Experienced North East Hotelier Rob Dixon has taken over as General Manager at DoubleTree by Hilton Newcastle International Airport.
What is your vision for the hotel in the next six to 12 months?
To continue the fantastic work that the team at the hotel have undertaken so far in improving the property to enhance guest experience and cement the hotels position as one of the best in the market.
What are the key challenges you anticipate in your role, and how do you plan to address them?
It’s always a challenge coming into a busy and well run hotel and to find opportunity to improve either performance or guest experience, but I’ve been doing this a long time and have a clear plan of what I’m looking to achieve with the property and the team here.
How do you plan to enhance the guest experience?
The hotel has been operating for 13 years now and has always been a popular and high occupancy hotel due to its key location next to the airport. We’re currently drawing up a list of priorities that will enhance the arrival experience and guest satisfaction in both accommodation and F&B.
What strategies will you implement to boost revenue and occupancy rates?
The hotel is already incredibly busy, and we have an incredible revenue team at Cairn Group who already do a fantastic job of managing our rate strategy. My key focus is to improve the on-site experience to ensure guest satisfaction means we’re the only choice return visitors to the area want to use, this naturally drives higher demand.
How will you ensure effective collaboration between different departments in the hotel?
I’ve always been incredibly hands on and work with my departmental heads on the ground to ensure I can experience their challenges and frustrations and look to alleviate them. By being present, with clear communication I find it makes teams more engaged in achieving the goals we set for the business.
How will you ensure the continuous development and training of your staff?
Cairn Group have one of the best L&D and HR departments I’ve ever seen in my time working in the hospitality industry. They truly focus on development and ensuring we never stand still when it comes to people. I echo that at site level and because we have been given the tools across the portfolio, it makes it so easy as a General Manager to oversee and develop our teams.
What is your approach to maintaining the hotel’s brand reputation and ensuring consistent service quality?
I have two sayings when it comes to consistency that have served me well throughout my career: ‘excellence is a habit’ and ‘good enough is not good enough’ and leading by example is the only way to build trust within our teams, being present and working on the floor.
How do you plan to stay ahead of competitors in a rapidly changing local hospitality market?
We’re lucky to have an amazing brand in Doubletree by Hilton, Hilton is constantly evolving and has a global reputation for excellence which is why so many people choose it, so most of that work is done for me thankfully. I just need to concentrate on the experiences we can deliver here locally.
Away from the hotel how do you like unwind?
I have a big family and as a father of six my only escape is the golf course when given the rare chance of a spare few hours.
www.doubletree-newcastle.co.uk