Sara Edwards

Sara Edwards entered the world of hotels with her first job on leaving college as Trainee Manager with Swallow Hotels at the Kings Head, Darlington, when she moved on three years later, she had worked her way up through the Swallow Hotels chain to Senior Assistant Manager based in the Eden Arms, County Durham.

Looking to progress and gain more responsibility she became Deputy Manager of Kirkby Fleetham Hall Hotel, in Northallerton, Yorkshire. In this position she found the job a real challenge, as the owner was present for one day a week only, she was totally responsible for all aspects of the operation including personnel. Learning a great deal in a short time using the ‘in at the deep end method’ Sara rose to the challenge and flourished.

The chance to broaden her horizons in Australia was an opportunity too good to miss, and Sara spent a whole year in the land ‘down under’ travelling and working holding the position of Restaurant Manager at the Gazebo Restaurant, Langley Plaza Quality Hotel in Perth for nine months of that year.

On her return to Britain Sara joined the Select Country House Hotels chain as Personnel and Training Manager at the Rookery Hall, Cheshire. Here, she was employed as the sole Personnel and Training Manager in the company, completely responsible for staffing and training new hotel employees, including management. The staff levels rose from 30 to 90 under Sara’s guidance. Whilst at the Woodlands Park Hotel, in Surrey, one of the Select chain, she was training the staff to levels of excellence in the hotel’s bid to reach 4 star status when they went into receivership, Sara was able at this uncertain time to maintain and improve staff morale throughout the receivership period. Her next move took her back to the Swallow chain to The Swallow International Hotel, a 4 Star, 417 bedroomed hotel in London where she became Personnel and Training manager, her responsibilities included, a £2 million annual salary budget, policy setting for company and hotel, implementing NVQ qualifications into the hotel and creation, implementation and delivery of all in-house training to name but a few. Sara once again achieved and exceeded all the objectives in her three years at the Swallow International Hotel.

Senior Executive, Regional Human Resources Manager, at the Forum Inter-Continental Hotel, became Sara Edwards next appointment, the hotel with 4 Stars, 910 rooms and a staff of over 400 is in London’s Cromwell Road. In her time at this hotel, Sara created standards for human resources which have been implemented in all European Hotels as personally requested by the President of Company Operations, she was a key player in establishing a European–wide Personnel Workshop on succession planning and was winner of the highest human resources operating and service standards within Inter-Continental Hotels and Resorts for three years running.

In 1999 Sara joined Claridge’s as Director of Human Resources, her track record and approach to customer care, service and standards that are second to none, fitted the profile of the prestigious Savoy Group and in that time they have gone from strength to strength. At Claridge’s she addressed and brought a reduction to staff turnover, she increased employee satisfaction and pride; introduced innovative reward and recognition programmes; the guest satisfaction ratings have also risen. She has introduced the Staff Handbook for the Savoy Group, and all HR policies and procedures for Claridge’s, including Equal Opportunities, Sexual Harassment, Recruitment and Disciplinary procedures.

An award-winning innovator in the Hotel / Recruitment field, Sara Edwards speaks with authority and insight - as only one who came up through the ranks can.

Feedback:
“Sara has a very relaxed style. She's confident, knowledgeable and engaging. She speaks from personal experience and focuses on common sense solutions to everyday problems.” Angela Austin, Events Manager, Business Link Surrey.