Case Study: 500 Years of Experience:

The Sharrow Bay is a luxury country house hotel, situated on the shores of Lake Ullswater, the most northerly of the English Lakes, near Penrith, Cumbria, England. Its surrounding views of hills, lakes and landscape are breath-taking and it has a peace and serenity which is quite unique. It is situated some eight miles from the M6 (main highway) and is described as the most sumptuous and exclusive country house hotel. Their promotional brochure states: "At Sharrow Bay you can escape to warmth, tranquillity and courtesy, to an establishment whose sole purpose is the guest's comfort, where kindness and love are as important elements of the hotel keepers art as skill and experience". They state that you can "do nothing all day and feel fulfilled at the end of it, more completely human, happier in your skin."

Nick Hanson, the General Manager was interviewed:

"Here at Sharrow Bay we have many of the same issues that every hotel has but amplified in that the local market place is somewhat smaller. To attract a young staff the location may not appeal so we need to make sure that it is not only the awards that the hotel has won that attract the staff, we need to make sure that geographically it is going to work for them as well. We are very fortunate that we have somewhere near 500 years of experience within the staff that are here. My Restaurant manager has been here 25 yrs, chef here 35 years, another chef 40 years. Head receptionist 20 years, the housekeeper similar and I think that gives a lot of stability to the younger staff coming in. It is ok to make a commitment to somewhere - I think there are just so many opportunities world-wide particularly concerning knowledge, that after 2-3 years it is time to move on. The senior team here gives a lot of stability to the younger staff, there is an awful lot of knowledge here they can learn and it is about creating a family really. It is not just a job, it is about creating a whole lifestyle for them, and yes they will learn about hospitality but they can also learn about life itself. We can help them mature in their own personality. We are keen that they do go out to college and experience what else is out there. We will send them to other hotels to work in their restaurants to understand how other people approach similar problems.

This is a unique hotel. The fact that it was run by Brian and Francis for 50 years, it was their house. I think they had quite a nice philosophy that staff concentrate on looking after the guests. All the decisions were made by Brian and Francis, staff had no worries or pressures to manage, just look after the guests. My philosophy is different in that our staff are all very mature, very bright people. If they are going to make a decision, it is never going to be wildly wrong, and I just try to encourage them to embrace that. They have far more experience of Sharrow Bay than I will ever have and they are in a far better position to make a lot of the decisions.

I think everybody is concerned with consistency. You are only as good as your last meal served but I think there perhaps needs to be a higher element of risk and that will pay higher dividends. Yes you need to empower staff but there is no joy if you don't appreciate that you have come to Sharrow Bay and it is different from staying at the Marriott - great hotels, great product for what they do. We have an opportunity here to be different and I think we need to embrace that. We would be fools not to take that opportunity. My chair, Mr Davis, empowers me to run Sharrow Bay as if it was my own. That is a fantastic opportunity. We can nurture local suppliers. We are a focus in the local community. Sharrow Bay means an awful lot to people around here, not just the people who work here. The local community is very proud of Sharrow Bay."

Nick Hanson, General Manager

Questions:

Investigate a small independent hotel and a hotel that is part of a large chain in your area and evaluate if there are differences in the way they empower their staff.