Hotel Cateys 2021: Extra Mile Award: John Angus

As managing director of Switch Hospitality, John Angus runs the hotel management company and the properties it operates across the Midlands. While his main preoccupation is looking after guests at hotels including Park Regis Birmingham, Holiday Inn Express (Birmingham South) and Nite Nite Birmingham, during the Covid pandemic he turned his attention to vulnerable families.

After he met with Birmingham Council last year to review its vulnerable family accommodation programme with a selection of hotels during the pandemic, it became clear that there was no set standard. Angus accordingly decided that his teams would create that standard, which is now being implemented by the council across the city’s hotels.

The hotel contracts that Angus reviewed provided breakfast for families. Identifying the food parcels he saw being delivered as substandard, he was concerned that children were not getting a cooked or balanced meal each day. He therefore provided free meals from October 2020, and Swift hotels have supplied 15,000 free meals to children to date.

Not content with delivering sustenance, Angus was also concerned for the overall welfare of families requiring housing support as a result of domestic violence and other issues. Dismayed by families arriving in the hotels with their belongings in black bin bags, he ensured that when each family left a hotel, they would do so equipped with suitcases.

 
A collection was taken and suitable suitcases distributed. And to ensure that the families had something to put in those suitcases, he arranged collections of clothing, which was then distributed among those in need.

As if all that weren’t enough, the hotelier decided the children needed some Christmas cheer after such a turbulent year. He partnered with Birmingham Round Table to provide Christmas gifts for all the children, which were presented by Santa Claus in a sleigh.

To date, more than 1,000 families have been rehomed by Birmingham Council following a significantly improved hotel experience, thanks to Angus’s input, whether or not that hotel was a Switch Hospitality venue.

Speaking as the 10,000th free lunch was handed out at a Switch Hospitality property earlier this year, Birmingham councillor and housing portfolio holder Sharon Thompson praised the efforts of the business under Angus’s leadership. She said: “The families placed in Switch properties receive a cooked breakfast every morning, access to all hotel services, guaranteed high standards of cleanliness and housekeeping, and access to WiFi. Switch has also provided the families with free lunches. I would like to thank them for their generosity in doing this. They have gone above and beyond with vulnerable families.”

The efforts of Angus are best summed up by his colleague, group sales director Ryan Doyle. He says: “John identified poor standards in place, with many hotels viewing emergency accommodation as a short-term revenue generator rather than an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life during such tough times. John worked tirelessly to ensure standards for temporary housing contracts were implemented across the city, including hotels outside our portfolio, to ensure a higher quality of life for those living in emergency accommodation during the pandemic.”

Past winners

2019 Aaron Patterson, Hambleton Hall

2018 Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park London

2017 Edward Bracken, Crowne Plaza London Kensington

2016 Crowne Plaza Leeds team

2015 Chris Penn, Ace Hotel London Shoreditch

2014 Sylla ‘Amara’ Ibrahima, Park Plaza County Hall London

2013 David Mead-Male, Royal Crescent hotel, Bath

2012 The Langstone Hotel and South Downs College, Hampshire

2011 Veronica Kingham, Village hotel, Maidstone

2010 Fiona Simm, Crowne Plaza Cambridge

2009 Gary Gateley, Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury

2008 Gloucester East (Barnwood) Premier Inn

2007 Paula Middleton, Premier Inn