#195 - Hospitality Meets Trudi Parr - Celebrity Encounters, Excellence & Evolution

Phil [00:00:00]:
And a huge hospitality meets. Welcome to Trudy Parr.

Trudi Parr [00:00:03]:
Hey, how are you?

Phil [00:00:04]:
I'm all right. How are you doing?

Trudi Parr [00:00:05]:
Yeah, very good today, thank you.

Phil [00:00:07]:
You good, good, yes. Hot.

Trudi Parr [00:00:09]:
Yeah. Very hot, yes.

Phil [00:00:10]:
But for context, we're recording this on what is going to be the hottest day of the year in our lovely on air conditioned spaces.

Trudi Parr [00:00:17]:
Yeah. Loving life.

Phil [00:00:18]:
Yeah, absolutely. But as discussed, we're not moaning about it. We welcome this summer that has finally arrived. Yeah. And there we are, 30 seconds in and I'm already onto the weather. But in any case, so just tell the world what it is that you do for a living.

Trudi Parr [00:00:32]:
I work for Molly's Motels Limited, so I am a head of people there. So all things employee experience from cradle to grave in the employee experience space. So, yeah, we've started in 2019, so very new in terms of a business, but we're on our second property and a third to be opening shortly, so, yeah, so everything, people, is my bag.

Phil [00:00:55]:
Yeah. And actually, when I was looking into your background, what I really love about your background to this point is that I would say it doesn't. It doesn't really conform to the kind of the typical route into people stuff.

Trudi Parr [00:01:07]:
Yeah, absolutely. I'm not very conventional in every aspect of my life, to be honest with you, but I've always been in hospitality, so. Always hotels. So that's been my thread that runs through everything that I've done in terms of my career, but very much started out in an exploratory sense, so went through from an operations point of view, learning everything from. From how a business is built. Always been in SME's, though, always been from the very beginning of a business. So I love that. I love that piece, being involved and having an influence on how a business grows.

Trudi Parr [00:01:39]:
And even though I didn't know it when I first started, you know, when I was 19, I didn't know I was having an influence at all. But, yeah, started in operations. And because when you're in a small to medium sized company and you're working with entrepreneurs, you get more opportunity, I think, to be thrown into very different ways and different parts of a business where you start to go actually quite like that and you're allowed to be a bit more experimental. No one really boxes you off. So I had a very good career in the operational side. Loved it. And then moved over into sales and marketing, because when you're starting a company, you also need people that are passionate to be able to go out and spread the word and sell and that kind of where that kind of landed really well with me. I loved every business I've been in, I've loved so much.

Trudi Parr [00:02:23]:
So I've been so passionate about that I felt like I needed to talk about it. So I went off and then ended up going down the sales and marketing route and become a director of sales for a small hotel group. And then when Covid struck, I actually stopped for the first time probably in my life and actually thought, what are you doing? What do you want to do? What makes you.

Phil [00:02:43]:
What are you doing?

Trudi Parr [00:02:45]:
What are you doing? Yeah. So it was that first chance, I actually wrote down what I wanted to do and every thread that, because I worked in small to medium sized companies and from the beginning, every thread, obviously was people. And I was really quite angry with myself that I hadn't actually gone, why is this not the most obvious thing in the world that you've always done and you've always, you've always been passionate about, but you didn't see it as a complete. That was your. Maybe it's because I didn't want to box myself off. Maybe I didn't want to do that for a long time. Maybe it was. I always had a hand in the people side of every business, always knew what felt right for looking after people and what we should be doing, what was right to be done.

Trudi Parr [00:03:25]:
Even when you're selling, and sometimes when you're selling, you become very selfish and you have to be the goal scorer. That didn't sit naturally for me. I could sell on a relationship basis, but not, I wouldn't stand on anyone's face to do it, which, you know, sometimes that happens because you are saying nothing. You want to, though, don't you? Sometimes you not, you want to do that, but you have to get the business in and that kind of become very linear. So, yeah, so even with that, I nurtured my team and I wanted them to succeed, I wanted to raise them up and I wanted to see how we could all perform as a. As a unit. But working with operations, I understood their point of view as well. So it's kind of, it was very organic with learning how to do a business.

Trudi Parr [00:04:07]:
And the missing piece in the middle was, especially in hospitality, how do we keep people in this business? How do we look after people and how did we make people shine? And whilst you can do that in individual teams, when you actually have a voice as a people person, if a business values you as a people professional, and they see that as a real competitive advantage as well as a retention advantage and doing good, then that is a game changer. And I think it's hard to find those businesses that actually see that as a driving piece that can join with all these pieces without having conflict. And I think that my route in was, whilst I said I felt angry about not finding it sooner, I think it's absolutely the route that I was destined to take in terms of I had to learn all those pieces. I had to learn how important operations was and how they communicate to people. I had to learn how sales and operations often have conflicts. I had to learn that. And I had to learn how people, how to get the best out of salespeople, what sort of salespeople you want in a business, what the team looks like and how you thrive. And I think that that made me a much better business partner when I got to be in a people person.

Trudi Parr [00:05:22]:
And obviously it also lands with finding the right business, you know, finding the right business that will allow you to, to matter, allow the people to matter and allow and really put them at the center. So I think that that whole journey was me finding what was, what was right and what was wrong for both me and what I wanted to do in terms of hospitality.

Trudi Parr [00:05:43]:
Yeah, I can see that totally because we talk day to day, as everybody knows, is that I'm a recruiter and a lot of the time, you know, you're looking at the jigsaws of people's lives and how they put the puzzle together in terms of how they end up somewhere. And a lot of times in hospitality, people end up where they are a little bit by accident, you know, and you might not realize that you're building this career forward by kind of just going, wow, well, that seems like a great opportunity. I'm going to give that a go. And then something else comes up and you go, oh, that. Yeah, especially when you're in entrepreneurial environments, right. I mean, you know that just that opportunity is there all the time to go. Actually, I know your job as operations manager or whatever, but could you just go and check that thing out in the marketing for me as well? And all of a sudden you've got this suite of skills and understanding of a business that actually, when you then, if people is a massively important part of who you are, all of these things just add richness and value to your ability to do the job that you do. Yeah, yeah, we've nailed it.

Phil [00:06:42]:
We've nailed it. Let's end it there.

Trudi Parr [00:06:48]:
Yeah. Who knows where it's going next, but it's, yeah, I feel at home. I feel massively at home. And I get excited. I mean, obviously there's two sides to being in the people profession in any business, isn't there? There's always stuff you've got to do that is compliance, that is legal, that is serious, you know, but also to be able to do that, we don't want to talk about that. But there's also like the exciting, you know, especially where I am at the moment. And I think hospitality is in general, like, we have the opportunity to really make this exciting for people to want to come and join, you know, all of the good things that we do, you know. Yeah, it's an exciting time, I think.

Phil [00:07:29]:
Yeah, no doubt. Anyway, you've totally skirted over your journey. I'm not letting you off the hook that easily. We're going to go all the way back because I'm really interested actually, to understand how it was that you ended up choosing this as a profession in the first place. So take us all the way back to the beginning. How did you get in to hospitality?

Trudi Parr [00:07:46]:
So I studied travel, tourism and Spanish. I loved to travel. I always did love to travel. And I was originally going to be travel agent. So that's in terms of my career, that's where it was going, I was thinking, because there was a lot of high street travel agents, etc. And I felt like a little bit.

Phil [00:08:02]:
Do you remember them?

Trudi Parr [00:08:03]:
Yeah. Bakers dolphin. Bakers dolphin. That's where I was. Yeah. So I, you know, learn all the. Spent a long time learning airport city codes and all that kind of stuff. Another geeky element to my life.

Trudi Parr [00:08:15]:
And then I graduated and then went and actually got a job in a hotel. So in a very independent hotel. And I was doing everything, you know, that was the hotel. I was literally on reception 1 minute and I was making beds and then I was in the restaurant and it was just multifaceted or because it was a very kitchen, everything, I don't think let me cook. But I was in the kitchen. Yeah, I have honed my skills since. But then I had also gone for a. At the same time I'd applied for a job in a hotel booking agency conference.

