In the first of our Getting to Know You features, we take a closer look at a member of Interstate Europe Hotels & Resorts’ UK team – Steve Terry, Vice President of Development – who gives us an insight into his position.

Tell us about your role and what it involves?

My role as VP Development is incredibly varied but, ultimately, it is to expand Interstate’s UK managed portfolio by winning management contracts for both independent and branded hotels.

I’ve worked for the company for five years now, and have been involved in UK development for more than 20.

What does a typical day in your role involve?

There’s no such thing as a typical day! I spend a lot of my time networking, meeting with investors, contractors, architects, agents, bankers – all the other industries that play a part in the vision, creation and running of a hotel.

I travel around a lot, especially to London, as that is where the majority of these companies are based; it’s all about building face-to-face relationships and being available to our clients and partners.

I also liaise with our projections team, too. It’s vitally important the projections they do for each project we work on are completed independently, but as I’m involved with each property’s development from start to finish, I often have additional information that they require for the work they do.

What’s your favourite part of your role?

Meeting people, I love the networking aspect of my job. The hotel industry is a very friendly one, people are sociable and easy to get along with, and so it’s a real pleasure to do business.

Additionally, and somewhat linked, is the part of my job where I can share Interstate’s capabilities and strengths with hotel owners. We are the UK’s only, dedicated third-party management company and so our success depends 100 per cent on the success of our owners’ properties.

When I’m out and about talking to potential clients it’s great to share our ideas with them, draw on our wealth of experience in terms of locations, brands and more, and identify ways in which the Interstate UK team and can help them build a really viable and successful business.

What, in your opinion, makes Interstate stand out from the crowd?

That’s simple – the fact we’re the UK’s only exclusively third-party hotel management company.

While we don’t own the properties we operate, we manage the hotels as if we were the owner, so our business’s success is entirely dependent on the success of how hotels we look after perform.

Therefore, unlike other management companies who own some of their own properties, our owners’ bottom line and the success of their businesses is our top priority and at the heart of everything we do.