The Way to Santiago Blog

I’m sat in the office, it’s half past seven in the morning. Both my computers are on already, I have a cup of earl grey, sugar, no milk, besides that is a tesco’s finest Italian plum tomato & mascarpone soup, lid off, spoon in. Now some of you may think thats a little odd and to be fair you’d be right, but I’ve got to eat, right.

Just considering in 5 days time I’ll be back out in the stunning Alps, surrounded by snow, the pressure is really on now. I keep thinking I’ve forgotten things, (I probably have?!), if I’m honest all I really need to take are work clothes and boarding clothes, everything else can be sorted.

I’m loving all you guys connecting through twitter and watching the excitement and anticipation build as the days slip away.

Just remember guys (and girls), to play hard you first have…

I know it’s been a while since our first interview, that’s because the office is now in warp drive with the quickly approaching season, but here for you is Mark Kerr. A lot of the new recruits will probably know the name…

Name Mark Kerr, sometimes referred to as “Glowstick”

Time with STG I started with the company in Nov 2011 as Head of Customer Service in the hotel Beausoleil, Alpe D’huez. Having spent a fantastic time out there I was then asked to join the team in L’Escala on the Costa Brava, Spain. I worked for the Pavilion Tours brand as Deputy Resort manager. I spent the summer managing a team of activity instructors and looking after our school groups (also getting a tan and speaking Spanish). At the end of the summer I joined head office as overseas recruiter

Position in company Overseas recruiter. I work as part…

Well I’m highly disappointed as I just learnt last night that Brighton has an amazing zombie march for Halloween, but its today!?! Why is it not next week? I would have loved to get involved but alas all my costumes and make up are still in my studio in Somerset so I guess I’ll just have to go and watch.
I’m currently in the office working on a presentation for a colleague of mine to take to Canada.
I almost forgot our new company website has just gone live! I’m sure we’ll see it tweaked here and there over the coming months but check it out at http://www.stg-travel-group.co.uk and for you Halloween fans here’s my costume from a couple of years ago!

Well, all you people that journeyed to Brighton today for our recruitment day. You all looked fantastic and smart. Well done to those of you who got stuck in traffic for hours, but still managed to turn up!
Personally I had a great day. I think the turn out was great and the quality was too.
I was amazed not one of my interviewees mentioned or asked about the stitches in my arm. I’m not sure whether they were being polite or scared to ask?
I returned to the office to find these two bad boys had arrived for me! Very happy indeed…
Have a great weekend everyone!

Ok people, from time to time we are going to be interviewing seasonnaires from around the company. As yet we haven’t got any photographs of them but give us time, we will. Here to kick start the proceedings is Tom Cheesman, Hotel Manager (and creator of the blog), well we have to start somewhere…

Name – Tom Cheesman aka Major Tom, Cheesmeister General, The Big Cheese

Time with STG – I started running a hotel in Austria for STG on December 11th 2011

Position in company – I guess my title is European Hotel Manager, I run hotels, it’s what I’m good at. But over this summer I’ve helped with recruitment, training, marketing and I’ve also been trained in hotel auditing for the ‘School Travel Forum’

Who do you respect – Everyone that shows me respect (plus my elders obviously… I come from a generation that was taught to…

Morning girls & boys,

Well I have to say we’ve had an amazing response to the little email that Ruth sent out, so thank you all. I’m looking forward to meeting a lot of you out at training week. Lets hope we get some snow, that way we can have snowball warfare for team building. If any of you have other ideas for team building, I’m all ears?!

As with all things, the good comes with the bad. The bad being that we couldn’t offer everyone positions from the recruitment days. Also, not all of you will be joining us on the training week, but on that front don’t fear you’ll be in the hotels working soon enough… I would like to give you all some advice though, the season can be very stressful, (living & working together), there’s nothing worse than bottling up your feelings. If you have any…

Good Morning, this is your Captain speaking, (aka Cheesmeister General, Major Tom, The Big Cheese),

Today we can expect some bright sunshine, by this afternoon I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some rain?!

It’s the last ‘full season’ recruitment day for a while, we’re back at The Queens Hotel down on Brighton sea front today. I’m looking forward to seeing the turnout. I have to say our Edinburgh visit put the South of England to shame in smart appearance, perhaps today will be different? Just remember, our interview is no different from an interview for a paper round or with Lord Sugar, appearance is everything!

The office is now a hive of excitement with things kicking into overdrive for the coming season, I have quotes hitting me left, right & centre, but it won’t be long until we’re back out in the French Alps for the training course. The…

Well I arrived a little after 4pm on Thursday into Geneva airport, at which point I suddenly panicked that I was supposed to be at Grenoble or another airport of equal distance to the Alps.
Being the last minute, organiser that I am, I’d completely forgotten to get anyone’s phone numbers and so the only idea I had that I was going to be picked up was a faint memory of an email I’d read. (When you get to my age, and you’ve been brought up on things made in aluminium pots and pans, faint memories are better than no memory)! Half an hour of passive smoking (that’s right I’ve given up), and pacing up and down the arrival lounge, I spot a face I think I recognise. This could either become slightly embarrassing or get me out of the airport. I walked up slightly behind the person and called…

Today, I’m flying out to the French Alps. I haven’t seen the companies clubhotels in France so I’m going to check them out. Also, I’m going to be spending some time in Montgenevre as this is where the hotel is located that I will be running this Winter coming (2012/13).

I’ve never seen the Alps in the Summer so I’m excited to see how beautiful it is…