Trudi Parr [00:08:49]:
So agency side. And I got offered the job while I was there. And hotel, we're talking hotel booking agencies before Expedia and you know, all those online travel agents.

Phil [00:08:59]:
Yep. DOS based management systems. Sorry, I don't age you here.

Trudi Parr [00:09:08]:
But yeah, so I went, I went there and like I said, I was working for. I didn't really know what a hotel booking agent was. There was no systems. There was no. I had to find my way, I had to get a map out and find hotels basically, and learn my way around the country by hotels. I can still do that. That was, you know, that's, that's one of, one of the things that really excited me. But I also was able to then spend an awful lot of time in hotels.

Trudi Parr [00:09:31]:
I spent, I was able to go and experience hotels, hotels when I was, you know, I was 1920 and being able to stay and be looked after in four or five star hotels was quite a game changer as you can imagine.

Phil [00:09:44]:
Yeah, somebody's paying you.

Trudi Parr [00:09:46]:
Yeah, well, someone's paying and they literally treated you back then. You were, you were royalty. We need to look after these people, they are going to recommend us. This is what it's all about. So. And yeah, I was working for an entrepreneur who again, he was, he was in the tech space and he developed all our systems, etcetera. And I was one of five people when we first started and ended up, yeah. Aligning with all the hotel suppliers, spending an awful lot of time putting on conferences around the world and putting on big events and we grew that business and, yeah, so operations was, I naturally moved out from being a res agent to every step in between and then ended up running their operations space.

Trudi Parr [00:10:23]:
I was there for 17 years, but also, yeah, but also in that time, as you can imagine, it wasn't just doing the same job for 17 years, it was growing a business. It was being, I was a sales exec and then I was account manager and then I was supplier relations and that's where, you know, and I was in hotels every week, you know, so from that space, putting on conferences as partners. So it was, it was, yeah, it was an amazing, amazing ride. Like, absolutely got to be everywhere, do everything but also experience hospitality, work with the people in hospitality. It just ignited the bug and yeah, I was in love. I was in love from that point forward.

Phil [00:11:01]:
Yeah, well, I can see totally why because as well, you're kind of coming back to words that you used. You didn't even really know that this kind of role slash company type existed. And here is half the battle, right, is us as people who work within hospitality. Of course we know all of this stuff exists now, but anybody who's out there listening to what can I do in hospitality? I mean, the answer is literally anything.

Trudi Parr [00:11:27]:
Yeah, it's so exciting, isn't it?

Phil [00:11:29]:
There are so many elements and facets to the industry whereby you think to yourself, well, that sounds, you know, if you're a 19 year old and you want to see a bit of the world and just get stuck into something. Like, it's just. It's just a way to get going, isn't it? And then kind of see where the ride takes you.

Trudi Parr [00:11:44]:
Yeah. And, you know, the industry is so incestuous. Like, everybody in hotels, I mean, the people that I'm still speaking to in hotels that are in another hotel, that are in another hotel that I knew 15 years ago, and then people I've met and everybody's so welcoming and everybody wants to help you. And I think that is like, the camaraderie in that is just exciting. You know, every weekend I was in another hotel, that's what happened. And working with those people to watch what they can do behind the scenes, I think that was the biggest game changer for me to go. We're putting on this event for Bacardi in Seville and they, you know, the people from nothing, a blank canvas would be just, you know, everybody that's coming into that vent have no idea that the level of detail, the level of commitment that goes into all of that. And these people are just warriors behind the scenes.

Trudi Parr [00:12:34]:
And then you put it on and you think, that's special. Pretty. Pretty special.

Phil [00:12:38]:
Yeah. That's that old Swan analogy, isn't it? Like the elegance all out front and behind the scenes, everybody's like, but we'll make it happen, we'll make it work. Was this the part of your career whereby you were doing bookouts for celebrity guests and things like that? I've made a note, actually, of one specifically, which sparked my interest, which was organizing accommodation for the Jeremy Kyle show. Yeah, I'm super intrigued.

Trudi Parr [00:13:03]:
Yeah. Basically we won contracts, so we'd go out, sell, win contracts and we'd have contracts for, you know, big corporates for their global business. So every time somebody stayed anywhere, accommodation flew anywhere or, you know, got trained anywhere, etc, we managed that whole space. So it's big corporate business travel space. And so we had the lot of media companies that we had the contract for, so we had the likes of BBC, we had the likes of ITV. So anything that happened, we did. So any, any of anything happened on the telly, from rural variety to. Yeah, so we would know all of the things beforehand.

Trudi Parr [00:13:38]:
So it's all confidential space, you know?

Phil [00:13:41]:
Yeah.

Trudi Parr [00:13:41]:
And with Jeremy, Carl show was a regular. We did it with university challenge as well. So, like, it'd be a regular tv show that you'd be going, getting them all, placing them all, feeding them all, moving them around, all the logistics and. Yeah, and making sure that certain people had, you know, their cigarettes and newspaper delivered every morning before they started the show. So Jeremy Carr would have his, you know, cigarettes and newspaper all delivered, and the guests wouldn't, obviously, be staying in the same space as Jeremy.

Phil [00:14:05]:
Carla, so you can see why. Yes.

Trudi Parr [00:14:08]:
Yeah. And, yeah, there were certain, obviously, restrictions based on guests and all that kind of stuff, so there was an awful lot of behind the scenes logistics. But knowing, like, the. I'm a celebrity guys, you know, putting them out of the Versace and moving them around and when they're bringing their. Bringing their families and loved ones in, seeing it from a completely different space because, you know, we just see what's on telly, don't we? We see what we're told. Yeah. Knowing all the things behind the scenes was actually quite exciting. But also, it takes the edge off it, doesn't it? It takes off the, you know, the wow bit when you're actually watching it, because you're like, oh, no, they don't stay there, or they think they're all friends.

Trudi Parr [00:14:46]:
They're not.

Phil [00:14:47]:
Or vice versa, I suppose. Look at them arguing. But last night they were having a pint together and.

Trudi Parr [00:14:51]:
Yeah, exactly that. So, yeah, that was exciting. We do, like, radio one's big weekend and, you know, moving and Gastonbury, so moving all of the talent around to the local hotels. Yeah. So knowing who's booked where, you know, knowing what acts are, the surprise acts, and so, yeah, it's like, it is super exciting to have, like, the inside track. You know, there's things like that that you feel like. Yeah. Oh, it's only that, because we do all that.

Trudi Parr [00:15:16]:
That's fine. You know, it's. But I was definitely, in my younger days, major exciting. Obviously, you get. You get tickets and things like that for the bribery.

Phil [00:15:24]:
Yeah, totally. I think. Do you know Chris Fletcher? Yes, yes. Chris has been on. Chris was one of the early adopters of the show. He was like, guest number one, even, I think. And I will never, ever forget him telling me a story of when they were doing, back in the day, it was hard rock in Hyde park or something like that, when he was obviously working for Hard Rock Cafe. And, you know, they're setting up the food stations and things like that while Pink Floyd are on stage doing sound checks, you know, and going through a rendition of comfortably numb, and you're like, nobody else in the world is here watching Pink Floyd right now.

Phil [00:16:00]:
I'm getting, like, a private show from Pink Floyd. And that is, you know, that's one of the things that always blows my mind. Around the kind of stuff that we get the opportunity to get exposure to. Yeah. You can't even kind of write it, really, can you? It's just. It just happens.

Trudi Parr [00:16:15]:
Yeah. And, you know. You know, doing even things like, we did celebrity golf out the celtic manor and things like that, and. And you're just literally like, oh, go. If you want, you can go down. Go down and have the barbecue with everybody and you're just literally, like, getting all your food and there's all these famouses around you and you're just playing it all, like, pretending all is fine. All is fine, that I belong here, honestly.

