Red Carnation Hotels

Jonathan Raggett has worked in hotels since leaving Westminster College with a Higher National Diploma in Hotel Management. Jonathan joined RCH in 1998 as General Manager of The Rubens Hotel. In 2000 he was promoted to Managing Director, overseeing the rapid expansion to the eleven international properties RCH now operate.

"We are a family run small collection of five- and four-star hotels who fight the big chains for business. We will never have the same Sales and Marketing spend as these players, so it is my belief that we need to make an even better job of taking care of our guests."

Internationally acclaimed hotelier Terry Holmes, winner of the 2006 Caterer Tourism Award, joined Red Carnation Hotels in February 2006, bringing with him his incredible passion for the hospitality industry.  His tremendous career ranges from a chef to Vice President in the luxury hotel business.

A much loved character at each of the hotels in the Red Carnation collection, his presence together with his expertise further strengthens our guests' experience.

Find out more about Terry's amazing career

David Eck has worked in the travel industry for just over 27 years, originally employed in the airline and tour operator world before settling into hotels in 1987. David joined the company in 1991 as Director of Sales and Marketing for the Chesterfield Mayfair, RCH's first London Hotel, and has been at the centre of the sales and marketing activities ever since throughout Red Carnation's rapid growth years. In the last four years David has heavily focused on the offline and online marketing and media distribution. David is particularly well-known in the USA market where he spent many years travelling to on behalf of RCH.

I handle all media relations globally for the RCH collection. My early career was spent in my homeland of South Africa where I worked in Sales and Marketing for various hotels before being appointed General Manager for a luxury safari lodge for a total of eight years. This role brought invaluable experience in dealing with all aspects of the industry including public relations and building strong relationships in the travel trade. I joined after moving to the U.S to head up the PR for the company. I get great pleasure from introducing the media to our fine collection of luxury properties, forming strong relationships within the industry and generally promoting the best hotel product in their respective markets.

I am now fast approaching six years service with Red Carnation hotels, I first started as General Manager at the Rubens Hotel and No. 41 where I soon learnt what makes Red Carnation Hotels different from other hotels around London. Being smaller we really have to focus on earning the guests business and ensuring that our teams are trained to deliver the thousands of individual standards which go into making a guests visit a memorable one. I now spend my time working with all the hotels developing great relationships with a wide range of companies, making sure that we tailor our outstanding service to fully match the need of our guests

I have been working for Red Carnation Hotels for over 5 years now - previously as Training and Development Manager - and now in my capacity as Director of Human Resources and Training. My background is in fine dining, contract catering, private healthcare and hotels. For me, the best piece of feedback we have is when a guest remarks on the fantastic service they received or how the friendliness of the staff knocked their socks off! Ultimately this is how my department is judged -  on recruitment through to training. My proudest moment was winning the National Training Award -  which we achieved just over a year ago.

I Joined Red Carnation Hotels in 2001 having previously worked for other hotel and restaurant companies in the UK and qualifying as a Management Accountant in 1999. One of my aims for the finance department is to make it as friendly and helpful as our front of house departments. Please call us with any accounting or payment query that you may have and we will resolve your issues promptly.