Lynsey Woolliscroft
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & OPERATIONS - EUROPE
Subtle Energies Pty Ltd
From Mandarin Oriental, New York to Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, Lynsey was with MO for twelve years before moving to Aromatherapy Associates as Head of Sales and Training. She now drives business development and operations in Europe with Subtle Energies Pty Ltd.
Describe your Mandarin Oriental career journey.
My MO journey started in the year 2000. I was on board at Mandarin Oriental, London when it was closed for renovation. We came in as a preopening team to launch the spa, and it was an amazing time. After four years there, I wanted a little bit of adventure and moved over to Macau and was there for 18 months. I then had a wonderful opportunity to go to New York to cover maternity leave for a Spa Director where I had a taste of what the United States was like. It was a great experience in New York, but I realized at that point that I love Asia and wanted to move back, so I moved to Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, which was also placed for renovation, so I had a second experience of preopening.
During that last stage of my career I had opportunities to act as CEA. I went to Paris, back to London, to Taipei...I also helped out the the new MO, Macau. Throughout my time with Mandarin Oriental, I zig-zagged around the world having a taste of America, Europe and Asia, and it was absolutely fantastic.
How would you describe mentorship at Mandarin Oriental?
Andrea Lomas has been helpful to me not only in my career with Mandarin Oriental but since as well. We started off as colleagues, we ended up as friends. It's very much the way of Mandarin Oriental where you start off not knowing anyone and all of a sudden you're welcomed into this massive Mandarin Oriental family where everybody is just trying to help everybody succeed, and that's how I felt with in particular Andrea Lomas for years and years.
She had shown the way, taught me what to do, how to do, when to do it and was always there to help me no matter how long the days got, teaching me how to stay on top of things, not let them overwhelm me and stress me out. She gave me the tools that she was using that allowed me to juggle all of those balls at the same time. She was just a huge help to me mentally, and I couldn't have done it without her.
What are your most cherished memories?
What floated my boat was seeing that my staff were happy and that they were making the guests happy - that's a job well done. Knowing that your team come to work because they enjoy coming to work because they enjoy what they do and that they know they make a difference to the guest experience that's what made me as a leader really happy and walk away thinking that I've done a good day's work there.
Seeing those staff the move on to careers within Mandarin Oriental was a real big achievement for me personally. To help others on their career paths was really rewarding.
Working for Mandarin Oriental was challenging at times because creating the best is never going to be an easy ride, however it was all worth it. It was all worth it to see the staff create this experience for a guest that's going to be memorable. That, to me, encompasses what my time at Mandarin Oriental was all about.
