THE newly-appointed sales manager at the Legacy Botleigh Grange Hotel and Spa didn’t have to look far for a new challenge.

Lucy Ward, who grew up in the village of Stubbington, has been appointed sales office manager, having been in the hotel industry for seven years.

Her new job at the four-star hotel in Hedge End means she can stay near to her roots. Before joining Legacy Hotels, Lucy worked for Holiday Inn for two and a half years in conference sales and later went on to become sales co-ordinator for the cluster of four hotels in the Solent region.

The 30-year-old’s experience also includes working at The Hilton in Southampton and as a conference and events co-ordinator at Solent Hotel in Fareham for three years.

“I was looking for a new challenge because, in my previous job, I looked after conferences and meetings for several hotels, but didn’t have much involvement in any other areas of the business.

“It’s definitely a step up working at Botleigh Grange. I manage my own team and I’m much more involved in all of the events, including weddings.

“It’s also nice to be back to looking after just one hotel and to be able to focus 100 per cent of my attention to it instead of having to split my time looking after sales for a number of hotels.”

“This year is going to be tough with the market the way it is and it will be hard work for the sales team.

“I’ve already started to implement a few changes to create a better sales environment, such as the structure of the way the team works.”