Phil [00:16:32]:
Yeah, well, fake it till you make it right.

Trudi Parr [00:16:35]:
Exactly. But, yeah, very, very surreal experiences, for sure. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I was in doing an event in Newcastle, and rude hullet and all the footballers, and Newcastle footballers just, like, literally sat with us. And then you just look around and you think, what am I. What is going on? You know what? I'm just. Yeah, just. It's very strange.

Trudi Parr [00:16:56]:
Very strange. Well, but good, right?

Phil [00:16:58]:
Yeah, totally. And I remember my first job in London was at nightclub called Coco, which is kind of more of a music venue these days than nightclub, I guess, but. And we were doing parties of all types, as it was through the opening phase and all of that. And we had blue come in one night, you know, just for the crack. And everybody was losing their mind around the fact that blue, who were big, a big deal back then at that point, you know, properly a list.

Trudi Parr [00:17:23]:
All rise.

Phil [00:17:24]:
Yeah. And I just remember Simon Webb, I think his name was one of the band members, jumped on the DJ decks. He was so courteous to all the staff, like, you know, he was just the nicest bloke you could ever hope to meet. And you. But, you know, this is what you hope when you meet these people. I'm just going to say. I'm not going to say which, but some of the other members could have taken a leaf out of his book, really. Yes, for sure.

Phil [00:17:49]:
But he was an absolute legend. And that's the kind of stuff, wherever all of a sudden you're just going about your day to day business and you turn around and it's SIMOn WebB and you're like, oh, hi. Did I get you anything?

Trudi Parr [00:18:02]:
I once saw Duncan from Blue at Paddington train station and was waving for us because I thought he was my friend. You know when you're in that headspace and you think, I recognize him. So you're like, what are you waving? And then you realize. Then you realize, actually, he's not your friend. Trudy, that is Duncan from Blue.

Phil [00:18:14]:
Yes, I recognize him.

Trudi Parr [00:18:16]:
He knows nothing about me.

Phil [00:18:18]:
Yes. Not yet, anyway. Not yet. I. Yeah. Funny games was this. Also, I have a feeling, because you would have done a lot of your learning in this organization by the sense of, if you were there for 17 years, there was a wonderful story that you shared on your form around sending emails out. And was that here as well?

Trudi Parr [00:18:35]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was the biggest cringe moment when you're, like, trying to make, you know, be very professional. And the MD of that organization, his name's David Adams. He was a force. And to that point, like, he was the person, I believe, a lot of the thread of what I do now, I've learned from him, you know, in, in terms of how to be in meetings, how to prepare, how to, you know, all that. He, because he liked, he had, he, he liked to make, you know, what you were doing. Like, it was. I want to make sure you know what you're doing.

Trudi Parr [00:19:07]:
I want to, you know, I will, I will test you in almost a playful manner. I'm going to bring you into meeting and I'm going to ask you all these things. And you need to know your stuff basically before you leave the room. And so he very rarely phoned any of us. And I was literally rez agent level at the time. And I'd sent, I was, it was a Friday, so I'd sent a message to my friend Eve to say, you know, basically the download, what we were doing that weekend, and a little bit of information about, you know, stuff that you necessarily wouldn't discuss in the office to the MD, for sure.

Phil [00:19:36]:
Right?

Trudi Parr [00:19:36]:
And I clicked send and then the phone range and it was him. And I literally, when the phone rang from him, you got the little bit of the fear, you know, that, that, that, um, that, that fear that you very much respect what he's going to say and you don't know what he's going to ask you. And it's a little bit, oh, my gosh, he's phoning me.

Phil [00:19:53]:
Good evening, sir. Yes, sir. No problem, sir. What did he say?

Trudi Parr [00:19:56]:
I'm like, oh, that moment. And answered the phone. And he literally read my email back to me because I'd sent it to everyone, not even literally. And I was so ready. It was unreal. But he was very jovial about it. He found it hilarious. You know, he was like, basically schooling me once more, you know, in terms of truth, if you're going to do something.

Trudi Parr [00:20:16]:
And ever since then, I think I don't send anything without checking it about three times, like it's almost paranoia. Now to the point, have I have. Am I sending it to the right person? Do I know what I'm saying?

Phil [00:20:27]:
Yeah, you probably still get triggered by it. Like, every time you're writing an email, you're like, oh, that guy. Yeah, that event.

Trudi Parr [00:20:33]:
He schooled me. Yeah, he schooled me. But yeah, I. It's definitely one of those things that I know. Don't ever do that again, Trudy. Don't ever do that again. Don't want to feel like that again.

Phil [00:20:41]:
Yeah, I think everybody in their life must make that mistake once, and hopefully only once in their life. You know, it's the old thing, right, about, you know, everybody makes mistakes, just don't make them the same mistake over and over again. But I did a thing once. I was. I was. I think I was what I'd been. I'd have been in my thirties when this happened, which is unforgivable. And I was working for a recruitment company who were an accounting focused recruitment company.

Phil [00:21:08]:
It was post 20080 nine. I'd left hospitality because I got made redundant for my job and I was all over the place and I didn't really know what I wanted to do and went and worked for this local firm who actually taught me an awful lot. I didn't enjoy the recruiting multi sector. I knew that I needed to get back into hospitality, but I always remember we used to do this, we used to do mail shots once a week, which I hate, I hate doing, because nobody loves receiving mail shots, right. So I thankfully don't do that for anybody's listening out there.

Trudi Parr [00:21:36]:
That's not my style.

Phil [00:21:38]:
And I remember we used to do this thing. If you had a candidate who was red hot, who available now would be attractive to a lot of different. We'd send this candidate anonymously out, but with kind of some key facts around why people should maybe entertain a meeting with this person. And I'd. They were, I think they were a financial controller, four years accounts, experience at FC level, qualified through ACCA, those kind of things. And I sent out without checking the email and got an email response from a client more or less immediately said, you might want to check the third line of your email. And the third line, I had misspelled accounts and I had not put an odd in the middle of accounts and I'm not going to tell you what that says, but you can probably figure that out. And, yeah, you know when you get that feeling where you just start like, I'm sacked, I'm going to get sacked.

Phil [00:22:34]:
And I ended up getting four pieces of work out of it. Did you? Yeah. A load of client meetings. Yeah. Because I think people forget in the throes of serious business sometimes that you actually are still dealing with humans. And I still believe that the humanistic element of all business is actually the thing that connects with other humans 100%.

Trudi Parr [00:22:59]:
And that's like, when I was in sales, that was the only. I was never a pressurized salesperson. I literally would just bring people with me because I know what I'm like. I mean, I'm sure you do. I get, you know, all the time in terms of people selling me something, you know, all the time. And it's very much about how do you connect? How do you connect as humans? Isn't it? So it's not. You don't feel like anyone's backed into a corner.

Phil [00:23:23]:
Yeah, well, there's the old cliche, people buy from people. Right? And that's just got its roots centered completely in relationship building. And, you know, we all know what we don't like to receive ourselves. You know, I get in my inbox every day, I get probably as a business owner, ten to 20 mail shots from companies who are trying to flog their wares and they just go straight in the. Yeah, because there's no effort.

Trudi Parr [00:23:48]:
Respond. And I'm not a ghoster, but I'm just. I can't even reply to this anymore. You know, it's that, isn't it?

Phil [00:23:53]:
Yeah. Well, otherwise you spend your whole time just responding to outreach emails, don't you? But anyway, yes. Right, so 17 years with this company, when does Robson Green happen?

Trudi Parr [00:24:04]:
That was it. That was the same company.

Phil [00:24:06]:
So you did all your learning here. You literally did all your learning here.

Trudi Parr [00:24:10]:
Yeah, yeah. I mean, same night as rude hullet, to be fair. Yeah.

Phil [00:24:14]:
God, what I. Like, that was.

