Acorns 2021: Amelia Harper, 29

Director of communications, Rosewood London

Nominator Mike Bonner, director of sales and marketing, Rosewood London

After finishing a business management and marketing degree in 2013, Amelia Harper’s career journey has taken her through luxury establishments including Harrods and InterContinental hotels. She joined Rosewood London in 2017 and within two years was made area marketing manager for Europe, responsible for digital channel revenues of £12m across three properties, as well as revenues generated by rooms, F&B and the spas.

Her strategies saw the European hotels become the best-performing region for digital marketing within a year, with a 33% growth year-on-year in email marketing revenue attribution and a 10% growth year-on-year for digital ad campaign revenue.

In March 2020, Amelia took on maternity cover for the area director of communications. Since then, she has spearheaded the hotel’s reopening plan, and secured £200,000 of brand partnerships to launch an alfresco dining pop-up and a home delivery service, which generate much-needed revenue after a long closure and involved a multichannel strategy across digital and social platforms. She has since been made director of communications.

Her ambition is unquestionable. At Rosewood, she has transformed marketing into a commercially driven department with impressive results: a 22% increase in website revenue, a 19% growth in email marketing revenue attribution; and a 92% increase in trigger campaign revenue, 2018 versus 2019.

What is the most positive people change you see for your sector post-restrictions?

“From my communications angle, it is the creativity and innovation our industry has shown to drive awareness and welcome guests back to their businesses. We’ve seen so many fun and inspiring initiatives, from terrace pop-ups to unique wellness offerings, finding new ways to tell stories and engage with our guests once again.”

Photography: Hospitality Media/Adrian Franklin

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