What does a woman have to sacrifice, if anything, to make it in travel and hospitality? Catherine Chetwynd talks to some inspirational industry leaders
AT A RECENT FORUM organised by global search company HVS Executive Search and the Leading Ladies of London Association, set up for female general managers in London’s five-star hotels, the participants all said they had made sacrifices in order to pursue their careers.
Buying Business Travel talked to some female leading lights who are buyers or suppliers in the business travel industry. More than one interviewee encountered an unsupportive or a sexist attitude from other women in their rise to the top, but there is one common factor in their success: they all had confidence in their convictions.
Simone Buckley
Co-founder and managing director of travel management company (TMC) Bouda Travel
“There is a seven-year age gap between my first and second child because of my career. I was managing director of Capita when I fell pregnant with my second child and when I told my immediate boss, she said: ‘Oh, my god, you are joking! What are you going to do about it?’ I replied: ‘No, this is good news,’ to which she responded: ‘I’m so sorry, I thought it wasn’t planned.’ During maternity leave I realised what I had missed with my first daughter, so I decided to set up my own business, Bouda, and have a better work/life balance. I was really lucky that I got to be managing director of Capita at an early age because I had [my husband] Tony to do the mum’s stuff. He made a sacrifice for me then because his career [had] suffered a bit. People think it is a god-given right to have a day off for their children, but if you want to be at home, take a half-day’s holiday rather than say you are going to a child’s sports day.”
Robyn Jones OBE
Co-founder and chief executive of catering company CH&Co
“I was made redundant in 1991 and thought that setting up on my own was the best option – so with no contracts and no clients, I sat down with a directory and phone, and started cold calling. The only advantage of my name was saying I was Robyn Jones – people thought I was someone’s PA and said: ‘Put him through.’ My husband and I started the business together.
We are a good match – he is an accountant and I am a caterer. I have not really made any sacrifices. I set up the business in 1991, my daughter was born in 1995, and my son not long afterwards. My husband brought papers into the hospital and we worked as team.”
Judith Gledhill
UK travel manager, business services, E.On UK
“You have to make personal sacrifices and not ask the company to make them on your behalf. When my son was five, I went back to work full time, but it got to a point where my career was not progressing. I made a huge sacrifice and moved to London with my job, leaving my children and my husband up north.
I used to be in tears driving up the motorway every week when I left my kids. After that, I got my job at E.On and for a couple of years, I commuted to Coventry from where I live at Alderley Edge, which was 93 miles. Now I work from home more because I had health issues due to the 14-hour days I was doing – I was getting up at 4.30am. My husband is a farmer and we live on a working farm, so he has always been around to pick up the children from school, and I was very lucky to have a partner who would support me. It is testament to the strength of our relationship, and at the end of the day, we are a team.”
Olga Polizzi
Director of design, Rocco Forte Hotels
“We cannot use our children as an excuse. Mine are now grown-up, but I remember well in the old days, I was the only board member surreptitiously writing food lists. It is jolly hard. I rang home one day and my youngest daughter said to me: ‘Mummy can we have some money for some food?’ – she knew how to put the knife in! But I was not a good mother and am not a good grandmother.
With Trusthouse Forte and then Forte Hotels, when my father was chairman, there was all the more reason that I had to show I could work as hard as anyone else. I was the only woman board member and I wanted to be as good as the men, so would not have used something to do with the children as a reason for anything. I am still the only woman – it is slightly lonely.”
Silvena Rowe
Chef, Quince at the May Fair Hotel
“I started a family very early, and the hospitality industry is unforgiving – this is why there aren't many women running professional chefs’ kitchens. [In the industry] a woman is expected to run a family and a kitchen, while a man is expected to spend more time in the kitchen. At the moment, because I am opening Quince, I have been putting in around 12 to 14 hours a day – my children are older and I don’t think I am depriving them. It’s my husband who does not see me as much as he needs to. He is very forgiving but three months down the line I'll have to change – I am not saving lives at the end of the day. He is my right hand – as a woman, you need to know your limitations and employ your team to complete the picture. I nag and tend to repeat things, and I panic sometimes, but he is there to support me and offset my emotions.”