Trudi Parr [00:24:15]:
Yes. I mean, yeah, I also. Yeah, I was doing impressions, not very good impressions. And he was literally stood there and. Yeah, it was pretty embarrassing, to be fair, but he was quite impressed. He said it was good. So. Yeah, I was.

Trudi Parr [00:24:31]:
But, yeah, and I love Robson Green. You know, when you're like, a bit mortified with. I've just done that and I've been pretty bad, but, hey, he listened to me and was talking to me and I felt that was. That was. That was pretty good results.

Phil [00:24:47]:
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Anyway, we should move on.

Trudi Parr [00:24:50]:
Yes.

Phil [00:24:50]:
You're probably thinking, thankfully, to get all the. Get all the dirty laundry out early doors. Yeah. What happened next? Where did you go after. After that wonderful 17 years?

Trudi Parr [00:25:00]:
Yeah. So I went to join an independent hotel group, and, you know, I'd been doing so basically my role at the hotel scene, CTI, it had been bought by then, so. And then became Amber Road. So we'd been through very different merges during that 17 years, different leadership, etcetera. And I got to a stage that I was like, you know, when you're. I felt, like, really comfortable, and I was. I was uncomfortable without being. Being that comfortable.

Trudi Parr [00:25:24]:
You know, I was the go to person for the whole business because I had been. I knew everything from the ground up and had, you know, a team around me that obviously had grown with the company, too, because that's what we did where, you know, there's a lot of. Lot of people. One of the girls that I say girls, she's. She's not a girl anymore. She's a lady. She's a grown up. When I.

Trudi Parr [00:25:47]:
When I started. When she started work with me, she was. She was very young, and she's actually with me at Molly's now. So she. She grew up as part of that business and then moved off, went on to do her own thing and came back. But. So I got to stage where I was doing, you know, being the main person that was going out selling, as well as bringing that business back and making it operate in the business. And I felt like I'd reached a cap and I was uncomfortable with going in and not learning anything anymore.

Trudi Parr [00:26:17]:
I didn't have. There was no one more senior, other than the board that were actually quite hands off in terms of operational, that was imparting any knowledge to make me be stretched. You know, I felt like I was going in and it was easy street. And I think that sounds. I don't ever want to be there. I want to feel uncomfortable. I genuinely do. I want to feel like I.

Trudi Parr [00:26:37]:
Because I want my brain to keep wanting to do more and I want to keep making a difference. So I got to a stage where I was just like, if I don't do it now, what am I. When am I going to do it? And I just. It was very emotional. Like, super emotional. But I made a decision to. Yeah, to go and go, actually, I've really enjoyed the sales piece, and, you know, I've been very successful at it. How about I go and learn that somewhere else? And hopefully I can see if I can do that on its own.

Trudi Parr [00:27:02]:
And again, it was. Both hotels were under construction, so it was from no business. Nothing. There was nothing. So. And they were both independent, so you didn't have the leverage of those big brands behind us. So yeah, I thought, this is really exciting. And went and joined and yeah, ended up working on meeting one marvelous chap who was our director of operations.

Trudi Parr [00:27:27]:
And he obviously the alignment came from the fact that I've been in operations previously and he respected my commercial side as well. So we were like a really cool partnership and he taught me so much more in a completely different way than I would have expected because he was operations in terms of what they wanted. So I could really partner to go out and find that business, that real corporate business, which is a very successful, successfully smashed our budgets for the first three years and also working behind the scenes of an independent and building teams up and actually having the ability to go. So even though I was in sales, I was able to go, how about this works this way or this works this way? And it was a very good partnership with the director of OPS. But also I met the most amazing stealth wedding coordinator who worked with me. And honestly, stealth, stealth, she's stealth in terms of, she, you would, she had, she has the voice of a twelve year old girl and she is, she could sell and you have no idea she was sending it to you. No idea whatsoever. She smacked off, off so off plan sales.

Trudi Parr [00:28:37]:
We had 40 weddings off Pam going in, so it hadn't even been built. Basically. She, wow, she, and everybody's like, oh, she's, I mean, don't get me wrong, she's actually now one of my best friends. Like, we don't work together in work, but I speak to her every week and she doesn't work there either anymore. But she's gone in a very different direction. She's gone into actually investment banking, which I think is ace.

Phil [00:28:57]:
Sounds like there's a high level brain going on there for sure.

Trudi Parr [00:29:00]:
Honestly, she's remarkable. And to get together in terms of our, understood the corporate space and she understood the wedding market and we literally smashed it out of the park and yeah, very enjoyable, very enjoyable time. But because of the team, really, and it also made me go, I knew coming out of it, I knew I could sell, I knew I'd gone in and you go, that was your mission, really. But learning how teams come together, I know I'd experienced it in a very different, more corporate setting. And this was very leisure driven, lots of personality, lots of creatives in this space. And that in itself taught me enormous amounts about people. But I made me also go, right. I even joined because I put this lady, her name's Karina, by the way.

Trudi Parr [00:29:53]:
She's exceptional.

Phil [00:29:54]:
Karina.

Trudi Parr [00:29:54]:
Ronaldo, you won't get a better wedding salesperson than that. And she, I put her in awkward places, you know, like, really awkward places. And she literally shone and, yeah, she's, she's, again, she's, she's. She's made such a difference to some in weddingse. People loved her, and then she'd come away and she had a brain of someone that was like a mastermind, you know, when you were just triple threat. Yeah. You'd send, you'd send her in to the most awkward of situations because you knew she'd come out with the goods. You'd be like, right, suit up, suit up.

Trudi Parr [00:30:24]:
You go in. Because she, she literally could come out and they'd all be like, oh, she's wonderful. And you're like, you have no idea. But brilliant. Thank you very much.

Phil [00:30:30]:
You know, and I've just bought you a hotel company, by the way, because it made sense.

Trudi Parr [00:30:36]:
Yeah, yeah, she's exceptional and. But that's what it is. And then Michael west, western brink, I'm going to name drop here as well. He was the director of Ops, and he was very straight talk. I mean, my kind of guy. Very straight talking. You knew exactly where you stood every single, you know, you don't have to go from eight to be. He would literally be like, that's how it's, this is how it is.

Trudi Parr [00:30:55]:
And that, that makes you thrive, because he'd tell you when you're doing good stuff and he'd tell you when you weren't, and he tell you when he was. Yeah, yeah. No games, no dancing around. He didn't care about. He was very motivational in a way that you never expected. You know, it's that whole, he, he did, he wasn't like, yeah, go, you know, cheerleading type of guy. He was just very much like, you did good. He was Dutch.

Trudi Parr [00:31:17]:
Yeah, you did good. Well done.

Phil [00:31:19]:
Well done. Next.

Trudi Parr [00:31:20]:
Yeah, next was more. I want more. And, yeah, yeah, it was, it was just an awesome experience to see to, you know, knowing that you could do. You could do that, but it was all about the team. And I always knew this is where my, like, my brain was going from the very, very early stage. I knew that in my first job and my first, one of my first businesses and all the way through, it was always the team that got you through. You could be as motivated and you could be as, you know, you could score as many goals as you want, but you had to get people, you know, with all my sporting analogies, I generally use, someone had to get the ball to you. And, yeah, it just reaffirmed more that that's what I wanted to do.

Phil [00:31:55]:
Yeah. It also highlights, doesn't it, that, like, you cannot. You can't get any kind of success unless you've got everybody on the journey, you know, and you've highlighted two people who are massively important in that journey. That's just two in what I would imagine a massive amount of people, actually, you know, because it's one thing to have a mastermind, stealth wedding coordinator, which is, I assume now that's what you're going to call your wedding coordinators for the rest of your life on your job description. I tell you what, you've got a lot of applications, I bet you, but I. It's another thing then to give them the framework to, yes, go and be the best version of yourself and go and do your thing. That allows us to one book these weddings before we've even got a venue to book them into upsell within an inch of its life, so that the people who came in with a five grand budget walk away and they've got a ten grand wedding and they're like, how did that happen? I don't even know. But that's one thing.

