TGt Meets... Hazel Galloway, Jurys Inn

In our latest TGt Meets interview, we've been speaking to Jurys Inn Swindon's General Manager Hazel Galloway, all about her role and our town!

Tell us a little bit about your role...

Being a General Manager is mainly overseeing all aspects of the hotel team, ensuring revenue is coming in, proactively looking at sales, overseeing the team and just ensuring the main focus is on guest care and experience.

What’s the most enjoyable part of your job?

The best part of working in the hotel is all the different guests and team members that I get to interact with daily. They make coming into work enjoyable and fun and are the motivation for me personally.

And the most challenging?

Hotels are 24 hours a day 365 days a year and finding a good work life balance can be the main challenge from a personal perspective. Although there are the positive guests and the team can also be the biggest challenge for the business.

What do you think attracts business people to Swindon?

I think Swindon has some great business’s operating within it and location is also key as we are so accessible for multitude of large cities and are located on a great transport link.

What has been your biggest achievement to date?

When I started working in hotels in 2009 by main goal was that I wanted to be a General Manager by the time I was 30. I turned 30 this year and I have achieved my initial goal so now I am looking forward and looking to set my next personal work orientated goals. 

How do you like to spend your time off?

Depending on how busy the week as been, I quite often travel to see friends on my days off or if it has been a really busy week I love to just relax, sleep in and spend my time cooking and catching up on TV shows I’ve missed. I also love shopping so now I am so close to the Designer Outlet I will probably be found there browsing.

What have been your key challenges and how have you overcome them?

My biggest challenge has been moving around to brand new places alone quite a lot over the last 3 to 4 years. I now have such a good routine of researching the new area and finding things to do and see. I think meeting new people and feeling confident exploring new places has been key to my success as it has allowed me both personally and professionally to see a lot more of the country than others maybe have.

Your 2pm meeting has been cancelled, meaning you now have a two-hour lunch break. What do you do?

I would LOVE a 2 hour lunch break, chances are if I gained 2 hours of my day back I would use it to do something productive in the hotel. If I was completely up to date I would probably go out into the town, sit in a nice café and have a coffee and relax for a while.

Describe Swindon in three words...

Friendly, Community Spirit and Fun

What are your plans for the future?

Honestly… who knows? Right now I am focusing on settling in Swindon and looking forward to a really great 2019 at the hotel and driving the team to deliver on the customer service targets. Thereafter is a mystery right now but the company are expanding so the options are always great for everyone.