PAGE STRAP PROFILE PERSONALITY
It is all about passion MJ Birch, 44, has been with The Liz McGrath Collection as general manager of The Plettenberg Hotel, on the Garden Route, for just over six years.
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hat I love most about this industry is the people — my team and guests. This is where I get my energy and drive from. “I am a passionate hotelier and I thrive on the closeness and personalised experience created in the boutique hotel environment. I realised my passion for service as a waiter and barman at Forrester’s Arms in Newlands, but my journey into hotels started a few years later at The Best Western Cape Suites Hotel,” Mr Birch said. “At present, hospitality in South Africa is in the recovery phase. We are seeing a resurgence of international travel returning to the country. However, it will take a while for the industry to return to the numbers of international travellers that we were experiencing pre-Covid, but I believe that with time, hospitality will bounce back, even stronger than before,” Mr Birch said.
Where were you born and raised? I grew up in Cape Town. I went to St. Josephs Marist College in Rondebosch and had the great privilege of studying hospitality administration and management in London. How long have you been in the hospitality sector? I began my journey in working in hotels in 1997, when I was an inhouse trainee in Cape Town. It was there that I realised that I had a real passion for the hospitality industry. During that time, I was exposed to all aspects of hotel operations. At the end of that year, I was offered an opportunity to travel to the United Kingdom and I spent the next three and a half years in two hotels – Thistle Hotels St. Albans and The Berners Hotel in central London – gaining international experience. On returning to South Africa in 2002,
32 Business Events Africa August 2022
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