Deirdre George

Experience

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  Various Positions

  Sept 1998 - May 2001

  Hilton National

  Four-star corporate hotel of 220 Rooms, Conference & Banqueting FacilitiesOver the two and a half years spent at Hilton National Croydon I gained an overall in-depth introduction into the hospitality industry. Carried out my placement year from GMIT here and returned after graduation

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  JURYS HOTEL GROUP PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY

  Jun 2001 - Apr 2004

  Four star corporate hotel of 192 rooms, Conference & Banqueting FacilitiesProved my operational management capability at this property working along side a strong people managerDrove F&B spend and increased overall operational effectiveness during my tenure Four star corporate hotel of 146 rooms, Conference & Banqueting FacilitiesA busy banqueting property prominent in the City where I honed my management and business skills with a strong business mentor.

  • Deputy General Manager

    Jan 2003 - Apr 2004

  • Rooms Division Manager

    Jun 2001 - Jan 2003
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  Jurys Inn Hotel Group

  Apr 2004 - Feb 2010

  Post maternity cover at Jurys Inn Islington was appointed as a General Manager of this 172 bedroom corporate hotel in a prime central London location.Improved the positioning of this important London property within the group by targeting the team to deliver over and above bottom line targets which was achieved consistently during my tenure.Led the property through a period where a Boiler imploded. Kept the hotel open and managed customer expectation with no complaints or loss of revenue with no hot water for five days. Consistently grew Revpar and AVR, ‘05-’08 31% & 33% increase respectively, supporting the overall growth strategy for the propertySignificantly improved customer satisfaction and loyalty through driving the team and operation to deliver consistent attentive service, achieving double-digit increases on our Mystery Customer Gap scores. Focused on team development within the property resulting in good career progression and loyalty with the key positions at the property providing successful managers for the group.Named “Hotel Manager of the Year” at 2009 Employee Awards by exceeding company KPI’s and leading the team and property into a high performing positive site through team development and strategy rollout. Show less

  • General Manager

    Oct 2004 - Feb 2010

  • General Manager

    Apr 2004 - Oct 2004
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  Jurys Inn Hotel Group

  Apr 2010 - Oct 2016

  Jurys Inn hotel group has 32 hotels in the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe who offer great value, stylish and comfortable accommodation in the very best city centre locations. Promoted to Northern Regional role as part of a company restructure and to provide structure and profitability to the Northern Region. Overall operational and strategic responsibility over 14 sites, circa 92 million turnoverDeliverables in Role: Led the region during acquisition by Amaris Hospitality and outperformed profit targets while growing all key performance indicators which supported the successful transition.Improved Loyalty and progression paths for region which improved labour retention and therefore saved cost. Orchestrated the achievement of the highest employee engagement score for five years running.Exceeded market performance through targeted revenue management and sales activity achieving a 3.9% Revpar percentage change advantage. Drove performance and the management team to exceed targets promoting the company to prospecting buyers and facilitated the sale of Jurys Inn to become part of the Amaris Hospitality group. Led the Sales and Revenue function both on site and at support level to exploit opportunities and mitigate growth barriers which resulted in the region beating performance targets consistently in 2015 and 2016.Coached and drove people with potential within my region to ensure progression and loyalty. Developed a number of people to a key strategic roles, directly responsible for six existing successful General Managers. Show less Achievements:Promoted to Southern Regional role to provide structure and emulate success of single site role. Overall operational and strategic responsibility over the 11 sties circa 60 Million TurnoverHighlights:Led and supported the UK South region which consistently outperformed budget during this period, drove conversion Improving profitability for the group and improving its standing within the market. Improved average rate and exceeded RGI % in the region resulting in us exceeding market performance against our competitors. Collaborated with the GMs and instigated a GM Networking group which met monthly improved support and facilitated best practice to improve cohesion and innovation for the region.Key player in the negotiations and subsequent closure of a DB Pension Scheme. Agreed improved benefits as well as mitigating deficit and bringing the fund into surplus within two years. Show less Was asked to look at the challenges and under performance in this property, to utilise my knowledge and experience to replicate my previous success strategy Crises Managed the hotel through “Ash Cloud” Week protecting the customer experience and maintained profitably. The procedure is used as a case study in assessment centres by Jurys.Through consistent targeted revenue management, grew Revpar and AVR and improving turnover and lay the foundations for improved performance and standing within the region.Identified and renegotiated key property contracts, made savings of over 110k improving conversion and setting the stage for improved market performance at the hotel.Instigated the increase of Food and Beverage customer satisfaction scores through targeted in-house procedures and initiatives which in turn improved turnover in F&B sales for the property.Improved market performance by identifying sales leads and driving revenue strategy to increase REVPAR Index and market share, which resulted in improved KPI’s. Show less

  • Regional Operations Manager

    Jan 2014 - Oct 2016

  • Regional Operations Manager

    Jan 2011 - Jan 2014

  • General Manager

    Apr 2010 - Dec 2010
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  Colliers

  Nov 2017 - now

  Hospitality Asset Management

  • Director

    Mar 2021 - now

  • Senior Hospitality Asset Manager

    Nov 2017 - Mar 2021