The HOSPA Professional Development Committee was delighted to recognise, at the Annual Awards Lunch held in December at the Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square in London, the successes of the HOSPA Student Award Winners 2014 studying during the past year on the HOSPA Education Programmes in Financial Management (ETPFM) and Revenue Management (ETPRM).
The HOSPA Financial Management and Revenue Management Education Programmes are flexible distance learning courses, aimed at aspiring hospitality professionals who wish to gain the necessary skills and knowledge to be able to manage a hospitality finance or revenue management department. The courses have been developed by leading educators in the appropriate field of expertise in conjunction with hospitality industry experts.
Cash prizes and certificates were presented to the highest achieving HOSPA ETP students, based on their results in each of the HOSPA examination categories for the Financial Management and Revenue Management programmes, for the intakes completing in March 2014 and September 2014.
HOSPA Financial Management Student of the Year 2014
This award was won by Margita Alsina, Accounts Assistant at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Glasgow for achieving the highest grades overall across all stages of the programme.
Margita received a crystal trophy and a Kindle 7inch Fire HDX Wifi tablet computer. She also won a cash prize and certificate for best performance in the September 2014 HOSPA ETP examinations in Financial Management for Stage 2: Operational Management Accounting.
“As a child during the summer school breaks my Dad would sometimes take me to work with him where I would be allowed to play with the fancy stationery and the photocopier machine in the finance office. It must be where I developed my interest in bookkeeping!
During my four year accounting course overseas I realised that accounts is definitely something of interest to me and that I would like to further my education in this subject. The next logical step for me was to take up an offer of a degree in Accounting at the University of The West of Scotland.
Whilst studying in university I started working in various food and beverage departments within a hotel. I could not imagine myself working in any other industry because I was drawn to the changing hospitality environment.
My studies were coming to an end so I began looking for graduate internships. My first opportunity was as a temporary part-time assistant role in the Accounts Department which soon changed into a permanent full-time role.
In the future I see myself developing my skills and gaining more experience to further my career in finance.”
HOSPA Revenue Management Student of the Year 2014
This award was won by Sharon Murphy, Revenue Manager at The Malton Hotel, Killarney for achieving the highest grades overall across all stages of the programme.
Sharon received a crystal trophy and a Kindle 7inch Fire HDX Wifi tablet computer. She also won a cash prize and certificate for best performance in the March 2014 HOSPA ETP examinations in Revenue Management for Stage 2: Operational Revenue Management. Unfortunately, Sharon was unable to attend to collect her award at the ceremony.
“My accountancy career began as a trainee accountant in an auditing practice, but since receiving my accountancy qualification I have worked as a management accountant in the areas of retail, construction and eventually hospitality.
My role as a management accountant in a busy full service hotel was a huge learning curve as I did not have any prior experience of the hospitality industry but it was a challenge that I enjoyed and I knew after a short time that this was an industry that I wanted to further my career in.
When the revenue manager role in our property was offered to me I knew that this was my opportunity to gain hospitality specific training and for me HOSPA stood out as the association that would meet my training requirements but also equally importantly, would accommodate and support online training while maintaining full time employment.
The HOSPA revenue management course has provided me with the foundation, tools and strategies to implement a revenue management culture and while it is a relatively new element in our overall hotel strategy, its importance is now recognised and the resulting revenue growth speaks for itself.
Although I have completed my HOSPA revenue management training, I foresee my HOSPA membership playing an important role in my future as a revenue manager if I am to ensure that I keep our hotel up to date with industry developments and trends.”
The March 2014 HOSPA Financial Management Education Programme examination prize winners were:
The winner of Stage 1 – Introduction to Financial Accounting March 2014 award was Meriel Johns, Cluster Purchasing Clerk at Jurys Inns, Brighton.
After ten years in various hospitality managerial roles, Meriel decided that an office based role would be a long term sustainable career move. Joining Jurys Inn as a Cluster Purchasing Clerk meant she was able to transition using existing skills of stock control and daily finance management but also contend with the challenge of learning and understanding about management accounting.
Commenting on her award, Meriel said: “The HOSPA Financial Management course has not only enhanced my understanding and knowledge, it has also helped in my involvement in a company project which has sought to streamline the purchase to pay processes.
After completing the course I want to pursue further qualifications to assist me moving up the financial management ladder.”
