HR learnings at the iconic Belfry Hotel and Resort

Kirsten Price

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Head of People and Culture

As businesses go, a plot bigger than Monaco is quite the ‘office’. But that’s what The Belfry Hotel & Resort covers – including the world-famous golf courses, that is. Add to that a history spanning back to the thirteenth century, mixed with the modern challenges of wellbeing, staff retention and climate goals, and you have a pretty unique HR challenge. While golf is what puts the venue on the international map, there is way more to know – from values to ESG targets. The Belfry, in Warwickshire is home to the PGA - Professional Golf Association - national course. But as well as the course there is a hotel with over 300 bedrooms, spa and meeting and events spaces, with 750 staff.

As Head of People and Culture, Kirsten Price has been with The Belfry for two and a half years, coming from a background in hospitality with Cote Restaurants, with whom she worked for seven years. She came to The Belfry during a period of huge change, which meant she was given the opportunity to build a new team, under a new Resort Director.

She explains: “The Belfry really is iconic and it's a surprisingly complex business. My background has always been working in national big brands, and at Cote it involved 100 restaurants up and down the country whereas at The Belfry everything was under one ‘roof’. It was simultaneously complicated because there are 750 people who work here, and it’s not just ‘traditional hospitality’. Of course, we have chefs, we have housekeepers, receptionists, we have all of those, but we also have greenkeeping and golf professionals, retail and maintenance, and spa therapists. With such a wide demographic of people, from 16 to 82 years of age, what motivates and what drives those staff is completely different, and not just because of age demographic, but because of the nature of the jobs that they do.”