Phil [00:32:51]:
If she's promising the world and you're not then able to deliver operationally, so it all falls down. So. And it falls down very, very quickly. So, you know, to the. I suppose for you in that moment, to be surrounded by these exceptional people gets you asking yourself, probably exceptional questions as well. Why is this? Maybe you're not asking out loud to yourself, but why is this? Why are we doing so well?

Trudi Parr [00:33:13]:
Yeah.

Phil [00:33:13]:
And then you get to see, well, actually it's because we've got a linchpin here, here, here, and that's backed up by this, this, this and this and that. All sent. It's all centered around the people.

Trudi Parr [00:33:25]:
It's, you know, relationships. And you've got, like, in every part of your life. And I. It becomes more apparent, don't you? Because people, you know, there's. There's connection and there's disconnection. There's too much connection to work sometimes. And we need to get that balance. But relationships are the same in work as they are at home.

Trudi Parr [00:33:41]:
And it's that remembering that you do need to work at it. You need to work at everything, you know, and you've got to be open and you've got to be communicative, you've got to be honest and you've got to have integrity. And sometimes that's a lot. You know, balancing all these different people that have all different personalities that all need somewhat completely different from you. But that's kind of how it works. Right. And it's about working at those things to make. To make things work.

Trudi Parr [00:34:01]:
And. Yeah, you do get those moments, don't you? We go, oh, my God, this is a team. This is a team. Yeah. Exceptional.

Phil [00:34:07]:
Yeah. And you want that to last forever in that moment, because it's just you're happy and everybody's doing well, and. But nothing lasts forever. Right? So. Yeah. So, I suppose. Which leads me on to what happened next.

Trudi Parr [00:34:18]:
Yeah.

Phil [00:34:18]:
Where did you go after that?

Trudi Parr [00:34:19]:
Well. Well, Covid happened, really.

Phil [00:34:21]:
So this is where we're at that point.

Trudi Parr [00:34:23]:
Yeah, we're at that point. And when will we stop talking about that? Probably never, I suppose.

Phil [00:34:27]:
But we're going to be talking about this for a hundred years, that big thing that happens. Yeah. There's going to be something very, very wrong with my physiology. If I'm still around in a hundred.

Trudi Parr [00:34:40]:
Years, I'm gonna give it a shot.

Phil [00:34:42]:
Yeah, why not, right?

Trudi Parr [00:34:44]:
So, um. Yeah, so it happened. Events stopped, you know, everything stopped. And, you know, so it was a time where, yeah, I took redundancy and decided to come home and think about it all and that, you know what? I thought it was traumatic. It was really traumatic to the point where, because I've worked so much since I. And I've always been. The noise. There's always been noise and that going, I'm gonna sort of unplug from the matrix was quite a big decision.

Phil [00:35:14]:
And when you say noise, is that your own internal workings?

Trudi Parr [00:35:18]:
Well, and just, I was always. I was always at the center of most things in a business. You know, there was always. I always had stuff to do. There was always some people contacting me, asking, asking opinions, asking this, you know, this, what should we do about this? How should we do that? But also, I woke up every day as a salesperson. Even operation. My brain goes in the morning and it's like, how can we do this better? What can we do this? How do we, you know, everything. My brain doesn't stop thinking like that.

Trudi Parr [00:35:45]:
Like, it is ridiculous. And to the point where I always want to, oh, especially with the sales piece. You're always under target pressure.

Phil [00:35:52]:
Right?

Trudi Parr [00:35:52]:
So you. When I was in sales, I was itchy. Like, oh, we could do this, being creative, you know, let's do this. Or I've read this because I read everything. I read everything. So, yeah, there was constant. My brain always wanting to get to the next place. And I don't know where that place ever was, if that makes sense.

Phil [00:36:09]:
So you were kind of caught in the moment of your, you know, you were almost too busy, really, to kind of contemplate what's next.

Trudi Parr [00:36:15]:
Where.

Phil [00:36:15]:
Where am I actually going? What, you know, what do I want to achieve with my life and career?

Trudi Parr [00:36:20]:
Exactly that. And. Yeah, and I've. I've sat people down my whole, like, career going, what do you want? Is this what you want? You know, where are you going? What do you want to learn? Anything. You know, I've done that for everybody. Why have you never done. Done that to yourself? But also I've never. Because of the speed of hospitality, I think, as well, and don't get me wrong, because I was in SME's and in growth markets predominantly.

Trudi Parr [00:36:43]:
You don't, you don't stop. You're always got something next, you know, there's always something to deliver, isn't there? There's always something to do so you don't turn that, take that step out. And I think very much I got to a stage where I was like, listen, what are you doing with your career, Trudy? What are you doing and what do you want? This is now like a pivotal moment. You get to time, you've got time. You've got the luxury of time. And I'd never given myself that. I've never given myself that time. And I did an awful lot of, again, reading, listening.

Trudi Parr [00:37:11]:
But mainly I spent so much time with my kids, you know, like, you know when you're like, I've got two children, and I've worked since they were six months old or since Jenna, my oldest, who's now nearly 21, so I. And I'm full time, you know, since then. So it's kind of like you don't.

Phil [00:37:24]:
Look old enough to have a 21 year old child, Trudy.

Trudi Parr [00:37:26]:
I tell you, my mother looks amazing, and she's an. So, yeah, and so it was. It was sitting down and I wanted to study. I was like, I left. I went into. After I left college doing, you know, my traveler, tourism, etcetera. I had an unconditional offer to uni, and my father said to me, go, because he was, you know, he was senior engineer, he, you know, started businesses all over the world. And he said, trued, go and get.

Trudi Parr [00:37:54]:
I wouldn't employ you. I wouldn't employ you straight from uni. I just wouldn't. And I was like, great, thanks for the confidence, dad. Go and get experience in what you want to do. So that's why I went and stayed, worked in that hotel. I went to a year out, went to the hotel and ended up in hotel scene and 17 years later did not go to uni.

Phil [00:38:09]:
Do you know what, though? I tell you what, it's cracking advice, though, isn't it? I mean, you know, especially for this trade. Like, I would always come back and I'm lucky enough that I. I mean, I went to uni because I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I didn't go there to specifically study something that I thought would change my world. But I don't think I have ever really needed it. The qualification, the thing that has made the difference in my own career is just this fake it till you make it kind of approach to stuff, you know, that somebody gives you an opportunity to try something, then try it and throw yourself into it and make sure that you're. You walk away every single day knowing that you couldn't have done any better. And that's way more, I think, for this trade, certainly.

Phil [00:38:52]:
I think it's way better experience than going out and getting a degree.

Trudi Parr [00:38:57]:
My daughter's at uni now and she wants to be a lawyer, so it's kind of like she's got to do that. So it's kind of. But I. I'm very much.

Phil [00:39:04]:
Don't get her to listen to this. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it.

Trudi Parr [00:39:07]:
No, I. It's a different way. But I'm very. I go into a lot of schools, talk to, I mean, the vast array of young people, as you know, in hospitality that have fallen into it. But also, you know, some people are career driven and that's cool, you know, and you've gone and you've studied hospitality. Absolutely amazing. Everybody is welcome, every single person. But it's about that advice of going, do you, you know, is it going to get you where you want to go? And if it's not, have a think what else you can do the apprenticeship route or you can, you know, there's amazing apprenticeships in hospitality at the moment, so.

Trudi Parr [00:39:40]:
But also, you'll just do very well if you've got the right work ethic, if you've also got the right personality, if you've got the right desire to enjoy it, you know? And, yeah, so there's no set route, is there? But, so, yeah, so, yeah, I didn't. I didn't go. I. Then I say, when Covid hit, I sat there and went, I want. I did want to do this. So I studied. I studied for senior people professional qualification and then I said, I'm going to take a year out. I'm taking a year out just to be still, you know, and actually go, what is serving me? And that was the biggest lesson.