The award for highest grade on Stage 2 – Operational Management Accounting March 2014, was won by Thomas Fink, Assistant Financial Controller at Rocco Forte The Charles Hotel, Munich.
At the end of his school education, Thomas decided to start his Bachelor studies in Tourism Management at the University of Applied Sciences Munich in 2006. During his internship semester, Thomas spent one month in the accounting department in The Charles Hotel and finished the other five months as an Executive Trainee at the GMs office. Fascinated by an impressive team spirit throughout the hotel he stayed at The Charles Hotel for his part time job in F&B Service and, after graduation in 2011, became Administrative Management Assistant; responsible for several property related projects. Since the beginning of 2012, Thomas is again back at the accounting department, first as Financial Accountant and then as Assistant Financial Controller.
After receiving his award, Thomas commented: “At the suggestion of our Finance Manager Operations and my Financial Controller, I was offered to enrol on the HOSPA Financial Management Education Programme in March 2013 and have now completed Stage 3. During the course I gained a deeper insight into the management of numbers and the relationship between all the involved steps with the benefit of having better vision of the overall role of accounting in the hotel business.
For the future, I plan to use my project experiences together with my established knowledge of accounting procedures in new hotel openings.”
Stage 3 – Strategic Management Accounting was awarded to Chinthaka Periyapperuma, Assistant Finance Manager at Jumeirah Madinat, Dubai.
Chinthaka started his career in the Hospitality industry in 1988 with Le Galadari Meridien Hotel Colombo as a Cost Trainee in the Finance Department. His initial job was to analyse beverage sales and prepare beverage actual vs potential reports. He then learned how to prepare food & beverage cost reports.
In 1990 he moved to the Purchasing Department as Purchasing Executive and in 1992 he moved to the Cost Control section as Cost Control Supervisor. Three years later he took the opportunity to move to Emirates Golf Club, Dubai as a Cost Controller before moving to the Purchasing Department as Purchasing Officer in 1996.
In 1999 he received an offer from Burj Al Arab, part of the Jumeirah Group, as Senior Buyer. In 2004 as part of the Madinat Jumeirah pre-opening team, he joined as Cost Co-ordinator and was in charge of Cost Controls, Stores & Receiving Section. Promotion followed in 2006 to Assistant Finance Manager and Chinthaka took responsibility for Income Audit and General Cashier sections.
Currently, Chinthaka is heading the Financial Accounting section of the Madinat Jumeirah and is responsible for producing P&L, Balance Sheets and various monthly reports.
The March 2014 HOSPA Revenue Management Education Programme examination prize winners were:
The winner of Stage 1 – Introduction to Revenue Management March 2014 award was David Bell, Revenue Manager at Whitbread.
Upon leaving school, David went to university in Paisley to study International Hospitality Management and, having successfully acquired his degree, travelled to Portugal to work for a year with the much renowned Pousadas de Portugal hotel chain.
Once he returned to the UK, David managed to secure a position with an independent group of four star hotels and progressed through the ranks to General Manager of their flagship hotel & leisure centre.
Having achieved what he wanted to with that position, David successfully became General Manager of a prominent Gretna Green wedding venue with the Glasgow based consortium McKever Hotels & subsequent to that within his current role.
Commenting on his award, David said: “After over ten years in the hospitality industry I feel it is time to move direction career wise and I find the evolving nature of revenue management the avenue I want to pursue.”
Stage 3 – Strategic Revenue Management March 2014 award was won by Jayne Nicolson, Group Revenue Manager at Portland Hotel Management.
Jayne got into Hospitality Revenue Management whilst working for Holiday Inn Express Glasgow Theatreland, initially starting as Guest Service Manager.
As she had previous reservations experience gained through working at Hilton Glasgow, her role progressed into a Reservation Manager position and when the Reservation Manager at the Holiday Inn situated next door left, she was asked look after that property too.
After being with the company overall for just over 5 years, she decided it was time for a change and accepted an opportunity working for Portland Hotels to assist in the re-opening of the Glasgow Pond Hotel located in the West End. It had been closed since its purchase in April 2006 to undergo full refurbishment. She looked solely after The Pond for the first 3 years of re-opening, it was a challenging role as nobody wanted to work with the hotel, it had gained a terrible reputation for service along with being very tired, dated and run down. Utilising every contact along with a lot of begging and pleading to agents and companies to reconsider using the hotel once again, building its occupancy from 58% in its first year of opening to 84% in its third.
