A HOSPITALITY specialist who worked on a White Paper on skills gaps in the tourism industry has been appointed to a key role at Doubletree by Hilton Chester.

Jane Stoneman has joined the hotel, which completed a £27.5m refurbishment earlier this year, as food and beverage manager.

She visited Dubai as part of research for the White Paper report, World Class Project, which examined skills gaps in the industry in Manchester and the rest of the UK, setting benchmarks for training and implications for further education.

Previously, she worked at five-star hotels across the UK – a career path which has included being the only woman to be food and beverage manager at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair.

Ms Stoneman, who specialises in training staff, said: “The hotels in Dubai set staff up to win, no matter what position they hold, through extensive training of skills and knowledge in order to be able to achieve consistent world- class service.

“Staff are well looked after, trained and motivated – as a result, service standards are the best in the world.”

The hotel’s general manager, Tony Wright, added: “Jane is an asset to our team and she is working hard to achieve the levels of perfection that we want as standard here.”