Meet Joanne Taylor-Stagg, General Manager of The Athenaeum Hotel & Residences.
A day in the life of the General Manager at The Athenaeum Hotel & Residences during these unprecedented times: From facilitating community support to adapting the hotel’s operations based on the daily briefing, Joanne gives us a peek into a day in her life at the hotel during lockdown.
Joanne joined The Athenaeum in February 2019 as General Manager. Originally from South Africa, Joanne has over 25 years’ experience in hospitality and can often be found mingling with guests, providing them with the ‘magic’ experience that she so fondly teaches her team about.
A (far from) average day
6am – Wake up with a gorgeous view of Green Park and have a cup of coffee to get me going. I’m currently staying at the hotel for 4 days a week, as we are open to key workers and long term residents. The Athenaeum is home for a few guests and it’s important to us that we maintain our usual standards in these challenging times for them.
6:30am – Head to the gym for a quick workout. Currently, we are only allowing one person in the gym at a time, and it is fully sanitised after each use.
8am – I walk the hotel to speak with my team to receive an update on anything that has happened overnight or that we need to share. Currently, we have two operational teams of 12 that live in the hotel on a rotational basis and change on a Monday to minimise the risk of travelling. The team comprises people from reception, housekeeping, maintenance, food and beverage and chefs.
11:30am – We have lunch together every day. When you have such a small team it becomes more important than ever to keep communications flowing. We naturally need to share the business information, equally important is team bonding; we totally rely on each other. One of the most inspiring things is hearing how each colleague has formed a close bond with others they wouldn’t normally work that closely with.
Throughout the day, I also: