International Women's Day: Secrets of success in hospitality

Ellesse Holness, centre, started as a dancer as a teenager but now manages performers at Albert's Schloss in Birmingham

The hospitality industry was among the hardest hit during the coronavirus pandemic, but as it begins to pick up now all restrictions have come to an end, the people behind the scenes at restaurants, bars and hotels are determined to be a success.

To mark International Women's Day, three leading figures from Birmingham city centre's entertainment district, which itself has seen a string of new venues open recently despite the uncertain climate, share their stories of striving to get to the top of their game.

'Working class women like me didn't work with wine'

Vic Platt said "moulding a role" to her strengths helped her achieve early success

When Vic Platt entered the wine industry in 2012, women were "few and far between".

"When I first started, so many older guys - proper wine buffs - would come into the shop and bar and I would ask if they needed any help and they would just ignore me," she said.

"But I felt the class thing was more of an issue, it is an elite group really - everyone who works and is drawn into the industry is from an upper middle class background."

After almost a decade in the industry - and managing an independent wine merchants in Digbeth, Birmingham - she said she felt she had helped "pave the way for other people".

"I have never hired to tick boxes," she said. "I have tried to get a good range of people, people from a working class background and ethnic minorities; you don't see black and Asian people in the wine industry either, it is very rare."

Vic got into wine "quite accidentally", working part-time in a wine bar while studying for a fine art degree.

But she said she "quickly made herself indispensable" and grew to be operations manager running three sites.

Her career has allowed her to travel the world on business trips selecting wines.

"I have been to New Zealand, Argentina, all over Europe, all over Australia visiting incredible vineyards and wineries and meeting Rockstar wine makers," she said.

"I have had the opportunity to travel the world and try the most legendary wines people only dream of trying, especially for someone with my working class background."

She said Wine Freedom strived to make wine more accessible, holding a range of unusual events including Wine and Wings, where participants learn which wine goes best with junk food.

"If I was to give advice to someone trying to do something similar it would be: Know what your strengths are and mould your role for yourself," she said.

"Part of why I climbed so quickly initially was because I knew what I was good at and used it to make the company better - I carved a role that wasn't there before."

'I always want to be the best'

"I put a lot of pressure on myself," said Laura Orrell, director of sales at the Grand Hotel

The week Laura Orrell began her job at the Grand Hotel in Birmingham, following a refurbishment, England went into its first lockdown.

The anticipated grand opening was halted, hoards of expectant customers did not arrive. And no-one at the hotel, which had just undergone a £45m restoration, knew what the future held.

What was meant to be an initial three-month period in Laura's director of sales position, promoting the business ahead of its opening, became more than a year.

"It was challenging and I would say at points quite heart-breaking," she said.

"You have done all of this work, spoken to all the customers, driven that awareness; they are really excited to start booking and you can't even open the doors."

When the Grand finally opened in May 2021, she said it was "incredible".

"I couldn't have wished for it to have gone any better than it has," she said. "The whole city was really behind us getting the doors open."

Her journey to the Grand began with a business and tourism management degree at the University of Coventry, despite initially choosing it because she "didn't know what I wanted to do".

"I picked something I enjoyed, I enjoyed hospitality, I enjoyed the business element," she said.

But her drive led her to climbing the ladder in a conference company before moving to Q Hotels as a sales manager and rising to become its director of sales, where she said she "went in, turned a hotel around and moved on to the next location".

"I put a lot of pressure on myself, I always want to be the best," she said.

"I love hotels - it is my absolute passion. Where I am now, I couldn't be more proud to say I am director of sales. That is what drives me every day and our amazing customers keep me going and keep me sane."

While the impact of Covid-19 is still being felt, she said her dream was to keep growing her team at the Grand.

"I definitely think 'Goodness, I've opened a hotel in the middle of a global pandemic'. It is a pretty big achievement," she added.

'You have got to want it'

Ellesse Holness can be working until 02:00 in Birmingham and travelling to Manchester the next morning to model

"It is so normal to me now, it is only when I speak to someone else I feel proud - it has been a been a journey," Ellesse Holness told the BBC.

She began working as a dancer at 18, which eventually grew to her current role curating entertainment at the recently-opened Albert's Schloss in Birmingham.

Being at the "top of her game" as a dancer, which took her across Europe, she said she had struggled to keep up with demand and eventually began managing other dancers - something she did for eight years.

"I'll be honest, at the beginning I do feel like it was a bit of 'fake it until you make it' - I didn't know what I was doing," she said.

"I think I learned how to talk to people, I was really good at selling - people always trusted me because I had good confidence."

When Albert's Schloss opened in December, she became its entertainment manager and said as well as enjoying seeing customers "having the time of their lives", she loved building relationships between the performers and seeing them enjoying their shows.

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"The fact they want to work more is always a good thing," she said.

Alongside all of that, she works as a model for brands including Pretty Little Thing and one of the biggest challenges she faces is balance.

"At first it was difficult; before Schloss I never physically had to be there, I could manage from home," she said.

"My modelling is based in Manchester and I [sometimes] have to be on set at nine, so sometimes I will finish at Schloss at 1am or 2am then have to be Manchester for nine the next day.

"It was a lot at first, but I'm adapting to it now.

"Organisation is so important, you need to make sure everyone knows what they are doing, you can be sending people to do a job, forget the smallest detail and it could be a shambles.

"I think you have just got to be passionate, so, so passionate, you've got to want it," she added.

"With anything there's a lot of bits to love, but there's always times you will feel like giving up... you have got to want it so bad otherwise you won't have the energy and motivation to climb up obstacles."