The retirement of one of Hampshire’s most popular and long serving hotel managers has ended on a high note with Tylney Hall winning a prestigious national accolade.
Miss Rita Mooney has been general manager for 21 years and her departure coincides with the news that Tylney Hall has been named Country House Hotel of the Year in The Times Mystery Guest Awards for 2009.
One of the longest serving employees at the hotel at Rotherwick, near Hook, Mooney became a familiar and welcoming face to the thousands of leisure and corporate guests who stayed there over the years.
Rita Mooney said: “We were extremely delighted for Tylney Hall to have been chosen by the Sunday Times mystery guest as the Hotel of the Year. My thanks for this achievement go to the management and long serving staff who take such good care of our guests, where attention to detail features highly amongst their priorities.
“I shall be sorry to leave Tylney Hall, where I have enjoyed the utmost support from Elite Hotels, together with the support and loyalty of the management and staff. Tylney Hall is a very special property where I have been extremely lucky to have held the position of general manager for the past 21 years."
Mr Graeme Bateman, managing director of Elite Hotels, said: “Under Miss Mooney’s management Tylney Hall has consistently won a string of regional and national awards, including twice being named Hotel of the Year in South East tourism awards and being ranked as one of the AA’s top hotels. The latest award couldn’t be more timely and it provides the perfect reminder of the superlative standards that Miss Mooney has delivered as general manager.
“This is a tremendous achievement as the hotel was assessed by the mystery guest alongside 450 other hotels throughout the year. As she bows out of the role at the end of the year it is a lasting credit to Miss Mooney and her team and my congratulations go to them all. Miss Mooney has been with Tylney Hall since it was restored to its former glory by Elite Hotels and her hard work, dedication and commitment have been an absolute key to its success and development. On behalf of everyone in the group I would like to wish her every happiness in her well-deserved retirement, and welcome Mark Ashton, who is already well-known to many of our guests, to the role.”
Tylney Hall’s new general manager also has a long-standing link with the hotel. In 1999, while Ashton was studying for his BSc Hons. in Hotel and Catering Management at the University of Surrey, he was on industrial placement with the hotel. After graduating in 2001 he joined the hotel as a Junior Assistant Manager and was later promoted to the position of Food and Beverage Manager. In 2003 he moved to London to take up the post of food and beverage manager at the Athenaeum Hotel on Piccadilly before returning to Tylney Hall as deputy general manager in January 2007.
He said: “Tylney Hall has always been very special to me as I trained at the hotel and it provided me with my first job in the industry. I enjoyed my time in London, but wanted to move out of the city and back into the luxury country house hotel market and returning to Tylney Hall was an exciting opportunity to rejoin the beautiful property where my career began. I am now looking forward to the new challenge of being General Manager and welcoming regular and new guests to Tylney Hall in 2010 and the years ahead.”