitality industry, with the intention of remaining in the profession; demonstrate strong attention to detail; keep abreast of current codes of practice; and command respect within the hospitality sector and wider business community.
Commenting on the awards, HOSPA Chief Executive Jane Pendlebury said:
ÒHuge congratulations to our three inspirational winners and our commiserations to the seven excellent finalists who made the final decision such a hard choice. They have all demonstrated exceptional leadership ability and professionalism in, and dedication to, their chosen fields of hospitality expertise.Ó
Comments made by nominators of this year’s deserving recipients included the following:
For HOSPA2017 Finance winner Cesco Righetti:
ÒHe is extremely approachable and helpful. He has considerable depth of experience and a particularly strong commercial sense. It is evident that Cesco is very committed to the financial and operational success of the hotel.Ó
For 2017 HOSPA Revenue Management winner Anal Peu:
ÒAnal is an inspirational leader of people. He has implemented new ways of working and driven record breaking revenue performance in our hotels._ Anal created the Kew Green Revenue Academy to ensure new talent is identified and has a pathway to develop.Ê Four new Revenue Executives are in role, who will become Revenue Managers of the future._Ê He has created our ÔCommercial Hub’ structure, bringing all our commercial disciplines together Ð improving efficiencies and significantly increasing revenue for the business._ He has created an analytics team which provides the business with the best trend data to make meaningful decisions.Ó
For 2017 HOSPA IT winner Barry Thomas:
ÒBarry regularly volunteers to assist with many hotel technology communities of interest. He has proved to be objective and open-minded in his approach to reviewing technology. He is well regarded and deserves to be recognized for his efforts.Ó
Apart from the winners, the 2017 HOSPA finalists in each of the three categories were as follows:
- Finalists for the 2017 HOSPA Inspirational Leader Professional of the Year for Hospitality Finance: Mahindra Powar, Financial Controller, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park London
- Finalists for the 2017 HOSPA Inspirational Leader Professional of the Year for Hospitality Revenue Management: Jesper Johansen, Area Director of Revenue Management (DORM), Middle Scale Market, InterContinental Hotels Group; Natalie Grose, Director of Revenue, Jumeirah London Cluster, Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts; and Neetu Ganesh, Director of Revenue, Redefine|BDL Hotels
- Finalists for the 2017 HOSPA Inspirational Leader Professional of the Year for Hospitality IT: Ian Cowieson, IT Director, Malmaison & Hotel du Vin; Rob Paterson, Commercial Director, Village Hotels; and Shane Doyle, Group IT Manager, Jurys Inn Group.
