Charlotte Partridge, reception manager, the Cadogan Hotel, London
Education: seven O’ levels and four CSEs at St Clement Danes School, Chorleywood; diploma in accommodation services at Cassio College, Watford.
Training: most of Charlotte’s hotel training has been on the job.
First travel job: as a receptionist/cashier at The White House Hotel in Regent’s Park. Charlotte was promoted to chef de brigade seven months after joining the hotel.
Career path: Charlotte spent four years as a receptionist/cashier, then chef de brigade, for a large London hotel, which gave her experience at the front desk, and her first taste of supervising others. She then travelled around Europe for six months before working at the Selfridge Hotel for six months as senior chef de brigade. This involved supervising the day-to-day running of the reception desk and working as shift leader. After a further two years at the Gloucester Hotel, where she had the extra responsibility of managing rather than supervising her shift, she joined the Cadogan as reception manager. Her hands-on position includes managing the reception desk and reservations office, allocating arrivals and being in constant contact with guests.
Advice for people wishing to develop a career in travel: “Hands-on experience is probably the most valuable type of training, particularly for dealing with guests. You have to be prepared to work your way up from the bottom – in fact it prepares you far better for a management role because you have been there and done it yourself. Most importantly, your first love has to be for the job, not for the money!”