Tracy Woods
Head of strategic corporate development for Europe, Travelport
“I did a couple of jobs which got me to WorldTravel, where I took on the role of e-commerce manager – it was the first in the organisation. The online booking tools phenomenon was about to take off, and the managing director and I built a strategy to move into that space. I analysed the tools and how they would fit into our organisation, how we would market them to customers and how we would implement them. It was a fantastic role in that I could take it wherever I wanted.
As a result of this, Travelport approached me and offered me the opportunity to manage its online booking tool, which has evolved into my role now-enabling corporations to have a direct relationship with technologies providers, with Travelport as part of their supply chain. I have had a mixture of male and female bosses and there have been people throughout my career who have offered me guidance. I really enjoy the personal development of people in my team. I think because I have worked my way up, I have been able to prove myself at all levels, which means you avoid being looked down on.”
Sarah Makings
European category manager, travel, KPMG
“I started work at 17. I joined Eastern Energy as an administrator and went on to be an account manger and team leader, selling gas and electricity to corporate clients. I left in 1999 and joined AXA UK in the procurement team. I then joined KPMG as a travel manager in 2005. I started in corporate services with a category spend of £50 million in the UK. KPMG Europe gave me an opportunity to create a business case to form a separate travel category. I was promoted to European category manager, and in 2009, I applied to be an Institute of Travel & Meetings (ITM) board director, which appealed to me because I am passionate about the travel industry and it was a great chance to develop my career.
It’s a voluntary position and KPMG supports people who work for non-profit organisations, allowing them time off to do the job. My work/life balance has suffered because I am quite career driven and the only way I've got through it is with the support of my boyfriend – we’ve been together for 18 years.”
Karen McKenna
Director, SSSource
“I was in operations [in a TMC], and I was not given the opportunity to move into mid-management.
I had to leave the industry to be taken seriously. I got a job in sales in logistics company TNT, where I had a very successful five years running a team. They did not try to hide the fact they were chauvinists, but at the same time they were professional and women were actively encouraged. Ironically, I was head-hunted from there by the company that would not give me an opportunity in sales. All through the 1990s I was frustrated by the glass ceiling in the travel industry.
I had a baby in 2000 and started working for a TMC part-time, but my boss changed his attitude towards me and started referring to me as the ‘part-time mother’. When I launched an e-tendering tool – a travel industry first – I was a woman who had built a technology tool, which women don’t do. Some of the big TMCs threatened to put me out of business, but the buyers stood by me 100 per cent. In the end, I appointed a male non-executive chairman to make the product launch palatable to men.”
Carolyn Pearson
Founder of women's networking site, maiden-voyage.com
“I launched maiden-voyage.com after a business trip to downtown LA where I felt, as a woman, I could not leave the hotel without feeling uncomfortable. We've just launched female-focused hospitality training – this is definitely the right time for hotels to be working in the female sector, with more women adopting senior roles. We also have corporate membership – organisations sign women up so they can network on trips, and it helps towards their CSR policy. Our female-friendly hotels can be highlighted in TMCs' booking systems. I have never been marginalised as a woman. I am a woman in technology so I am in man's world – I see women play to their macho side, but I am very feminine. In terms of sacrifices, I am in my 40s and I never had kids.
To be successful I have had to move around, which is challenging for my husband as he has to follow me – but it's normal for us. I think you have to get your fulfilment from what drives your passion – you can’t compromise when something makes you feel fantastic.”
Margaret Birse
Director of global travel services, Serco
“I worked for two strong women in the first 10 years of my career and, along with my own work ethos, that motivated me to move ahead.
I have never felt the need to hold back and I feel I have always been well- supported. Once I got to Serco, I was mentored by the company vice president in Canada – the man who is now our chief executive. He saw my passion to deliver when I saw there was something the business was lacking. I have had to sacrifice a lot of time away from my children – I was spending 150 days a year away.
I wrote a paper for the chairman to create my role, which stated why we should have the position of global travel director and highlighted how much money it would save. If you are going to be respected, it is a bit of give from both the employee and the employer. If it is too skewed in one direction, the relationship is doomed to failure.”