Luxury evolution - Why people are determining the future of the hotelscape

Statuesque atop Fistral Beach, The Headland hotel stands square to the Atlantic, front-row to the theatre of sea and sky. With the Cornish coastline meandering into the far distance in both directions, there’s no doubt The Headland has some serious swagger. Inside, the scale is generous and assured. Wide corridors, weighty fabrics, windows that make the ocean feel within reach. It’s clearly luxurious, but what strikes me more insistently is the human energy behind it all. The steady pace, the quiet precision, the sense that nothing here happens by accident.

I’m here to host an event in my series of Hospitality Roundtable Roadshows, and through the course of my stay, I meet an array of employees at The Headland, as well as experts who work in and with hospitality businesses. Through the course of my time with them, I realise that deep-rooted luxury is first and foremost about investment in people.

Crafting iconic luxury today

The Headland has come a long way in its 126 year history. Purpose built as a hotel, it welcomed its first guests in 1900, whose jaws dropped at the extravagant luxury of the time…complete with hot and cold running water, electric lights, and ‘snazzy’ service bells! In 1979, John and Carolyn Armstrong bought the hotel. Still the current owners, this was the start of the truly people-first ethos of The Headland that prevails to this day.

So what does luxury mean in the hotel now? Five-star bedrooms, a luxury-rated spa, a six-pool Aqua Club, three inviting restaurants. Tick, tick, tick, tick. “We’ve just had our highest revenue year,” said Veryan Palmer, hotel director and daughter of the Armstrongs. “I think it’s because we don’t take shortcuts in our room design, keeping it really clear why someone is actually coming to stay. You might have all the gadgets, all the gizmos, the most amazing in-room tech. But if you don’t have a comfortable bed, a guest is not going to stay again.”

Warm, unpretentious luxury is The Headland’s modus operandi. Quality, service, exceptional amenities and stand-out facilities – these all leave an impression and keep a luxury hotel desirable. But the showstopper of The Headland, which elevates everything else, is its focus on people.

Empowering hotel employees

Embracing employees and enabling their career progression is something The Headland has become known for. Kai Sinkevicius, the Assistant Operations Manager, joined the hotel aged 18 as a porter. He moved to reception, and then into a rotational placement programme, where he gained experience in every hotel department.

“That really put me out of my comfort zone,” Kai said. “But I grew as a person and grew professionally, and then started as a duty manager, and did a revenue management course with HOSPA. That really got my brain ticking, as I originally wanted to work in finance.” Kai is also about to complete the Master Innholders Aspiring Leaders Diploma. “I didn’t originally want to work in hospitality,” he reflected. “But I fell into it, and fell in love with it.”

Others have been working at the hotel from an even younger age, such as 18 year old Charlie, who says hospitality gave him confidence, friendships and training in key skills. “I started when I was 14, through the Career Path Programme for 14 to 16 year olds in the summer,” he said. “I’ve met some of my closest friends here. It’s like a big family.”

There’s a role for everyone at The Headland, such as Ethan, who has special educational needs and works in housekeeping. “I love the people here; I love my co-workers,” he said. “Since I’m a germaphobe, I love cleaning up the itty bitty stuff. It’s very satisfying. I love where I work and how I work.”

The family-led ethos of The Headland drives both its interest and investment in people, and it’s something staff feel palpably. “The directors are in every day, and it really does filter down,” Kai said. “Their family values are instilled in us.”

When people feel like this, they stay. The longest serving staff member has been at The Headland for 46 years. At a recent staff dinner, the team calculated their combined service at the hotel exceeded 450 years.

Having a collaborative culture is important to Veryan. “There’s a lot of shared knowledge,” she said. “As a family we know that it’s not just us who have ideas; it’s actually our team that generates far better ideas that we can often see. And a lot of those can be woven into our strategy.”

Prioritising community

The people-first ethos starts with The Headland’s employees, and it’s no surprise that some of the staff members also have parents and partners working at the hotel. But the focus on people extends out into the wider community too.

According to Kai, the hotel sources products and services from the local community as much as possible. During the refurbishment of the ballroom in 2025, 63% of the furniture was reupholstered, and it was all done by a seamstress who lives a mile away from the hotel.

It’s clear the local community isn’t just an afterthought for The Headland. Locals work at and for the hotel, and they’re warmly invited to enjoy the hotel, with initiatives such as spa packages especially for people in the local community.

And then there is Veryan's investment and time to work with others to establish the Cornwall Hospitality Collective, which provides membership, training and events for people working in hospitality. Members of the collective, including Veryan, go out and speak to school students about hospitality, and they’ve reached 27,000 students so far. They also run the Collective Café, where a small group of students learn the ins and outs of running a café.

Best of all, the initiative is working. Many students are discovering the joy of working in hospitality, and they’re going on to get jobs in the industry, including a number of young people who are carving out careers at The Headland.

People who work at the hotel are glad to see young people are switching onto the power of hospitality. “When I grew up, going through school, no one ever spoke about hospitality,” Kai said. “It was never considered as a career option. It was always the job you’d fall into while you were looking for something else. Since joining the hotel, my outlook on that has completely changed.”

Creating a community, and being actively involved in the local community, can only ever have a positive effect on the guest experience. It’s clear The Headland is a place where guests feel part of something. You see it in the large Lego model on the first floor landing – lovingly created by a guest. It becomes obvious from the sheer number of repeat guests who come back every year, just to have a lesson with surf instructor Dom. And you hear it in the conversations over breakfast, where guests discuss their shower water consumption from the digital water meters in the bathrooms. They care about their impact, they feel connected, and they want to contribute positively to the community during their stay.

Owning heritage

The luxury hotel market is growing. That’s great news for hotels like The Headland, but it also makes the operating environment more competitive. According to Veryan, it’s key to “focus on getting the core requirements right first, and then really developing what that your niche could be. Extra features like the Aqua Club are not necessary, but they are our point of difference.”

But as we’ve seen, running a luxury hotel takes more than facilities, decadent trimmings, and points of difference. Underpinning everything at The Headland is heritage – the building, the place, and the people.

And people are ultimately the driving force. Owners who care, who are involved, and who champion their employees above all else. Employees who soak up these values, embody them, and become motivated by them. Guests, locals and wider communities who are drawn into the incredible magnetic field of hotels like The Headland.

There are no two ways about it. People give luxury hotels a touch of the exceptional. Read more and discover the Hoteliers' Voice podcast and roundtable events.