What on earth is happening at the new Radisson? One day we are told by the management of the hotel that it will not be opening until just before Christmas. The following day the owners of the hotel come out and refuted this claim, insisting that the hotel will be open in the first week of November.
Apparently the construction team are working overtime to ensure the hotel is finished for handover in October and the owners, headed by Ted Clucas, are insistent that the hotel will open in November. It appears that the statement from the hotel's sales and marketing director, Lisa Stewart, was not agreed with the owners and not surprisingly they are furious that the hotel management announced a change in opening date without their approval.
However, it does beg the question who is actually running the hotel? Normally hotel owners who have signed over the management to another company, do not get involved in the day to day management of the business. Surely the team at the coal face, headed by General Manager Jonathan Huglin, are in the best position to judge when they will be ready to open their doors to paying guests. If this PR cock-up is an example of the relationship twixt owner and manager, then good luck to the team when the hotel does get going!
Radisson - who's in charge?
Recruitment - new hotels cause headaches for the rest of the industry
Now that the Radisson and Royal Yacht are getting closer to opening their doors (although I still cannot believe that the Yacht will be ready for June!), their recruitment programmes have started in earnest.
Bearing in mind the size of these hotels and the facilities they offer, there must be a requirement for roughly 300 new employees. From reservation staff to kitchen porters, waiters to housekeepers, these hotels need a lot of people to maintain their standards.
So it’s not unexpected to learn that there have already been cases of other hotels losing staff to the new kids on the block. At this stage it appears to be mainly at the managerial level – with one hotel having lost two senior members of their team to The Radisson. I am sure it won’t be long before the lower tiers of management and staff of existing hotels, are under attack.
Of course, you cannot stop people from moving companies. In particular the attraction of working for an internationally branded hotel, such as The Radisson, must be a mouth-watering prospect to many . This year, Jersey…..next year Cape Town. It means that everyone has to sharpen up their act, work even harder at keeping their teams happy and content with their lot. Nonetheless if and when hotels lose their best people to another hotel, the cost of recruiting and training their replacements is high. The problem is particularly severe within the kitchen brigade – good chefs are like gold dust at the moment.
What about the role of Jersey Recruitment in all this? They have been awarded the lucrative contract for recruiting the team at The Radisson. The issue is that this company is a division of The Jersey Hospitality Association which represents the whole hospitality industry in the island. Is it right that they should be working to fill one hotel, whilst other members suffer? I am not suggesting that Jersey Recruitment are head-hunting from within the island –that would cause them huge problems. But there is a perception out there that the JHA is acting as poacher and gamekeeper.
The next few months are going to provide some challenges for all Jersey’s hotel managers. Have you lost staff to the new hotels recently? Do you have a view?
