ANNA WADCOCK General Manager, Maldron Hotel Newcastle
Did you always envisage a career in the hotel industry? Hospitality was definitely a career by chance, I took on a role whilst studying and fell in love with the buzz of working in hotels and never looked back. Briefly tell us about your career path so far? I started as a receptionist in 2000, gradually working my way up through different roles within the hotel from reservations, operations and to my first GM role at a property near Manchester Airport in 2010. Since then I’ve managed a variety of different styles of property, from country house hotel’s with golf courses, spa resorts and then large city centre properties around different areas of the country. You are now General Manager at the Maldron Hotel. Tell us about the range of facilities you have? My property is one of the largest in the city with 265 bedrooms, four meeting rooms with video conferencing facilities, Grain & Grill restaurant, bar and beautiful courtyard. Our location is a great asset as we are the most central four star hotel in Newcastle. Our guests love being so close to what our amazing city has to offer, from the shops and nightlife to the great transport connections for business visits. Each room is designed with comfort in mind, our beds are bespoke to the group and amazingly comfortable, lovely rainforest showers and TVs with chrome cast. Our food is fantastic with great dining options and the breakfast the next day is lovely, plenty of choice and very tasty. How did you adapt to working through the pandemic? The team have been amazing, we initially went down to a core team of nine people who worked across all the functions around the clock, the rest of the team were furloughed and for that support from the government I am eternally grateful as having only opened and built the team up within the 18 months prior to the pandemic, it was heart wrenching to see the team go off for an unknown period of time. The core team were quite simply superstars! We all cooked, cleaned bedrooms and did everything we needed to keep the hotel operating for the reduced number of guests we had in house. We have looked after doctors from the RVI after nightshifts who have needed some crucial sleep, from key workers who have kept the country moving and many who have had loved ones in hospitals nearby. We have been very proud to be able to care for these guests during such a difficult time. Tell us about your team? I am extremely proud of the team here at the hotel, we are very much a work family and this past year has proved this even more. Everyone has operated out of their comfort zones on a regular basis but with such positivity and a can-do attitude. They have rolled with every adjustment that we had to encounter, the tiers, curfews and more recently delivering outside dining in the Newcastle weather! Now we have indoor hospitality back its wonderful to have guests around the hotel properly again. Now we are returning to some normality what are your future plans? As we were only in our second year of trading when everything hit, it is all about rebuilding the business and fully establishing ourselves in the city. Not only as an accommodation & hospitality venue but also as a part of the community and as a key employer and creator of careers. We work closely with Newcastle United Foundation and their Prince’s Trust programmes and we are looking at other options we can work together on to assist rebuilding people’s perceptions of hospitality as a career. Hospitality has had such a rough road this past year, so we are reengaging with the workforce and also looking at who could choose hospitality as a career path following their schooling. What is the Maldron’s greatest asset? Without question it is our team, the smiling faces that greet the clients daily and work tirelessly to deliver our fantastic level of service. I thoroughly enjoy working with my team here and its just great to have them all back now. Away from the Hotel how do you like to unwind? Spending time with friends and family, especially since we have not been able to do that properly over the past year. What is your favourite book and boxset? I love a good crime novel and same goes really from a series point of view, I love Vera and who from the North East doesn’t?