Simon is a highly motivated and passionate hotelier with over 20 years’ experience in the 5-star luxury hotel world.
Having joined the Firmdale Hotels graduate scheme, Simon grew through the ranks before gaining extensive knowledge and skills at various hotel brands including Luxury Family Hotels, Hotel du Vin and The Atlantic Hotel.
As a result, Simon is perfectly placed to help with hotel management, revenue generation, people management and development, commercial planning and strategy implementation, guest relations, brand standards and food and beverage operations.
Recently, Simon has focussed on leadership training, hotel consultancy, and keynote speaking. Outside of work, Simon is a passionate triathlete and recently completed his second Ironman.
What do you do at Rockingham?
Founder. My background working with some of the leading lifestyle groups across the UK has seen me become a lifestyle hotel specialist. I enjoy sitting in hotels and getting a feel for the culture and ambience that has been created and understanding that.
What’s your career highlight to date?
The opening of the Southampton Harbour Hotel in 2017. The hotel performed incredibly well and achieved a 5-star status within a few months of opening. It was an incredible new build property and this gave me a real understanding of how to energise and motivate a team.
When did you fall in love with hospitality?
I was working as the pot-wash and servicing conference rooms for a local hotel as a part-time summer job and just fell in love with the team environment.
What’s the next big thing in hospitality?
I think we are going to see a lot of time and effort into bringing hospitality up to the level of airlines and retail when it comes to web journeys, how we book, how we check in, how we order. I think we will see more and more innovation in this space.