Trudi Parr [00:40:10]:
What is serving me? And I did get bored by nine months, if I'm honest. I can't say nine months.

Phil [00:40:16]:
Nine months is quite. I mean, you did well.

Trudi Parr [00:40:18]:
I know it was, it was difficult. It was difficult. I was studying. I was full on in the study, and then I was doing the other. So I replaced. I replaced the noise with my own. For my own self.

Phil [00:40:27]:
Yeah.

Trudi Parr [00:40:27]:
And then I got to nine months, and then I was like, right, this is definite am. I spoke to so many amazing people. I reached out to so many amazing people on LinkedIn that I was just being very brave and going, hey, this is where my head's at. What do you think? Or what would you recommend? What did you do? What path did you take? And everybody was so gracious. Everybody was really, you know, people came on, teams, calls, you know, and just spoke to me and I, you know, and I, and that was the first time also I'd ever asked for help, ever asked help, because I'd been the person that was. Wanted to be that person that could help everyone and. And I found that very difficult to start with, but once I'd. Once I'd done it, like, the floodgates open, it's like that whole manifestation.

Trudi Parr [00:41:06]:
I don't know how spiritual you are, but the manifestation piece is once you start opening the floodgates, you. It's amazing what can happen once you let down that barrier, because you're literally putting that. You're putting that out into the world that you actually want, you know, you want help, you want somebody to be that, to be that person for you. And, yeah, since that point, I have, it's been game changing to me that I can ask for help and I can. And I, and people want to help you. And like you say that, I've said it to so many people, go and ask someone. Come and talk to me. Come and see.

Trudi Parr [00:41:36]:
And I'm not. And you just go, why don't I do that myself? Because I feel like I, maybe I felt like I had it all down. Maybe I felt like I had it all covered. And it isn't until then you get put yourself in a vulnerable space that you go, oh, no, this is me. You know?

Phil [00:41:50]:
Yeah, I know. I'm winning at about not point, not, not, not 1% of what's possible in life.

Trudi Parr [00:41:56]:
Yeah.

Phil [00:41:56]:
And, you know, and it's. Yeah. Totally. I'm 100% with you, and I am. I don't know how spiritual I am, but there's definitely an element to it, because I. I've had my own challenges. Not specifically within hospitality. I have spoken about this on this podcast and on other podcasts that I've been on.

Phil [00:42:13]:
I have a health condition that affects my spine.

Trudi Parr [00:42:16]:
Right.

Phil [00:42:16]:
And it's a debilitating issue, and it will get worse as I get older unless I have an operation. But the operation, in my circumstances, really complicated, which is higher risk. It could mean that I end up in a wheelchair. So I have to kind of weigh up the pros and cons of these things. But actually, there was a wobble when I got the diagnosis. But then when you work through, and I think you have to do this in your own time, when you work through and you get past the fact that a lot of people in that moment, all of a sudden, because they care about you and they love you, they're telling you all of the things that you can't do now or you shouldn't do now because of this thing that you have. Yeah. And you don't realize it, but you certainly, in my case, was building up all this.

Phil [00:42:56]:
Well, I can't. You know, I can't do this, can't do that, can't do that. And all of a sudden. And then one day, I woke up and said, well, let's start focusing on the stuff you can do. And that subtle mindset changed. Changed the world. And part of that was, I want to talk about this with people.

Trudi Parr [00:43:09]:
Yeah.

Phil [00:43:10]:
Because, actually, why does this need to be the elephant in anyone, any room that I go into, you know? And equally, you don't know that somebody you're about to speak to has exactly the piece of information you need that helps you get, not necessarily completely past it, but to the next phase of your learning around this. This thing. Yeah. And, honestly, I'm just a happier person for having that mindset.

Trudi Parr [00:43:30]:
Yeah.

Phil [00:43:31]:
Regardless of what this condition ends up doing to me over the years. But I'm nothing. I'm not getting bogged down in the what ifs around it. I'm just focusing on the now and what can you do? And you can totally apply that mindset to any part of your. Your life, and that's why I speak about it. I'm not putting this out. And for everybody to go, oh, Phil, you poor thing. I'm not interested in any of that.

Phil [00:43:54]:
That doesn't serve, as you said, your words. It doesn't serve me well to get that. What serves me is people going, let's, you know, let's figure out what's possible. And that's the mindset. If you apply that into your life and career generally, I think you just, certainly it's made me a happier person.

Trudi Parr [00:44:09]:
Oh, yeah. But just knowing that, I genuinely believe anything, if you want to do it, you can do it. And that's, that's just, and it, and if it's not where you're meant to go, you'll go in another direction you're meant to be. And I, 100%, like anything is forward is a good thing. Like, it's that whole, it's trajectory, isn't it? You are moving yourself and by this. But even reaching out to people, that changed my career path. Like just my, I know I'm doing something to move these obstacles to get where I need to go. And even getting into the people professional I went to, I went to, I was willing.

Trudi Parr [00:44:42]:
Obviously, I'd had very senior roles in the businesses that I got to over the years. And then with the people side, even though I had been doing, I had experience in terms of everything from recruitment bonuses, you know, you know, nurturing appraisals, disciplinaries, every single part of the people process. Because of the level of business I was in, I touched everything. You know, there was no HR person until much later on in the career that there was an actual dedicated HR person that came into business. But everything, you know, you do all that and when you go for. So I was willing to start very much at the bottom once I, you know, it was that whole, like, I'm cool with this. I, you know, I, I'm willing to. Even though I had lots of experience in an awful lot of the pieces of a lot of businesses don't see unless you've come into an HR place or professional.

Trudi Parr [00:45:28]:
They don't, they don't have, they see you, you have to be very traditional.

Phil [00:45:31]:
You know, they see the job title. They don't see the experience.

Trudi Parr [00:45:35]:
Exactly that. And so there was quite a few conversations I had when I first started to make moves that I was quite cool with going in because I just, I was like, I don't need to. At that time. I got to a stage where I was like, let me just, I want to get my foot in, then I'm going to move. That's what I'm going to do. But I genuinely would have been bored, if I'm honest, because I do have lots of people experience. So it's kind of like I would have done it. But the conversations I had even going in HR manager levels at certain traditional properties, I knew the moment I came out of that interview I wasn't the right fit for them, and they weren't the right fit for me.

Trudi Parr [00:46:05]:
So I think it's that whole. But it came down to, like, growing a business and starting a business, and I had to be aligned with a business that would allow me to be able to help them as well as they help me, you know? So it's kind of that. Yeah. So it's very much like, how do you get into those? How do you chip away? And it had to be. You had the stars aligned with Molly's, like, completely aligned with brand. It was a brand that I was a geek about that I'd been watching for a while, and also, I felt like I could add so much value to them, and this was a brand that would add value to me and make me excited, and I can make a difference. So it's kind of like you feel like you can't get somewhere because you've not gone down a traditional route, and that definitely is not. That's not.

Trudi Parr [00:46:48]:
You've got to find the right business. You've got to find. And I think that also, like, if. If I'd have got those jobs in the other places that I'd gone for, and I. And I know the brands very well. I know some of the people in the brands now, and I would. I would have been. I would have been unhappy.

Trudi Parr [00:47:02]:
You know, I would have been unhappy, and. And I would have been kept in a. In a little box in the corner, and that wouldn't have worked. So it's kind of. Yeah, you and, yeah, that would have made me sad, and I think that. So it is so much about what serves you, Trudy. Like, I literally. I had it on my board.

Trudi Parr [00:47:16]:
I wrote a board, and I literally drew head of people brands. I like da da da. And then what's next? You know, like, what else do I like doing? What I want to do more coaching. I want to do more speaking. I want to do more motivational stuff, you know? So, literally, I had it all webbed out.

Phil [00:47:30]:
Podcasts.

