Phoenicia Malta appoints Robyn Pratt as General Manager
Mark Shaw, Owner of The Phoenicia Malta recently announced the appointment of Robyn Pratt as the hotel’s new General Manager.
Robyn has lived in Malta for 11 years with her husband Brian. They have 3 sons, 2 of which attended Verdala International School until recently when Sebastian left to attend Clongowes College in Ireland to further his passion for Rugby.
“I am very humbled and proud that Mark asked me to take on this role and am excited about the possibilities that are in front of us. This is more than taking on a hotel – this role is about building upon a wonderful story rich with history, pride and sense of family. For many years I would walk into Valletta and look towards The Phoenicia and think what a beautiful building it is but actually never realised how much more it is than a beautiful building. You enter the hotel lobby and before you is the open and spacious Palm Court Lounge with the view beyond from the Phoenix Terrace overlooking The Phoenicia Gardens and Harbour it creates a wonderful energy.”
When I first walked down to The Bastion Pool, I had no idea how beautiful it is especially when walking through the lush gardens and then it opens up to the pool area nestled in with the beautiful Bastion walls seeming to protect it. Whenever I take someone to the pool area who hasn’t previously visited, they share my sense of awe as you come across what really is a treasure located so close to the beautiful city of Valletta.”
Robyn has worked in the hospitality industry for almost 45 years with her very first job being a waitress in Rockhampton which is the city that Robyn was born in Queensland, Australia. Hospitality gets into your blood and try as we might we find it hard to leave. Robyn owned her own restaurant by the time she was 20 and then went on to join ITT Sheraton which then became Starwood Hotels & Restaurants. She held various positions with this company including General Manager, Regional Sales and Marketing in Australia and then moved to Belgium to headquarters for Europe, Africa and Middle East where she held senior roles in Six Sigma, Operational Innovation, Customer Experience, and Brand Leadership for Design and Luxury brands. “I value the fact that I have worked in a hotel in most departments and then have Regional and International experience working across Countries and Cultures.
In recent years I have been working with individuals and teams to reach their full potential through challenging their paradigms and self-limiting beliefs in order to achieve different results and this is something we will be working on here at The Phoenicia. “What has got us to where we are today is great however, times are changing, and our vision is to be acknowledged as the “the best in the Mediterranean” so together with the team we are working together to determine how we need to change in order to achieve this bold goal. “Nothing is impossible – it is our thinking that makes it so” is a great quote that reflects how we want our team to think going forward.
These are very challenging times for our industry specifically with the severe shortage of HR resources available which again means we need to think differently and what is most important to me is that we will focus on bringing our Phoenicia promise to life from the inside out which means we will continue to focus on engaging our team in our goal and supporting them so that they can be proud to be an integral part of our success. The team here at the hotel are fantastic and the “sense of family” that I have felt from the outset is what I hear time and time again from our guests who comment on the great team spirit and their willingness to deliver the best possible experience for our Phoenicia Malta guest.
We are definitely not standing still. We have our recently opened Deep Nature Spa, our gardens were given a major uplift over the Covid period, we are excited with the recently announced collaboration with Beefbar which will open in what was Café Phoenicia and there is more to come so stay tuned.
I have heard from many over the past few years that Malta must focus on improving the quality of guest experience for visitors which we absolutely agree with, and this will continue to be our focus going forward.”
