Hotel Cateys 2024: Front of House Manager of the Year – Charlotte Karadag, De Vere Tortworth Court

Charlotte Karadag oversees a wide brief that influences a number of departments which deliver exceptional guest experiences at the De Vere Tortworth Court. Her primary areas of responsibility include front office, nights, concierge, guest relations and duty managers, as well as the entire rooms division, including housekeeping, across the hotel’s 201 rooms.

With such wide-ranging responsibility, her leadership is crucial in maintaining the high standards of the hotel. She manages the implementation of hotel technology systems such as Opera Cloud, Saba Guest Service, Synergy and Perfect Room, spearheads strategic initiatives to improve the guest journey and ensures the team are given the tools to deliver outstanding service.

This responsibility involves a focus on developing colleagues to deliver and, with Karadag’s guidance, an Emerging Leaders programme has become a cornerstone of the hotel’s talent development efforts. She has mentored 11 team members through the programme, which includes an 18-month apprenticeship, and her mentorship has resulted in five team members being promoted to supervisory positions, with two advancing to assistant management roles.

Karadag has also been instrumental in implementing recognition initiatives that celebrate team achievements and boost morale. Her introduction of a guest performance tracker to acknowledge the efforts of the front and back of house team is a case in point,  demonstrating her commitment to recognising and rewarding her colleagues.

Meanwhile, she has achieved record incremental revenue – the highest in the De Vere Group – through her strategic approach to optimising systems such as Synergy and Perfect Room. By implementing upselling techniques and training her team to identify opportunities, Karadag has not only boosted the hotel’s financial success but also improved total revenue per available room by implementing a system for early check-ins, which has driven food and beverage spend.

However, she also leads from the front to demonstrate outstanding guest care. One such example is when she received a call from a guest cancelling their room due to her husband having a heart attack. A few days later Karadag re-contacted the woman to see how her husband was and they kept in touch. The guest later re-booked and Karadag ensured the couple had the best suite in the hotel to ensure their stay was memorable.

All of this attention to detail has reaped results, with her leadership of front office last year driving room revenue to its highest ever total, with a £1.2m increase year-on-year. No wonder she has recently been promoted to rooms division manager.

What the judges said

“A wonderful example of a true leader who not only embraces her team but coaches and mentors them while engaging with the broader industry and her local community.”

Peter Bradley

“Charlotte is an extremely well-rounded front of house manager who shows drive and passion for the future of the industry in her mentoring of future leaders.”

Ailsa Le Poidevin