A FORMER Guernsey hotel manager has been named as the 2009 UK hotelier of the year.

Jonathan Raggett, who is now managing director of Red Carnation Hotels, was general manager of St Pierre Park Hotel from 1993 to 1998 before leaving to take up a position with his current employer as general manager of The Rubens at the Palace in London.

By 2000, he was appointed as managing director of Red Carnation, which has the OGH Hotel in its portfolio of 16 hotels across the UK, South Africa, Switzerland and America.

He was delighted to have won the award at the Hotel Cateys, at an independent awards ceremony for the hotel industry, held last month at the Lancaster London Hotel and presented by comedian Jason Manford.

‘As a hotel manager, you’ve got to get out and about and I’m not just talking about being in the hotel lobby. You’ve got to help run the breakfast service or room service, or even clean the bedrooms.’

It was this hands-on approach that made Mr Raggett stand out to the judges, as pointed out by Andrew McKenzie, managing director of the Vineyard at Stockcross, in Berkshire, and the 2008 hotelier of the year.