Member Article

Keeping it in the family key to hotel chain’s growth

The independent and family-owned Choice Hotels group has grown steadily from humble beginnings, after opening its first guest-house almost 70 years ago.

Now, with five hotels, three in Blackpool and two in the Lake District, its management team can boast more than 360 years’ experience in the industry.

The tradition now continues with its latest recruit, 22 year old Lauren Nelder becoming the eighth member of the family to work for the company.

She has started work on the company’s trainee management scheme and will be based at The Viking Hotel, a seafront child-free hotel with the “Talk of the Coast” cabaret club, featuring top name acts nightly and offering hotel guests the best entertainment in Blackpool.

As part of her role, she will shadow the management team, learning about all the different departments, managing staff and dealing with customer queries.

Lauren Nelder recently graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University with a first class degree in Retail and Marketing Management.

Her initial thoughts were for a career in public relations, after gaining several months work experience in a local PR company, but during her studies became interested in pursuing a career in the family business.

She said: “My PR experience gave me a good grounding as it enabled me to gain the confidence to deal with a variety of people as well as working under pressure. I’m looking forward to finding out more about the business and each of the individual hotels.

“Whilst they all have the same Choice Hotels ethos, they operate differently due their location and customer offer. It’s great working with so many members of the family, as they all have something to bring to the business and we can learn from each other.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .