Cumbrian hotel director discusses his career in hospitality

David Vaughan is hotels director of Another Place Hotels, which includes the 47-room hotel Another Place, The Lake at Watermillock, Ullswater, and the nearby Brackenrigg Inn. He was born in Middlesbrough 44 years ago but moved to Kendal when he was 10 when his father Chris got a job working in sales for Bass brewery in the North West. He has four children and still lives in Kendal with partner Ashleigh. He began his career by completing a management training course with English Lakes Hotels at the Low Wood Bay Hotel and resort before going into business with his father.

He said: "We owned 10 working men’s clubs, nightclubs and pubs across the North West at our peak and I worked on the operations side. That's where I learned a lot of business acumen; how to run a business, profitability and business operations. This experience has helped progress my career and I have been able to apply it as a general manager for Another Place which has supported the business growth.

When we purchased them, they were all struggling businesses. When we acquired them we invested in each property and created a business plan to bring it into profitability. We had to adapt to attract a new clientele and so, for example, we created one that was a real hub for watching live sport, another that was solely aimed at functions and we created another that was just for playing pool and concentrated on that.

I went back into working in hotels in 2012 at English Lakes as food and beverage manager and then in hotel operations before joining Another Place in 2017.

Coming out of Covid the hospitality industry experienced a real surge in demand and that’s really where we saw an increase in staycations and these continue to be a trend. At Another Place we've created the outside experience with our Shepherd Huts, glasshouse and treehouse which have been successful. The market is more challenging with hotels competing with things like Airbnb while also experiencing fierce competition in room rates across hotels nationwide.

There are operational elements that we've kept from Covid. In the introduction of our guest services team who work to concierge guests stay before they arrive, booking dining times, treatments and activities. We provide guests the option to book these themselves through our Another Place guest app. We implemented this booking system during the pandemic to manage availability and guest capacity and it worked really well so we've kept it.

I think the staycation market will remain for the right businesses. I believe businesses need to adapt to the market and to what people want. Some guests want to come away on a break but still be able to work so you need to provide them the space and opportunity to do that. Appealing to various markets is also key, including the solo traveller or to the family group celebrating an anniversary, this is something we aim for at our hotels.

I think it’s important to offer people the complete experience. Another Place has always tried to create the feeling of being a ski resort away from a ski resort, everything you need in one place. People have that complete experience, with different food and beverage outlets and activities and we also have an Ofsted registered Kids’ Zone, our Swim Club , which includes swimming pool, hot tub, sauna and treatment rooms. My new role now is creating the Another Place experience at The Machrie on Islay.

I like to keep active with dog walks and I play squash regularly with members of the team from Another Place to relax as well. He also plans to start playing more golf.