In 2020, Brooklands Hotel was due to celebrate ten years since first opening its doors to guests but all plans to mark this milestone were abandoned due to the global pandemic. We have come back even stronger through the challenges the pandemic has thrown our way. This is no mean feat given the challenges the hospitality industry has faced. One key factor in the way we have bounced back is our team; we have a ‘Make It Happen’ ethos and as an independent hotel, we offer a unique experience for our guests.

Marco Gervasoni, General Manager, was responsible for opening Brooklands Hotel in 2010. “Opening an independent hotel with no head office is very challenging as all decisions are based on experience and knowledge gained throughout your career” says Marco. Marco’s philosophy for running a business is all about longevity; do people enjoy their work, do guests enjoy a great experience and do investors continue to invest in the business as they make money. He believes that you should never compromise on any of these three but instead try to find a balance between them.

Twelve years ago, Jon McClelland joined Brooklands Hotel pre opening as Commercial Director alongside Marco as General Manager. Jon has a wealth of commercial experience in the hotel sector having worked at a variety of properties, such as conference centres to country clubs before arriving in Weybridge.

Jon oversees all commercial activities at Brooklands so is responsible for the hotels rate strategy and distribution. He also oversees the proactive and reactive sales teams.

Jon has initiated many product & service innovations since Brooklands opened from the refurbishment of BSpa to include a Sunlight Therapy Room to the introduction of the conference app, which allows guests to connect with the Meetings & Events Operations Team seamlessly. Jon says “I firmly believe that the success of Brooklands Hotel is down to the team’s focus on delivering fantastic experiences for our guests whilst also ensuring the investors continue with their support of the hotel.”

Shane has been at Brooklands 8 years & he is responsible for both the Reservations and Reception Team; his team are the people guests first experience when making a booking and arriving at Brooklands Hotel. Shane and his team are there for guests throughout their stay with us too and do whatever they can to ‘Make It Happen’ for our guests. So when one guest asked for a David Hasselhof picture to be in his bedroom upon arrival, Shane and the team did just that! It turned out that the guest was joking and totally wasn’t expecting to find a framed picture of The Hoff on his bedside table.

Shane has seen some famous faces in his time at Brooklands Hotel and he doesn’t normally get starstruck but when Rami Malek checked in, Shane gave him a blank bedroom key card instead of one that had been programmed. Luckily, Shane realised before he reached the guest lift so an embarrassing situation was avoided. The people involved in the hospitality industry are why Shane loves it so much.

Davide has been with Brooklands 12 years in a number of different departments so he knows the hotel inside out and has seen all sort of events take place here. The most memorable one for Davide was when a guest booked the whole hotel for a private party and the lobby was turned into a nightclub and bar. Although it was a long shift, Davide said the event was unforgettable and the best party he has ever worked at. Not everything goes to plan though and when a guests birthday cake accidently got damaged, Davide worked with the kitchen team to remake the cake which was filled with tropical fruits and topped with fresh flowers. It ended up being even nicer than the original one the guest had brought. The guest was very pleased so the story had a happy ending, much to Davide’s relief! He was less happy when a guest’s band had to cancel their booking due to Covid and the guest asked whether Davide could find three more members of his team and asked them to dress up as ABBA to perform at the party. In this instance, Davide was more than happy to source alternative entertainment rather than become a member of ABBA for the night.