About
Gerard Tempest
A hospitality professional with over 30 years experience, I have been fortunate to have played a part in the development of some great travel brands including; Haven Holidays, Premier Inn, P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard. Plus I've contributed to the nurturing of some fantastic cultures at Whitbread and Bourne Leisure.
What gets me up in the mornings? A passion for developing propositions, building brands, driving guest and team member engagement, delivering commercial performance and developing successful individuals & teams. Now looking for opportunities in hospitality where I can leverage my skills and experience to help businesses, brands and individuals grow and flourish.
Background
Growing up in Yorkshire, I completed my degree in Portsmouth and has spent my career to date in the hospitality industry in varying commercial & strategic positions. With a keen interest in developing powerful propositions and brands for commercial success, following roles with Sarova Hotels, County Hotels and Corus & Regal Hotels, in 2000 I became Director of Marketing for Thistle Hotels, where I lead the team to establish the brand as the leading domestic full service hotel brand in the UK.
I joined Whitbread in 2003 as Director of Marketing responsible for the UK & Ireland Marriott business, where one of my main achievements was repositioning Marriott in the UK as a leisure brand.
In November 2005, I moved internally within Whitbread taking up the role of Marketing Director for Premier Inn (Premier Travel Inn at the time), the UK’s largest hotel brand. Rebranding Premier Travel Inn to Premier Inn, launching the brand on television with Lenny Henry and building marketing capability have been instrumental establishing Premier Inn as the leading hotel brand in the UK.
In April 2008, I was appointed Sales & Marketing Director of Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants, with responsibility for both the Premier Inn brand and Whitbread’s four restaurant brands.
Moving from hotels into the cruise sector in December 2012, I joined Carnival UK as Chief Commercial Officer with responsibility for the commercial performance of the P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard Line brands. Successfully launching Britannia, P&O Cruises’ first new build for five years (3,647 passengers and 1,350 crew), the launch was a springboard for the reinvigoration of the P&O Cruises brand with Rob Brydon as the face of the brand.
Starting Pear Tree Leisure in 2016, I began advising and consulting with a number of different hospitality businesses, was an investor and Non Exec Director of a privately held hotel in Ireland, as well as being an Non Exec Director of The Sloane Club (private members club) in London.
Having consulted with Bourne Leisure since late 2016 in August 2018 I joined the organisation full time as the Guest & Proposition Director for Haven, (part of Bourne Leisure), with commonwealth responsibilities for supporting both Butlin's and Warner Leisure Hotels, with responsibility for customer segmentation, guest listening strategy and proposition development.
Most recently I was CMO for Haven Holidays (part of Bourne Leisure, a Blackstone portfolio company), where I was responsible for proposition development for Haven, all the guest listening and research programmes, offline marketing, sponsorship, PR, call centre operations & guest relations teams. I also supported the businesses more widely through mentoring key leadership team.