Dorset Cottage Holidays Weymouth

Mentor and Advisor

Infoquest

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Having sold Manor Cottages and thereafter working within the private-equity backed Sykes Cottages, i am.now working with small UK holiday businesses who are seeking  to grow. 

My key focus is to bring together the experience of working in both small and large holiday operations and thereby provide expertise in a friendly yet clear fashion. This is an industry that I love, but I understand the rigours!

Working with entrepreneurs I am listening and responding to their needs as they progress through the challenges of running their own businesses, while helping implement strategies which help them evolve and develop. 

Mentoring these business owners along their journey with an honest and unbiased assessment of their operation as well as opportunities (that sometimes can go missed when one is too focussed on the day to day.)

As an experienced business owner of 16+ years and 4 years of corporate/private equity structures I am well placed to help small businesses develop. Alongside this is the ability to help nurture the skills of the business owners. I am a creative thinker with an energy and drive that is now focussed on others rather than my own business (been there, done that....) 

As nearly all startup founders and business owners will attest, it's a tough job, but the success and excitement far outweigh the downsides.

Mentor and Business Consultant

Finest Stays

Business Consultant

Short Let Space

Sykes Holiday Cottages

Following the sale of Manor Cottages to Sykes and Private Equity, I gradually inherited responsbility for other brands within the Sykes "family of holiday cottage brands". This included Dream Cottages in Dorset, Helpful Holidays and Coast and Country Cottages in Devon, John Bray, Carbis Bay Holidays and Cornish Cottage Holidays all in Cornwall plus Manor Cottages and Character Cottages in the Cotswolds. The total portfolio was approx 3,000 holiday homes, and roughly 100 employees across these brands. 
The role included being responsible for the Operations and Property Recruitment within each brand, devising and implementing strategic initiatives that would allow each brand to be integrated within Sykes, to retain each brands' values locally and to ensure that each brand grew. 

Working with each "brand leader" locally i sought to harness each brand's USP's whilst ensuring that it delivered corporate targets across various elements, including:

Property Retention
Property Recruitment
Owner Relations
Property Management (housekeeping, laundry etc)
Property Support
Guest support
Employee development
Leadership

A challenging yet exciting role that exposed me to the machinations and skills of a corporate operation that is going through a huge growth drive.

Regional Managing Director

Manor Cottages UK Ltd

Lead Manor Cottages for 15 years to the successful sale to private equity in 2018. 

Manor Cottages grew to become the defacto holiday home agency across the Cotswolds, with over 300 properties across the region. As well as working with property landlords to maximise their property income, the business evolved over time to include Property Management enabling the business to hand-hold owners through the challenging process of owning and running successful homes for income. The landscape for holiday letting changed over the 15 years and with it Manor ensured that it remained leading the way linking with global brands such as Airbnb and VRBO/Expedia once they entered the market. Today Manor Cottages remains the number one holiday agency in the Cotswolds, but now within the Sykes Cottages collection of local agencies.

The business lead the way in the region for over 10 years and saw the creation of new competitors who were previously clients of Manor! 

Post sale, the team remained and since 2018 have grown and grown - a key part of the sale process to ensure that roles and invidiuals were protected and not lost.

Owner

LA MANGA DIRECT LIMITED

Lead the acquisition, relaunch/rebrand and subsequent evolution of the La Manga Direct brand which marketed holidays and holiday homes in the exclusive La Manga Club, southern Spain. The business was sold in August 2018, as part of a group sale

Company Owner

Cotswolds Tourism

Chair of the Cotswolds Tourism Board, a voluntary role leading tourism across the region working with tourism operations of all denominations with the express focus of growing tourism into the Cotswolds.

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