Founder:
Adrian Ellis
Adrian Ellis, 2022 Hotelier of the year is the founder of Hospitality Connect. The project was conceived during Winter 2021 in Manchester when recruitment to the industry was extremely challenging and was born out of a need to improve perceptions of the industry to a school aged audience.
Adrian developed the partnership project model alongside Jason Benn, Industry Manager from City & Guilds and Laura Johnson from Greater Manchester Combined Authority Careers Hub. The pilot introduced 10 members of Manchester Hoteliers Association to 10 schools across Manchester, Salford, Stockport and Trafford. The partners collaborated on a series of activities that would positively introduce young students to the sector, both in the classroom and at the respective hotel venues.
During the first two years of the project, the partnership count reached 30 in Greater Manchester and funding was secured from Savoy Educational Trust to replicate the successful project model to other regions in the UK.
In November 2023, Laura Johnson was appointed as Hotels and Schools Liaison Manager and has been working with regional hospitality associations and careers hub teams to successfully replicate the Hospitality Connect project model across the UK.
Objective:
To inspire the next generation of hospitality talent, Hospitality Connect creates long term meaningful partnerships between industry and schools.
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Matched partners follow a programme of recommended activities that include curriculum enhancement, venue-based experiences of the workplace, careers education activities and parental / carer and teacher encounters.
Our core aims are to:
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Bring together Hospitality Associations and Career Hub teams to support good quality careers education so that schools benefit from a high impact hotelier partnership.​​
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Improve awareness of the breadth of occupations available by delivering inspiring activities that will positively introduce students to the hospitality sector.
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Amplify technical and vocational pathways that lead into the sector from age 16+ by including further and higher education institutions in our regional projects.
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Induct employer volunteers as ‘Hospitality Connect Ambassadors’ to understand education priorities, curriculum, safeguarding, inclusion and how to partner with schools meaningfully.