Marco makes a stir at the DoubleTree by Hilton, London-Islington

This week saw a visit to our Islington Marco Pierre White SteakHouse by the Man himself as part of a book signing tour.

You can tell by the enthusiasm and energy from our team that they loved every minute of the limelight that follows MPW.

This got me thinking how important to employee morale, team spirit and engagement the brand you work for is. We all know the headlines of brands gone bad, those that can't balance profit and people or have lost the moral compass. How hard must to be as an employee to go to work for a brand that does hold your values or where you don't feel valued. You could see from the excitement around Marco's visit how proud the Islington employees are to be park of the SteakHouse and hotel team.

It also made me thing how hard we have to work to protect and develop our brands, especially those who don't have a 'real' person or 'Godfather' behind them as the Marco Pierre White SteakHouse brand. What makes a brand, its personality and its character that employees want to be part of it and ultimately deliver exceptional guest service? It is the responsibility of every manager to live and breath the culture and share this with their team members, to learn or absorb the spirit of a company from their leader. In turn managers need to be grown, supported and nurtured in their roles not just as business leaders, but leaders of people who can develop, coach and share the spirit with their people.

I will leave you with these two Amaris Hospitality stars at our DoubleTree by Hilton hotel working on the MPW look. You have nothing to worry about Marco!