Trudi Parr [00:47:31]:
Yeah. Podcasts in particular. So, yeah, so, like, it. That was. That was where I. Once you know that you. Where you're going, you don't know how you're getting there, but you know where you're going. I think once you know your destination, you kind of.

Trudi Parr [00:47:46]:
Yeah, start chipping away.

Phil [00:47:48]:
I love that. I love that. That's actually massively powerful, I think, because you know, I think, God, I'm, like, speechless here. This has never happened. That whole Covid experience, actually, then for you, sounds in the end like it was a really positive experience. Now, I'm not suggesting for a second that that's everybody's experience of that type.

Trudi Parr [00:48:08]:
But it was, it was devastating to start with, like leaving a, leaving a company and, and going. Because also you go, you put yourself, when you, when you've worked for, you know, a good period of time, you tend to explain who you are through your job and when. Do you know what I mean? It's like that I'm a so and so. And you go, actually. And then they're like, no, but who are you? You're like, but I miss, no, you're not. That's your job, you know, literally, and you lose part of your identity. And I think that. And there's an uncomfortable, like, devastation of, like, grieving of, like, what? What? Let that bit go.

Trudi Parr [00:48:39]:
Where, then what? Then where are you going? And I. I think so it was game changing for me and I think I had to do that to then get to actually realizing you're not serving yourself truth, you know?

Phil [00:48:49]:
Yeah.

Trudi Parr [00:48:49]:
Yeah. So it was, it was a very mixed emotional space. Yeah.

Phil [00:48:53]:
I think that the circuit breaker is, you know, probably has its power in a lot of people's journeys as well because it's a luxury, I suppose, to be able to have it sometimes. But if you can, if you, especially if you're in a place in your career whereby you don't really know if you're going in the direction that you want to go.

Trudi Parr [00:49:11]:
Yeah.

Phil [00:49:11]:
Then you need to take a step away from whatever it is that's keeping you bogged down day to day, because having that time to really ask yourself the questions that you asked yourself, look at what that's done for you now, in terms of not just around the fact that you have identified the actual career direction you want to take, but also the types of brands you want to work for and why. And the types of brands you don't want to work for and why. And these things get you closer to that. That happiness place.

Trudi Parr [00:49:40]:
Yeah.

Phil [00:49:41]:
But if you're caught up in your kind of day to day and you're just, like, super busy constantly, all the time. You're busy at work, busy at home, busy everywhere in your life, then maybe you don't get the opportunity to really ask yourself these massively important questions. But I would say that life is too short not to ask yourself these questions since then.

Trudi Parr [00:49:59]:
I mean, I know this is something that Joe Carrero, I know that you know her as well, you know, and you've done a podcast with her. Like, she. We talk about this a lot, you know, and we. So we do, like, at Molly's, we always put a career conversation into every catch up, you know, so it is what, you know, where are you now? Where do you want to go? And, you know, what was the gap to get you there? So that conversation happens all the time in our business. And I think that's on the back of how I felt, you know, and making sure that you are. You matter to your line manager that your line managers wants to know. One for retention, but also for. We're growing a brand, right? Like, we want people to be in our brand all over the.

Trudi Parr [00:50:37]:
In every location. We want them to stay with us and grow. So we need to know who wants to stay. But it doesn't matter if you're just there for a season. We want to make sure that you're happy when you're there. So even if you say, well, I want to be a forensic scientist, I obviously can't help you. However, how about. Let me.

Trudi Parr [00:50:52]:
Have you tried LinkedIn? Have you tried doing blog, you know, like, having conversations with people so that they have a positive advocacy when they leave our business? Because it doesn't matter if you're not a lifer. It matters that, you know, while you're with us, we want to make sure that, you know, we care about your life, basically. And career is a major element of that. I mean, how many times does your line manager actually sit there without, you know, and say to you, what? What? Where's this going? What do you want? Because you're usually the person, when you do a certain level to instigate those conversations and say, I need more, I want more. But how reassuring. If a line manager comes in and nurtures that career conversation from a really, you know, a standpoint of, you've been there six months, what are you looking for? What can I help you with?

Phil [00:51:31]:
You know, totally, totally. It's massively powerful in terms of imagine if every business amazing did that.

Trudi Parr [00:51:38]:
Yeah, yeah.

Phil [00:51:39]:
Just that.

Trudi Parr [00:51:40]:
Yeah. It is literally the most powerful thing you could do because knowing that you, someone actually genuinely cares about your career path and whether that, you know, hopefully that stays, you know, you stay within a business, but if nothing, it's just really cool. It's really. It's a really cool thing to do, you know, in a conversation, to know that somebody cares about you and they'll.

Phil [00:51:58]:
Remember it and whatever they do.

Trudi Parr [00:52:00]:
Yeah. Exactly. And career conversations, you know, should not stop at school. Should not stop at school. Because how many people actually get to where they're going and knowing what they want to, you know, where they want to go from school? I mean, the pressure is ridiculous. So that should happen in every business. That should happen in every catch up, every. Every appraisal.

Trudi Parr [00:52:18]:
If you. You know, the average length of service in hospitality is. Is short. You should not be waiting twelve months to have a conversation. You could keep people much longer if you're having those conversations at six months. And they know that you want. You know, you could grow. It's just such a powerful tool.

Phil [00:52:32]:
Yeah, absolutely. By God, we could talk about this stuff all day. I think we haven't wrapped up your journey yet, though, because Molly's happened. Yeah, let's talk about Molly's. Because I'm really, really keen to kind of understand how that. How Molly's originated and kind of what's happening next and all of that lovely, interesting stuff.

Trudi Parr [00:52:52]:
Yeah. So start. So Molly's started. It was dreamed up by Nick Jones, Soho House.

Phil [00:52:56]:
Yeah, I'd imagine there's a lot of dreams go through that man's head, I'm sure.

Trudi Parr [00:53:02]:
So, yeah, so he wanted to revolutionize the roadside. So our first two properties are roadside properties. So Bristol and Oxford, it is always. I don't know if you've managed to come to Molly's, but if not get there. It is beautiful motel. Obviously, we get. You will always get negative connotations. People thinking about those motels in.

Trudi Parr [00:53:22]:
In those films that we watch. Nothing like that at all.

Phil [00:53:26]:
Nothing good ever happens in those films as well.

Trudi Parr [00:53:29]:
Yeah, no, not the same experience whatsoever. So, yeah, it's beautiful. Beautiful. Designed by Soho House. But we are not. We're not so housed. We're not a membership business. We're a very accessible business.

Trudi Parr [00:53:41]:
Price range, et cetera, is accessible. It's a motel and diner are our roadside properties. The second part of our brand is going to be city centre. And that's our. So we have roadside and city centre. And our next one is Manchester. That's opening. The diner is super successful in its own right.

Trudi Parr [00:53:56]:
So in terms of transient, very busy, very volumetric and.

Phil [00:54:01]:
Volumetric. That's a word. That's a belter. I'm having that.

Trudi Parr [00:54:05]:
Tell your friends. Very volumetric. So, you know, whereas some hotel restaurants tend to not do so well. Competition, etc. Whereas this is very much known for being a diner. And very much known for being a motel with a diner. So the food's amazing. I think we've got Kate Brooke Green, who is our head of food.

Trudi Parr [00:54:22]:
She is exceptional. And Dan gover as well, who has come from the likes of the pig and copper in terms of restaurant. So, yeah, they, they are smashing it out of the park. We've got a drive through, a very cool drive through in Oxfordshire. So it's not like a very popular brand. A little bit. A little bit cooler. I don't know if I can say that, even though they do their job very well.

Trudi Parr [00:54:41]:
So, yeah, great burgers, really, just really good products, you know, like, even though it feels, you know, very, you know, you're coming into a diner, the food is exceptional and. And the quality is good, the suppliers are good, and all of that detail goes into it. And I think when you come into Molly's, you realize that the way you. It looks and feels everything from the staff, the investment in staff training, we want you to feel like you are welcome, everybody is welcome, everybody is accessible for everybody, but you have a really good time when you're here with great milkshakes, you know, all that kind of stuff. So lots of american feel, but very high quality. And then the motel piece is run. Well. We've got two GM's motel, GM's that are exceptional.

