an interview with Martin Hartmann MIH an interview with Martin Hartmann MIH

34 www.instituteofhospitality.org

Building on a successful career with Hilton, Martin Hartmann MIH identified a gap in the market and founded The Reception Academy, a training centre for the next generation of receptionists

What made you want to work in the hotel industry? I grew up in a large family - four brothers and

two sisters - and this gave us a sense of wanting

to help each other and wanting to help people

in general. I always wanted to be a pilot but

unfortunately I couldn’t do that because I am

red-green colour-blind so hotels was the next

best choice, and in many ways it was the better

choice because it still allowed me to travel the

world, meet lots of new people in an exciting

industry that changes constantly. Hotels are

very similar to airlines. I started out working for

Radisson SAS in Hamburg, part of Scandinavian

Airlines itself. What I learned with Radisson

was probably very similar to what I would have

learned with an airline. I grew up in one of the

poorest parts of Hamburg so I always wanted

to work in a nice, clean environment, and I

always knew that I would probably have to work

twice as hard to get there. The odds weren’t

that great; but I worked hard, completed my A

A very warmreception

levels and then, like all Germans, had to choose

military or civil service. I decided on the latter

and worked in a home for the elderly - again,

a very caring profession. After, I started my

apprenticeship with Radisson SAS in Hamburg

for three years. It was tough, good schooling

and I learned a lot. I worked in Rimini, Italy, for

three months and then came back to Hamburg

and thought ‘what next?’

It turned out to be LondonYes. The original idea was just to stay for one

year to improve my English but I ended up

staying! I grew very fond of British culture. In

many ways it’s very similar to the culture we

have in Hamburg, a very British kind of city.

I stayed on in London, because I enjoyed it

and I got promoted. I worked hard and career

opportunities were just so much better than in

Germany. It would take you a very long time

to get to the same place I got here in the UK.

If you work in a hotel in Hamburg and you

want to be a supervisor, you would be required

to work between five and ten years as a

receptionist first. Here it was so much faster.

What made you stay with Hilton?I started with Hilton in 2003 at the Hilton

London Mews and was hired as a receptionist.

The Iraq War affected hotels greatly. They told

me: “There isn’t enough work here right now. You

can either go back to Germany or be flexible and

work in housekeeping, F&B or any department

where we need you and we will keep you on.”

I opted for the second choice and was grateful

Hilton gave me this opportunity. They kept their

word, and after four months, I returned to the

role I was hired for. At one point Hilton Mews

was sold and I would usually have lost my job or

would have worked for the new company. But

Hilton offered me another job in another hotel

and they were always supportive and gave me

every opportunity to grow as a professional and I

am always grateful for that.

an interview with Martin Hartmann MIH an interview with Martin Hartmann MIH

35www.instituteofhospitality.org

Who is Reception Academy aimed at?Our students are those who cannot afford

a university degree. They are already in

work: baristas, hairdressers, shop assistants,

employees working in the fast casual dining

sector - jobs with not much room to move up.

Hotels are seen as a somewhat highly-regarded

job. These people can afford our training.

They want a different life. They want to make

a career for themselves. They’ve worked in

customer service and are looking for the next

opportunity to progress.

For the hotels, it’s great to know that

somebody took the time and used their own

money to get trained. They clearly have a

different dedication to the job at hand, than

someone who hasn’t invested anything.

What’s the nationality mix of your students?Ten per cent are British-born. Traditionally

British people see a university degree as the

What gave you the idea and the drive to set up your own business?It wasn’t actually such a big step. I was

working at Hilton Canary Wharf and I went

out with a few colleagues and we were all

talking about the same thing. We all had

problems getting our hands on decently-

trained people, with skills such as using Opera.

Up to that point we always recruited people

even without any background in hotels, and

we’d have to train them from scratch which

is very time-consuming and very stressful for

the team. So we had this idea. Wouldn’t it be

great if there was this company that could

provide us with trained people? We researched

this and couldn’t find anybody who did this. So

that was our opportunity to create one. Hilton

loved the idea and were really supportive. They

allowed me to work part-time with Hilton and

part-time on Reception Academy. When I knew

it would work, I ended up doing it full time. It

was a smooth transition.

only way forward. In many ways this is a

little old-fashioned. Universities teach topics

that are not that relevant. They rely too much

on coursework. They don’t teach students

how to operate the PMS or CRM systems. If

you want to be a taxi driver you need to learn

to drive a car. Reading about it will never

help. This is why the practical element of our

training is so important. All our classrooms

include the reception desk so they learn to

practice on the Opera system. When they

start their job they are already very familiar

with the environment and the reservations

system and will not be shocked.

