Acorn Awards 2024: Benjamin Sutton, junior events manager, the Grand Hotel, Brighton

Age 23

Position Junior events manager, the Grand Hotel, Brighton

Nominator Trisha Proud, managing partner, Partners in Solutions consultancy

What stands out about Ben Sutton is that despite being only 23, his CV is bristling with achievements. In fact, Sutton’s great customer service triggered a 6.2% increase in his company’s awards dinner attendance numbers – which translated to more bar spend and room bookings for the hotel, too.

Sutton’s hospitality career took off in 2019, when after a stint in retail, he joined the five-star Grand as a conference & banqueting assistant. By 2023 – and four promotions later – he had risen to his current role overseeing large corporate events, with revenue spend at £250,000 to £300,000 per event.

Keen to develop and a strong team player, Sutton often takes on additional duties, including acting restaurant manager. He is currently shadowing the duty manager and is also on the hotel’s supervisory development programme.

He leads by example, coaching and mentoring his team as well as chairing the hotel’s Think Grand programme to improve the employee and customer experience at the hotel and working with the Green Team.

Praise of Sutton as an inclusive person is borne out by the fact he signed himself up for British Sign Language and Deaf Awareness Training to better engage with all team members and guests.

He is certainly a committed champion of hospitality. As well as being a motivational speaker for Bridging the Skills Gap and a Springboard Ambassador, he runs his own innovative video campaign on LinkedIn called Hospitality 3 in 30. Sutton designed it to encourage people of all ages and skillsets to think about a career in hospitality, and has asked leading industry players to contribute a short video.

How do you go about getting the best out of your team?

"It’s important to acknowledge your team’s strengths and weaknesses and it’s also critical to make sure your team are clued in on what’s happening. This applies to both what’s happening on the day but also in the business as a whole. Knowledge is a critical tool for success."