Denis FrucotLinden Hall Golf & Country Club
Whilst growing up did you always envision yourself working within the Hotel Industry?
I fell into it as my parents bought a hotel in central France when I was 8 years old. I grew up in this hotel environment and started up working in it from about 14 YO. It is pretty much a vocation!
Can you briefly outline for the readers your career path to date?
After moving to the UK in early 1997, I worked for Hotel du Vin for 16 Years. I started as a breakfast waiter and worked my way up to General Manager. During this time, I worked in Winchester, Bristol, Birmingham, Henley, Glasgow and Cambridge. I joined Linden Hall in January 2016 and relocated my whole family in July.
Is there a mantra you always aspire to do business by?
Would I be satisfied with this? This can be applied to almost any situation.
We imagine that working in hotels can be exciting and varied. Is it really true that each day offers something different?
Most certainly! Not only each day but even each hour within a day, is different! Because of the nature of our profession we deal with people. Everyone is different and has different expectation. This in turns, make every single interaction, and there are a lot daily, completely unique.
What do you feel is Linden Hall’s
greatest asset?
Its people. I don’t know any hospitality business who will tell you any different. Without our team, we are nothing.
Can you summarize some of your greatest achievements to date?
We are in a tremendous period of regeneration so it is still quite difficult to pinpoint one single event within the whole year. I would be quite proud of re-establishing our golf course, closing in on one of the most successful year in the past 5 years and launching a program of outdoors team building activities.
Which ideas are you currently working on?
We are constantly looking for ways to make the experience better. We are currently getting a full decorating schedule for the whole hotel to get under way in January, we have a full schedule of bed replacement to start early in 2017 as well.
With various new hotels emerging only recently in the region can you outline how you adapt to the changing trends in the hotel industry?
Keep it simple. The trick is to never losing sight of what is important: our guests are loyal to us because we deliver what they want from us. Knowing your customer and what they expect is essential and usually, if you can give them what they want, they will keep coming back.
How do you relax after hours?
This industry can be quite punitive on personal life, so any minute spent with my wife and young children is golden and has to be taken advantage of. I do simply like to go home and see them. This said, I do have a soft spot for Cuban cigars and will invariably find an excuse to light up whenever I get the opportunity.
www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk
