At English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues, we like to nurture our teams and provide opportunities for staff to train, develop their skills and progress through the company.
Career Progression In Hospitality at Lancaster House
It’s heartening to see two team members from Lancaster House Hotel rise through the ranks from relatively junior positions to attain managerial roles.
Lynn Porter and Harry Newton have started their new jobs as deputy managers at the venue, helping general manager Emma Underwood to oversee the day and night, round the clock operations of the hotel.
Originally from Keswick, Lynn started her career at Lancaster House as a waitress back in 2010. She saw the chance to carve out a fruitful career here and took on a number of roles with greater responsibilities, including work as a restaurant and banqueting supervisor and as a front of house receptionist. She was then promoted to reception manager before her latest role.
Harry meanwhile was looking for work on his home patch in 2016 and landed a job at the hotel initially as a member of the bar staff. He quickly progressed to become assistant restaurant and banqueting manager and then restaurant and bar manager.
"When I first started in the hospitality industry, I had no inkling of where it might take me. This is an exciting new management role for us both and we’re looking forward to helping Emma take the venue forward, expand our corporate and conferencing offer and maintain the high standards we set ourselves for guests."
Lynn and Harry’s promotions have been part of a restructuring process and are helping to kickstart a modernisation programme at the venue. Kitchen and front of house customer service teams have been re-organised for greater efficiency, whilst a series of improvement works and upgrades to facilities are underway. These include new EV charging points and convenient new check-in and room access systems.
"It’s really important to us that staff can see a path for career progression within the group and the appointment of Lynn and Harry as deputy managers shows what is possible. Both started in relatively junior roles but have proved themselves as real assets with strong managerial skills to support our efforts and inspire the team to deliver highly enjoyable stays for our guests. We still have a few vacancies available at Lancaster House in a variety of different hospitality roles and who knows where that can lead you."