Did the success of Reception Academy surprise you?It wasn’t the best time [ 2008, a recession] but

we started off very small with seven students

in the first class and we grew from there. We

never envisaged it would be as big as we are

now. We now have nearly 1,000 students each

martin hartmann MIh

RELATIONSHIP

Married

HOLIDAY

Hong Kong (East

Hong Kong Hotel)

FILM

Limitless

MUSIC

Hans Zimmer, film

score for Inception

BOOK

Marching Powder by

Rusty Young

an interview with Martin Hartmann MIH an interview with Martin Hartmann MIH

36 www.instituteofhospitality.org

Martin Hartmann, 40, founded Reception

Academy in 2008 whilst working for Hilton

as a front-of-house manager. Prior to this

he worked for Radisson, Marriott and Hilton

as well as some smaller independent hotels.

Martin founded Reception Academy when it

became apparent to him that the majority

of applications for receptionist positions

were rejected due to a lack of experience.

Whilst many applicants had the passion and

desire to work in hotels, they could not be

given a chance to prove this in interviews,

due to a lack of knowledge and skills. Today,

Reception Academy trains nearly 1,000

hotel employees per year and works with a

client-base of 800 hotels.

year. We have four training rooms and we are

very efficient in the way we use those rooms.

We want to ensure people can continue to pay

for their courses without huge difficulty. We

don’t want these courses to cost a couple of

thousand pounds just because we spent money

on useless things, again something that goes

back to working with Hilton where I learned not

to waste money. You use everything you have

and make sure there is a return.

It seems extraordinary that such a gap in the market existed.Hotels need new fresh blood all the time.

Training them for a month off the job can

dramatically reduce the time the hotel has to

spend with them. We found this with many

hotels. Our students were up to scratch within

less than a week, while non-trained personnel

took eight weeks. We save the hotels vast

amounts of money.

Some hotels send their staff to us. If they have

applications from people who have no experience,

they send them to us and part-fund their course.

With Jurys Inn, for example, we go to them to

train their managers and trainers. We also work

with hotels in their pre-opening phases. Our

clients are not just hotels either. We work with

Barratt Residential Asset Management (BRAM)

who manage private and commercial properties.

Why did you choose to have your courses endorsed by the Institute of Hospitality?We were accredited by the British Accreditation

Council (BAC) so we went through a very similar

process before. But the BAC isn’t related to

hotels, it just verifies that the processes are in

order and it enables students to come to us on

visas if they wish to. We then decided it would

be good to also have recognition from within

the industry - someone who is influential,

recognised and respected by the industry - and

that brought us to the Institute of Hospitality.

We know our courses are great. We didn’t do it

for the sake of accreditation. We did it to ensure

that we are on track. It helps us to review our

processes and we even made a few changes, so

it helps in moving us forward.

Where does your leadership talent come from?It comes partly from my mum. Being a single

mother with seven children, she had to be very

strong, but also very fair, warm and kind at

the same time. She would never show us when

there was a tough time. She would always smile

and make sure we were safe. I try to do this

now in everything I do. I almost see myself as

a parent. When you have a team to manage

you are partly a parent. You shouldn’t obviously

Martin Hartmann MIH at a glance

treat your team like children, but make sure

they are looked after and recognise when they

have difficulties.

In my professional leadership I really learned

from two fantastic managers. One, Oliver

Stockland, area general manager of Hilton

Canary Wharf Tower Bridge and Kensington

Hotels, and Maria Ghebresselasie who was my

front of house manager. Both were absolutely

fantastic at working alongside the team. They

never excluded themselves. That makes you a

great leader. You work with your team. You’re

not hiding in the back office. When they need

you, you are there.

What are your priorities for 2017?It’s going to be a little tricky because of Brexit.

Some people are anxious about coming to the

UK now to start a new career. A large majority

of our students come from continental Europe,

so it does take a little more time to convince

them that now is a good time to come and

start their careers, so we want to focus on

that. We also have talks to partner up with

two companies to grow Reception Academy

beyond the UK. We’re currently looking at

Germany, Italy and Spain, to take the model

and replicate it abroad.

Interview by Ben Walker