Carla Foster had never imagined that she would become a PA when she went to university to study for a qualification in the hospitality industry. “I just fell into it as a career,” she says. “After I graduated, I applied to Marriott and went to the company’s Grosvenor Square Hotel in London to work in events.
“But there was a huge amount of excitement about their new hotel in Holborn and on the notice board a vacancy was advertised: for an executive assistant to the general manager. Five minutes into my interview I was told that I had the job; two weeks later I started work in the pre-opening office around the corner.”
That was in August 2000, when the huge former Pearl Assurance buildings were being converted into the 356-bedroom five-star Renaissance Hotel.
Today, beyond its magnificent courtyard entrance, there is a spa and a plaudit-winning restaurant, Pearl, but Carla remembers: “There were hiccups and we were late opening, but we finally got there on December 16. It was extraordinary leaving work on the Friday evening and seeing the place still a building site, and by Monday seeing the lobby transformed and the first people walking in. It was nerve-racking.
“It was an appalling time to open: we had September 11, followed by the Iraq War. But despite everything, the business has built up well — we have an occupancy rate of 78 per cent and there is always something happening.
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“I love my job — it’s varied and interesting with a lot of responsibility. For example, I deal with most of our VIP guests.”
Carla, 31, is one of 350 employees from all over the world. Her boss, Richard Lyon, general manager for the past three years, says: “The staff represent 52 different nationalities — 20 per cent of them are British, and the average age is 25 to 28. We have a 40 per cent annual staff turnover. So many people come to London for 18 months to put a five-star hotel on their CV — and it doesn’t matter how well you treat them, they are not going to stay.
“But we don’t lack team spirit: on July 7, when travel in the capital was difficult and police were advising people to stay put, our first shift voluntarily did a second, many working 36 hours, and there was not a murmur of complaint. It was very busy that day, with a rush of people into the hotel as a safe haven. The police evacuated their own building, setting up an incident room in our ballroom.
“We kept everyone fed and watered and our staff helped maintain everyone’s spirits. It was a case of neighbours helping neighbours.
“I’m always helped by Carla,” says Richard. “She is so committed and even in temperament. She is very much the stabilising influence in our working partnership.”
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Richard is Marriott’s international manager of the year, and the Renaissance has been nominated for best large hotel. He has certainly worked for it, having been in hotels since he went to the Savoy 34 years ago, aged 16. In his 25 years with Marriott, the group has grown from one hotel in London to 70 throughout the UK, employing 11,000 people.
Richard’s career has taken him to Hungary, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and France. He has never wanted to do anything else, which is just as well, because 12-hour working days are the norm and weekends are not always his own. He says: “The joy of the job is that it is all about interacting with people and most of them are delightful.”
He and Carla particularly remember the time that Kevin Costner stayed and asked for a supply of videos.
“Unfortunately,” Richard says, “Holborn is not the kind of place that has a video shop.
“But then our youngest member of staff, a pageboy called James Kalarus, who was just 16, said he belonged to Blockbuster but his membership card was at home.
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“He and Costner climbed into this big limo and went to James’s mum’s house in Shoreditch. His gran was there as well.
James got out and said: ‘You’ll never guess who I’ve got in the car’.”
ROSALIND RENSHAW