What was your first job and what did your responsibilities include?

I was a kitchen porter at the Bear Hotel in Woodstock. In the 1970s, when I was 13, I used to come to Hope House to visit my grandparents with my family.

My grandfather, John Marston Money a retired naval commander, felt that rather than sit watching Grandstand I should work, cleaning kitchen and kitchen equipment and doing anything the chefs did not want to do.

How much was in your first pay packet and what did you spend it on?

It was from The Bear and amounted to a few old pence. I was not allowed to spend it but told to put it towards my first house.

Describe how your career developed to the present day.

By the time A-Levels came along I was a very competitive sportsman and I did not do well enough to get to Loughborough to study sports science so my father, Max Hageman, asked me what else, other than sport, I really enjoyed.

At 19, the only answer I could think of was eating. So he suggested a hotel management degree course at Portsmouth University. I was very fortunate be selected to join Crest Hotels management training scheme.

I went through a year of gruelling training and was soon made assistant manager. I worked for six years in a variety of Crest Hotels with a short lapse as catering manager at Brands Hatch.

I developed a flair for opening themed bars and restaurants including GK’s in Beaconsfield and Fat Sams in Basildon. In 1988 I was appointed general manager of the Coventry Chase Hotel.

I went on to manage other Crest Hotels and then via the Forte purchase of Crest worked for Forte Hotels for two years.

In 1993 I was headhunted by the Oberoi group to open hotels in Asia for them. Six years of opening and managing five star hotels followed.

I came back to the UK in 2000 and bought two further hotels to add to the one I had bought prior to going to India.

I ran Fardell Hotels for five years before backpacking around the world in 2005 and 2006 visiting 21 countries in 24 months.

From 2007 I have worked for the family running the Hope House estate with my mother, Julia.

In 2009, Hope House, our ancestral home, opened, offering luxury suites to the discerning traveller. In our first year we won Best Accommodation and Breakfast Offer South England and were invited to join the elite collection of Mr and Mrs Smith hotels.

What has been your best decision?

Professionally — joining a five star hotel operator — Oberoi. Personally — asking Sharan (now my wife) if she would like dinner at the Hyatt in Delhi (our first date).

And your worst?

In one of the hotels I opened in India I recruited the best individuals to make my management team without giving any consideration as to whether they would work well together. They did not . . .

Describe a typical day Greet guests at breakfast, supervise check out, check in guests and manage sales and marketing efforts.

Who/what have been the biggest influences on your career?

PRS Oberoi, chairman of Oberoi Hotel Group, for his passion for people What are the key responsibilities in your position?

Staff welfare, guest satisfaction, sales and marketing and developing the product to stay ahead of the five star hotels What is the best advice you can give to someone starting out in your business?

It is a people industry. So, if you can manage or get on well with people, the rest is easy.

What is the secret of good management?

Coaching ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results.

Do you have a good work/life balance?

No, I have failed consistently but I plan to sort this out.

What hobbies/interests do you enjoy in your spare time?

Golf, ocean sailing, eating out and travelling.

Is there anything in business that really irritates you?

Mediocrity.

How do you see your company developing over the next five years?

I want to manage other businesses from the base that we have.

What has been your most satisfying moment?

Hope House being invited to join Mr and Mrs Smith hotels (the only other member in Oxfordshire is Le Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons).

Do you believe there is enough help and support from government and agencies for growing businesses?

No. Entrepreneurship is not encouraged at all.

What is your attitude to the environment and do you have any green policies in place?

I was brought up in a family with a very ‘green’ ethos.

Perhaps this was more to do with my parents having survived the war on ration vouchers but wasting little and not doing anything to damage our environment was always a part of our values and continues to be part of my working ethic at Hope House.

What is the secret of a happy workforce?

To help them to feel a part of something great and that they are making a difference.

To me, every employee plays an essential role — helping them to understand that clean crockery and a hygienic kitchen, for example, is essential as it enables some less front line roles to feel a part of something bigger.

Is there any other job you would like to have done and why?

To be a helmsman on Britain’s first America cup winning boat — nobody else has done that yet and it is just there to done.

What would you like to do when you retire?

Travel is my passion and I would like to sail around the world, visiting the places I have not seen before.