Global Head of Talent Experience, Belmond - 'The H is before the R for a reason'

From hotel trainee to Global Head of Talent Experience at Belmond, Sarah Powell has treated her CV as a map, filling each gap as she goes. She tells HR Grapevine why luxury starts with the people behind the scenes.

The team over the guests

"I've always been in hospitality, but from the very start I realised that while I liked the guests, I loved the team more," Powell tells me. She began as a hospitality trainee at the Hilton in Newcastle in 2006 and stayed with the chain in various roles until 2011, when she spent a year as a regional hospitality trainer at Lifetime. "It was challenging to move into HR with absolutely no background whatsoever. Training provided that bridge."