Jayne was then asked to take on a Group Role looking after 5 hotels across central Scotland which is what she has remained doing for the past 4 years.
The September 2014 HOSPA Financial Management Education Programme examination prize winners include:
Stage 1 – Introduction to Financial Accounting September 2014 was won by Keri David Jervis, Assistant Financial Controller, Village Urban Resort Cardiff.
Following the birth of his first son, Keri took an opportunity to work at a privately owned hotel within the Brecon Beacons National Park. Sadly, it was very much the “ultimate” Fawlty Towers experience. The Directors had rather a unique style of dealing with customers and most of his time was spent healing the wounds that they created. However, Keri also had a great time and was able to gain a great deal of knowledge and experience in many of the basic aspects of hospitality. When the property was sold to a care provider he made contact with Village Cardiff.
Keri initially took a position as a Head of Department before transferring to the Accounts team as the Assistant Financial Controller.
After receiving his award, Keri said: “I would very much like to continue working for Village Urban Resorts and these are definitely exciting times for the business. I would hope that my experience and the knowledge and skills gained through study with HOSPA will ultimately lead to consideration for a position as a Financial Controller in the near future.”
The winner of Stage 3 – Strategic Management Accounting September 2014 was Mahela Vidanapatirana, Assistant Financial Controller at The Royal York Hotel.
During the past 12 years in the Hospitality industry, Mahela has held various Managerial roles from Restaurant Management to Kitchen Management. At the Stephen Joseph Theatre, he became the Catering Manager for Sir Alan Ayckbourn. As well as the above, Mahela was the Operations Manager for a very successful hotel, where he conducted many weddings over a 6 year period.
To continue moving his hospitality career into the next level, Mahela joined the Royal York Hotel as the Beverage Manager and after 12 months was given the opportunity to join the finance department and was appointed as the Assistant Financial Controller due to his commercial finance involvement.
Commenting on his award, Mahela said: “I was happy to take the opportunity to study HOSPA and the qualification not only provided me with knowledge, but also gave me courage and confidence to take part in various financial projects such as budget preparation, various control measurements etc. Achieving the highest grade for Stage 3 in HOSPA was a highlight in my academic pathway.”
The September 2014 HOSPA Revenue Management Education Programme examination prize winners include:
The Stage 1 – Introduction to Revenue Management September 2014 award was presented to Sally Cory, Senior Revenue & Pricing Analyst at De Vere Venues, Staverton Park.
After completing her degree in Sport and Leisure Management, Sally moved to Ireland on an 18 month Trainee Leisure Management Program at the K Club, a 5* Hotel and Country Club and the host of the Ryder Cup in 2006.
The one department she had the most interest in was the reservations department so, following the end of the program, Sally moved to the Hilton in Dublin as Revenue Co-Ordinator which is where she got her first exposure to the world of Revenue Management.
Sally’s interest in Revenue Management grew from here, so when she moved back to England she was keen to move into a job in the same field and got a job as a Revenue and Pricing Analyst for De Vere Venues.
Sally commented: “De Vere Venues were a great support when I expressed an interest in taking a course in this field to further my development and they have sponsored me to do the Revenue Management Course through HOSPA. I want to continue down this career path and would love to work with an international hotel brand in the future.”
Stage 2 – Operational Revenue Management September 2014 award was won by Michael Crossan, Lecturer in Hospitality & Tourism at the Institute of Technology, Tralee.
Michael started his career in the Hotel Industry as a commis chef in the Carrig Rua Hotel, Dunfanaghy, Co. Donegal, Ireland in the summer of 1984 at the age of 15. Three years later he started his Diploma in Hotel Management in the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology.
When Michael graduated in 1992 he worked in three different hotel management positions in a number of properties in Ireland. It was at this point in 1994 Michael decided that he wanted a change of direction in his career and I undertook a MSc in Hotel Management at the University of Ulster at Jordanstown.
Michael completed the year and his masters and realised the lecturing path was one he wanted to follow. He started work as a Lecturer in Hospitality & Tourism in the Northern Ireland Hotel and Catering College in Portrush in September 1995 and remained there until September 1998. In December 1998 Michael moved to his current employer the Institute of Technology Tralee as a Lecturer in Hospitality & Tourism.
