The Story of... The Angry Gardener

What do luxury hotels, practical jokes, Palm Beach, New York, Beijing, Japan, Hong Kong, a very angry gardener and a 30cm ruler have in common?

Yep, this week's guest Rory Slater, Managing Director for COMO Hotels in London.

And trust me...

Some of these stories are almost too good to be true.

Rory's journey started with a love of food, inspired by his mum's Cordon Bleu cooking, before joining the legendary Savoy Group management programme with dreams of becoming a chef.

Fast forward a few decades and that journey has taken him across four continents, some of the world's finest luxury hotels, and into leadership roles that have tested not only his skills, but his character.

In this episode we chat about:

• Why becoming a chef wasn't quite what he imagined
• Life on the legendary Savoy Group management programme
• Why everyone should spend time working night shifts
• Hospitality practical jokes, from soufflé pumps to spaghetti drying lines
• Running luxury events in Palm Beach
• Launching rooftop bars in New York
• Building a career across Beijing, Japan and Hong Kong
• Opening luxury hotels around the world
• Why choosing the right owners matters just as much as choosing the right company
• The role mentors have played throughout his career
• The unforgettable Easter egg hunt that was nearly destroyed by one very determined gardener
• Standing up for his team, even when it meant challenging someone incredibly powerful

Along the way we explore curiosity, leadership, resilience, culture, integrity and why some of life's greatest opportunities arrive wrapped up in uncertainty.

Of course, this episode is packed with the sort of stories that make Hospitality Meets... well... Hospitality Meets.

There's the night a woman was caught slipping business cards under hotel bedroom doors, leading to an unforgettable chase through the corridors... before Rory found himself lying flat on the carpet with a ruler and some sticky tape trying to retrieve every last card before guests woke up.

Then there's the Easter egg hunt.

Honestly... you'll never look at an Easter egg hunt in quite the same way again.

But beneath the laughter are some brilliant lessons too.

💭 "Take the opportunity when it comes."

💭 "You work for good owners."

💭 "Take your job seriously... but don't take yourself too seriously."

And perhaps the most powerful takeaway of all:

💭 "You look after your team."

Whether that's standing by your colleagues in difficult moments, embracing new cultures, or moving halfway around the world because an opportunity feels right, Rory's story is a wonderful reminder that great careers aren't always carefully mapped out.

Sometimes they're built through curiosity.

Sometimes through courage.

And occasionally...

Through surviving an angry gardener.

Funny, thoughtful and packed with wonderful stories from one of hospitality's true gentlemen.

Enjoy.

Show Partner

A big shout out to today’s show partner, RotaCloud — the people management platform built specifically for shift-based teams.

RotaCloud lets managers create and share rotas, record attendance, and manage annual leave in minutes — all from one simple, web-based app.

It also makes life easier for teams, allowing staff to check rotas, request holiday, and pick up extra shifts directly from their phones.

To find out more, head to RotaCloud

Hannah Swarbrick-Done followed a boy to Thailand with dreams of an idyllic island life.

The relationship lasted approximately one weekend.

Hannah stayed for two years.

What followed included living in a house made from bottles, running one of the world’s largest pub crawls, guiding travellers around Thailand and becoming sufficiently relaxed about footwear that she once wore two left flip-flops without noticing.

Eventually, Hannah returned to Manchester with plans for her own hostel, including the uniforms, interiors and complete guest experience.

There was just one minor omission.

A business plan.

Today, she is the founder of The Yellow Group, helping hospitality businesses align their people strategy with their plans for growth - while also building AI tools, employing a virtual non-executive director called Simon and developing a highly influential golf account with nearly 400 followers.

• Following that boy to Thailand - and outlasting the relationship by nearly two years
• Travel
• Designing an entire hostel before learning how to operate one
• The leader who asked Hannah one simple, career-changing question
• Why promoting somebody is pointless unless you also build the support around them
• The difference between holding a leadership title and actually leading
• Why hospitality develops skills that transfer far beyond operations
• Being told she was “not very good with data”
• How AI removed the barrier between Hannah and the story inside the numbers
• Creating Simon, her AI non-executive director
• Building The Yellow Group as a collaborative people consultancy
• Becoming a professional golfer and part-time influencer

“I did follow a boy.”

“I had everything, honestly. It was everything but a business plan.”

“At one point I realised I was wearing flip-flops - the two left feet ones.”

“There are managers, and there are people who are leaders by job role. But an actual leader? They’re not common.”

“I am the funniest thing that happens to me.”

Hannah describes her career as a winding journey, but there is a wonderfully clear thread running through it.

Travel taught her to understand people. Hospitality taught her to support them. One excellent leader noticed what she did naturally and gave her the structure to build a career around it.

Now, Hannah is doing the same for businesses: finding the gaps between what they want to achieve and what their people actually need to succeed.

She may not believe in five-year plans, but she has built something far more useful - curiosity, adaptability and an apparently endless willingness to try the next interesting thing.

Even when that thing is golf.

Show Partner

A big shout out to today’s show partner, RotaCloud — the people management platform built specifically for shift-based teams.

RotaCloud lets managers create and share rotas, record attendance, and manage annual leave in minutes — all from one simple, web-based app.

It also makes life easier for teams, allowing staff to check rotas, request holiday, and pick up extra shifts directly from their phones.

To find out more, head to RotaCloud

I'll be honest... this one is a little different.

For the first time in Hospitality Meets history, I sat down with a guest who didn't need a microphone, didn't ask for a coffee before we started, and definitely didn't have any travel expenses.

Instead, I had a conversation with ChatGPT.

What began as a bit of curiosity quickly turned into something much more interesting. Somewhere between jokes about "Chatty McChatface", philosophical debates about trust, and the bizarre reality that I was interviewing... well... nobody sitting opposite me... we found ourselves exploring one of the biggest questions of our generation.

Not what AI is.

But what it means for us.

Along the way we laughed, challenged each other, questioned what intelligence really means, and even discovered a brand new phrase...

"Digital adulthood."

Who knew?

In this episode we get into...

• Why the journey to AI actually began over 70 years ago.
• How a conversation about technology somehow became a conversation about humanity.
• Whether AI really has a sense of humour... or is just borrowing ours.
• Why trust is something AI should earn, not expect.
• The famous AI stories that went hilariously wrong (including the tank that turned out to be a cloud detector).
• Why AI isn't replacing thinking... but can become a brilliant thinking partner.
• What should genuinely concern us about AI... and what probably shouldn't.
• Whether Chatty McChatface is actually a respectable stage name.

(We're still undecided.)

Some cracking moments...

Why this episode is worth your ears

This isn't an episode about technology.

It's an episode about curiosity.

About asking awkward questions.

About challenging assumptions.

About discovering that one of the most interesting conversations you can have about artificial intelligence is actually a conversation about... being human.

And yes...

I genuinely laughed far more than I expected to while interviewing something that technically doesn't laugh back.

Join the conversation

If you had one hour with an intelligence that knew a huge amount about the world...

...what would you ask?

Send me your questions.

Because this is only the beginning.

The AI Files are officially open.

Show Partner

A big shout out to today’s show partner, RotaCloud — the people management platform built specifically for shift-based teams.

RotaCloud lets managers create and share rotas, record attendance, and manage annual leave in minutes — all from one simple, web-based app.

It also makes life easier for teams, allowing staff to check rotas, request holiday, and pick up extra shifts directly from their phones.

To find out more, head to RotaCloud