There is a new director of operations at Westin Cape Town, and he already feels like he is part of the family. Since he started two weeks ago, Shaun Bertram Tregoning spends at least 12 hours making sure the award-winning hotel runs like a well-oiled machine.
“It’s an all-encompassing role. I meet and greet staff and guests, hold roundtable discussions with the executive team, conference and group organisers, and a plethora of things in between. It’s my job to make sure that everything runs smoothly, that everyone is happy and that our hotel always meets the highest standards,” he said.
He has been in the hospitality industry since the early 1990s.
“I fell in love with hospitality after spending just a year working in a hotel after matric. As they say, the rest is history,” he said.
Tregoning proceeded to complete a certificate in Hotel Management through Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), followed by an internship at the Ritz in Sea Point and the Protea Hotel Knysna. He has since then worked for big hotel chains including the Southern Sun, Protea Hotels and Sun International in South Africa and Zambia.
“The opportunities are endless in this industry and growth is guaranteed. I can’t picture myself being anywhere else doing anything else,” he added
Tregoning loves that no two days are ever the same. And when operationally everything runs according to plan, with little or no comebacks, he acknowledges that he’s doing something right. But every role comes with a handful of challenges and he wants to maintain and improve the hotel’s standards.