After collecting his award, Michael told us: “The HOSPA Revenue Management course has enhanced my understanding and knowledge of the area and I definitely know so much more than I did this time last year. Going forward I would like to develop my knowledge even further and possibly work with Oonagh Cremins in developing revenue management programmes for the Irish Hospitality Industry.”
The winner of Stage 3 – Strategic Revenue Management September 2014 award was Tessa Rowbottom, Cluster Revenue Manager at Hilton Worldwide.
Tessa started her career in hospitality at the Hilton Brussels 11 years ago. Her first role was as a receptionist after which she quickly moved to the position of shift leader. By the time her three and a half years there were over Tessa was the Diplomatic Relations Executive; a role in which she was responsible for the stays of high profile delegations.
For a further 18 months, Tessa worked as an Event Manager at the Capital Hilton in Washington DC following which she moved to the London Hilton Metropole where she worked as a C&E Sales Manager. The joy of bringing in large contracts was infectious and so Tessa continued as Assistant C&E Sales Manager at the London Hilton on Park Lane.
Commenting on her award, Tessa said: “During my time at Park Lane I got to do a show round for a member of HOSPA as they were considering the hotel as a venue for their annual awards luncheon. It was during this visit that I got to know the different courses HOSPA offered. Almost a year after this site visit the hotel announced the opening of a new position: Yield Manager for both Rooms and C&E, I was immediately interested.
Once in this role it was my line manager and mentor Kelly Ford that made it possible for me to do this course. I have been able to apply my learning in my current role as a Cluster Revenue Manager at the Hilton Head Office in Watford and who knows what the future holds in store.”
Learners awarded Associate (Certified) membership of HOSPA following successful completion of their studies during 2014:
Anne Alexander, Accounting Manager, Dubai Marriott Harbour Hotel & Suites
Oliver Broicher-Azen, Assistant Financial Controller, Sedgebrook Hall
Sylwia Bukowska, Accounts Assistant, Principal Hayley – The Met, Leeds
Craig Burns, Sales Ledger Clerk, Webb Travel & Moor Hall Hotels
Tatjana Djogo, Accounts Supervisor, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park
Tyronne Don Paul, Credit Manager, Jumeirah Beach Hotel
Laura Franks, Finance Graduate, Principal Hayley Hotels
Suzanne Howell, Assistant Financial Controller, Grand Central Hotel
Charlotte Howell, Accounts Assistant, The George Hotel
Rishad Hussain, Finance Department, The Els Club
Annika Kischkel, Accounts Assistant, Vibrant Media Ltd
Anna Kobylnik, Income Auditor, Principal Hayley – St Johns Hotel
Zaw Zaw Lwin, Finance Administrator, Maya Hyde Park Ltd
Aileen McKenna, Accounts Assistant, Grand Central Hotel
Andreea Mihalca, Accounts Assistant, Cambridge Belfry Hotel
Chinthaka Periyapperuma, Assistant Finance Manager, Jumeirah Madinat
Jolanta Pieczulis, Finance Graduate: Manager, Jurys Inn Birmingham
Nicola Shaw, Financial Controller, Principal Hayley – Ettington Chase Hotel
Svetlana Simcenoka, Accounts Assistant, Legacy Rose & Crown Hotel
Gavin Utting, Food & Beverage Controller, De Vere Hotels
Warren Foster, Area Revenue Manager – London, Travelodge
Sharon Murphy, Revenue Manager, The Malton Hotel, Killarney
Jayne Nicolson, Group Revenue Manager, Portland Hotel Management
Tessa Rowbottom, Cluster Revenue Manager, Hilton Worldwide.
The success of HOSPA learners is dependent on lots of hard work and commitment to studying whilst working full time. Success is also due, in part, to the support offered by the companies sponsoring the learners with their studies.
For this reason, HOSPA is delighted to award each year the Company Commitment to Professional Development Award. In order to be nominated and selected for this award a company must demonstrate commitment to professional development for their associates. This year the HOSPA winner for this award was:
HOSPA Company Commitment to Professional Development Award 2014 – awarded to Jumeirah Group in recognition of their outstanding commitment in promoting and developing education in the hospitality industry. The award was accepted by David Nicolson, Regional Director of Finance – Europe for Jumeirah Group.