Trudi Parr [00:55:23]:
Again, both from the hotel world, so know what they're doing. And I. The level of detail when you walk in, it is a surprise and delight because, you know, you go and you think you're paying a certain amount of money and it's just, there's a lot of attention to detail that's gone into it. So, you know, good brands that we work with in terms of, you know, couched products and things like that in the rooms, hypnos mattresses, egyptian cotton bedding, Dyson hair dryers, GhD straighteners in the rooms, amazing towels. All the tech is just crazy throughout. So the tech is. We won. We won, I think, two years ago won, Katie, for our tech, and it's just very well thought through.

Trudi Parr [00:55:59]:
But the tech is there to elevate the service. That's the whole theme. It's about making it hassle free from our EV charging. We do a lot of EV charging. So it's a spot that people know now. They can come and they can get good coffee, great coffee and food and chill out while their car is charging, and you can do everything for your phone. But also, then the service gets elevated because we're not bogged down by all the. All the stuff that detracts from service generally, because it's not efficient and smooth.

Trudi Parr [00:56:31]:
So it's super cool. The people are exceptional, like checkout tripadvisors because the people are named and named and named and named and named. And that's what it's all about, individuality. There's obviously we've got service standards, we've got things that we expect from our teams. However, the personalities will hit you more than anything else and that they're allowed to and permitted and encouraged to be themselves whilst they're in work. And that's very much our ethos. The, the inclusivity piece is running thick and fast through Molly's. It's not a tick box in any way, shape or form.

Trudi Parr [00:57:02]:
It's very much about how do we, how do we embrace people within our space so that we are representative of our communities but also, you know, our people feel comfortable, feel safe, feel secure, etc. Whilst they're in work. So it's a very big, rounded, good product with exceptional people. And I know I'm biased, but that's how I feel.

Phil [00:57:22]:
I hadn't picked that up, but you're supposed to be biased because ultimately this is one of the byproducts as to why you're there is because you've done a lot of introspective work around who you are and what you do. And actually then you've aligned with a brand who is basically just a wonderful extension of you. When that happens, you can't help but get excited about getting up for work in the morning because you're going to go and do some really cool stuff and make a difference to the people you work with, but also the people you're serving. And it sounds like you've got that wonderful mix.

Trudi Parr [00:57:58]:
Yeah. And this is the thing with hospitality. The people every day impress you. They just do. I sit there and grin a lot. I work from the reception, you know, most days. And just listening to how people are interacting just makes me happy. Like coming from a very.

Trudi Parr [00:58:14]:
Someone who's experienced hotels in all over the globe. And don't get me wrong, I've loved every minute of it, but it's just that whole, I love that they've said that, you know, when you go, I love that that person said that. I love that that person's written that about that person and, and how they talk about each other like that. Like, don't get me wrong, we, you know, people are people in a business. It's not always, you know, you know, everything amazing, but.

Phil [00:58:35]:
No, no, of course.

Trudi Parr [00:58:36]:
So there's so many lovely things that make you go, okay, that's, that makes sense. Now, that's why I do that. And the leadership team is massive. We've got a very linear leadership team, and that because of, obviously, that's where the business is right at the moment. So it's kind of. We. Our head of Ops is crazy good, you know, and his name's Mike Hogan. He knows everything about everything, you know, like, he's the guy.

Trudi Parr [00:59:01]:
He's not afraid to get his hands dirty because that's obviously where we are as a business. But he. And he will be the person that has your back every step of the way. And it's the same. You know, it's the same in every. I mean, the recruit, you know, Nya and Becky and loads of people I work with, they're all just like. Right. You know, when you just think this is starting to form a really cool team as we grow, and because there's so much diversity, you have to just respect everybody from where they've come from.

Trudi Parr [00:59:25]:
And it's that whole. And I don't mean that in a have to. I mean, like, you want. You just sit back and go, okay, maybe I didn't have all that covered because, you know, that area so much better than me, and I'm just gonna step back and listen to you for a bit.

Phil [00:59:36]:
Yeah.

Trudi Parr [00:59:37]:
And, you know, our head of sales, you know, is come from a very traditional hotel group, but she is just smashing it out the park, and she's lovely and vibrant and exciting. And so you just feel like this whole, like, having been in two other businesses that have bubbled and you feel it, you know, and you just feel that. You think this is all. This is gonna be good. This is gonna be. And it is good already, but, you know, and, you know, when we start shooting off around the country in terms of more sites, that is pretty cool.

Phil [01:00:06]:
Yeah, no doubt. I mean, it sounds like it's another story whereby all roads lead here, really. Although you might not have known that five years ago, but that's kind of also one of the joys of this. Right. Of this industry, and, you know, is that you. You really, really do not know where this industry can take you until you just fully commit and go get on the train. Yeah, absolutely. The journey is going to be interesting.

Phil [01:00:30]:
Yeah, that is for sure.

Trudi Parr [01:00:32]:
I mean, it's challenging, and I think it's that it's challenging. It's using your brain. It's allowing you to be creative. You know, be creative. But, like, it's just. It is that, isn't it? Like, oh, my God, we've done this. We've we've, we're making a difference and, and I think that that's it. It's like keeping it as long as you keep bringing it back to the core.

Trudi Parr [01:00:48]:
Are we doing this because this is what we said we'd do? I think it's that, isn't it? Don't go off and spin too many plates. Make sure that everything you're doing is, is heading where it needs to go. And if it's not, then don't touch it, you know, for now, you know, and then you. Yeah, it's um. Yeah, it's exciting.

Phil [01:01:02]:
Yeah, absolutely superb. Look, I feel like I've taken up way too much of your time. I could talk to you about anything and everything to do with people until the end of time, but I think your story is wonderful. I think that you're exactly where you need to be. Right, because and equally all of that experience you had in these entrepreneurial led environments have, have led you into another entrepreneurial led, I can't even say the word business. And what, you know, is there any better entrepreneur out there from a vision perspective certainly than Mister Jones? It's, you know, that guy never has a vision, does he?

Trudi Parr [01:01:35]:
No. And it's, I mean it's definitely going where it needs to go.

Phil [01:01:40]:
Right.

Trudi Parr [01:01:40]:
And I think now, you know, there's a different leadership team in there and they're driving it forward and we've got like loads of excitement coming with regards to, you know, new sites moving forward and, and yeah, it's, it's just get on the train is what I'm saying. And I think it's a really, it's a really cool time to be part of it and, but there's loads of hospitality business out there that are literally on the bubble, aren't there? So it's kind of, I think for encouraging people to come. Come and join a similar, a similar business is the way to go, really.

Phil [01:02:11]:
Yeah. Your, your story is kind of like a lesson to everyone, really. I think, about finding the, the, the companies and brands and people that align with you and, you know, and what that looks like 15 years ago is probably way different than it is now. But actually when you kind of understand what makes you tick from a values perspective, what's important to you, then finding where your place is, is way easier. Because if you understand more about yourself then you obviously know where you're going to slot in. And it's not just a case of just taking something because I need to take something.

Trudi Parr [01:02:39]:
Yeah. It's been for me, be uncomfortable with what you've got to do, but not where you are.

Phil [01:02:44]:
Very good. Like that. You're dropping some gold today. Good stuff. And a big shout out to Joe from Carrero because she is, as we discussed before we switch the microphone on, she's turning into my booking agent, introducing me to lots of amazing people, yourself included. Thank you so much for your time today. It's been an absolute joy to learn about your journey and where you're going. It sounds really interesting.

Phil [01:03:08]:
I'm on the train. Just get me on that train.

Trudi Parr [01:03:11]:
I've loved it. Thank you.

Phil [01:03:12]:
You're very welcome. Take care