Member Article

Sleeperz Hotels Newcastle appoint youngest-ever manager

Sleeperz Hotels, the innovative UK budget hotel operator, has appointed its youngest ever manager at its Newcastle city centre hotel.

Tess Campbell, 23, from Darlington, has been promoted to Deputy General Manager at Sleeperz Hotels Newcastle, just one year after joining the company to work at its premium budget hotel near Newcastle Central Station.

Sleeperz Hotels is a fast growing innovative budget hotel operator with hotels in Cardiff and Newcastle and plans to expand into Manchester, Birmingham and London by 2015.

It specialises in building stylish design-led hotels on unusual pieces of land near mainline railway stations in the centre of major UK cities.

Ms. Campbell studied International Tourism Management at Leeds Metropolitan University and worked at Hotel Bannatyne, Darlington and at MalMaison in Leeds before being recruited by Sleeperz as reception manager at its first North East Hotel.

Mark Armstrong, general manager of Sleeperz Hotel Newcastle, said: “Every once in a while you find someone who has all the personal qualities you look for in a future leader and in Tess’ case her age was irrelevant, she was ready and willing to take on management responsibility and she is already making a major impact on the business.”

Campbell’s rise up the management chain has mirrored the success of the Newcastle hotel, which opened in January 2012, on the site of a derelict parcel works near St Nicholas’ Cathedral and the city’s historic Castle keep.

In its first year, Sleeperz Hotel Newcastle won a RIBA Hadrian Award from the Royal Institute of British Architects for architectural excellence and was described by The Guardian’s hotel critic as a “trendier version of a Premier Inn.”

Ms. Campbell, said: “Sleeperz Hotels has an innovative business model where staff work across all departments of the hotel, learning to excel in everything from housekeeping to food and beverage and customer relations.

I’m thrilled to have secured my first management role with the company because we all muck in together and I get stuck into every aspect of the hotel operation. I am learning the business of hotel management in a truly rounded way that can only make me a better hospitality professional in the long term.“

Sleeperz Hotels demonstrated its confidence in Campbell’s ability by making her acting general manager of the Newcastle Hotel just days after she was promoted.

She ran the hotel and its staff for two weeks while her general manager took annual leave.

David Myers, chief executive of Sleeperz Hotels, said: “Tess is an excellent example of how Sleeperz aims to develop and inspire its staff.

She has the warmth and charm that people expect when they come to Newcastle and our customers inspire her to work hard and provide a first class service. We strongly believe in the idea that if you’re good enough you are old enough.“

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matthew Moore .