Just how do you make a top hotel one of the best in the city, if not the best? Before he left for a new role in Cornwall, Simon Mahon looked back at his five years at The Grand York and how he helped make it the success it is today. Simon is Liverpool born and raised and was educated at the Universities of Brighton and Central Lancashire. He also passed a general managers programme at Cornell University in the USA.
The 51-year-old started in the hotels industry aged 16 and has worked from budget hotels to some of the finest, both in the UK and overseas. Previous employers include Whitbread Hotels, who have the Premiere Inn chain, as well as 5-star hotels in Asia and London. From 2005 to 2007, Simon was general manager of the Premiere Inn London County Hall, before taking a regional role with Whitbread.
He also ran Whitbread’s Park Plaza hotel in London for nearly five years until a chance meeting with its Thai owner, led him to the Lancaster Hotel in Bangkok for three years. Next came three years with Edyn, a large operator of serviced apartments, but Simon wanted to leave London, for a ‘special’ 5-star hotel outside the capital. His wife doubted such a role would turn up, but straight away a recruitment agent contacted him about the Grand York.
“From that moment, I knew I wanted to come here. My dad’s first job was as a newspaper reporter in York,” he said. Looking back at his time at The Grand, Simon can rattle off a list of at least 15 awards the hotel has won .
