The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast

Hosted by Michelle Pascoe

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316

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Jun 2026

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About the show

Welcome to The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast, where we explore the heart of the hospitality industry through conversations with leaders, experts, and innovators. Each episode brings you insights, practical advice, and inspiring stories that help you elevate guest experiences, enhance team performance, and stay ahead of industry trends. Whether you're an owner, manager, or passionate professional, this podcast will ignite your passion for hospitality. Tune in, learn, and grow with us!

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June 16, 202639 min

Is Customer Experience Dead or Just Changing in Hospitality?

Is customer experience dead? No -- but the way hospitality leaders have been managing it is. Rick Denton, host of CX Passport and a 30-year corporate customer experience veteran, joins Michelle Pascoe to explain why CX as a discipline isn't dying, but the branding around it is -- and what hospitality leaders must do differently to stay ahead. Are your venues investing in the right things, or are you cutting the very people who make the guest experience worth returning for? In this conversation, Michelle and Rick get specific about what hospitality leaders are getting wrong right now -- from over-relying on data dashboards without acting on them, to cutting frontline staff in the name of efficiency and wondering why revenue is falling. Rick's view is direct: CX will never die because customers and experiences will always exist. What's dying is the version of CX that couldn't prove its value in dollars. Key Takeaways Why the branding of customer experience is fading and what hospitality leaders should focus on instead. How AI is freeing frontline staff to spend more time with guests -- and how companies are getting that trade-off dangerously wrong. Why CX data and dashboards are worthless unless leaders take meaningful, revenue-linked action on what they find. How frontline teams hold the most valuable guest insight in any venue, and why most leaders never access it properly. What hospitality leaders must do to stay relevant as AI, cost pressure, and the polycrisis converge. Next Steps Subscribe to The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify: https://www.michellepascoe.com/The-Michelle-Pascoe-Hospitality-Podcast Join Michelle's newsletter for leadership, culture, and service excellence: https://www.michellepascoe.com/blog Book customer service workshops and middle management programs tailored to clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues: https://www.michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms About Michelle Michelle Pascoe helps hospitality leaders build multigenerational teams, lift service standards, and embed values-led culture. A Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in the hospitality industry, Michelle delivers bespoke keynotes, workshops, and leadership programs for clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues across Australia and internationally. Book customer service workshops and middle management programs: https://www.michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms About Rick Rick Denton is the creator and host of CX Passport, a global customer experience podcast with more than 250 episodes and listeners in over 100 countries. Before podcasting, Rick spent three decades leading customer-focused initiatives inside large organisations. He is also the co-host of The Loud Quiet, a podcast and community he launched with his wife Clancy for empty nesters navigating a major life transition -- which became the basis for their 2026 book, The Loud Quiet: Love, Laughter and Life in the Empty Nest. Rick is based in Dallas, Texas. CX Passport: https://www.cxpassport.com CX Passport on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@cxpassport The Loud Quiet: https://www.theloudquiet.com

June 9, 202618 min

Your Guests Loved Their Stay. So Why Don't They Come Back?

Guest loyalty in hospitality breaks down when operators rely on third-party booking platforms and treat checkout as the end of the guest journey. Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional and hospitality training expert with over 30 years' experience, explores how hospitality operators can own the guest relationship, reduce platform dependency, and build the direct connections that turn one-time guests into loyal repeat customers. Are your guests leaving happy and never coming back -- and you don't even know why? In this episode, Michelle sits down with Carlos Castillo, founder of DirectBookMe, to examine the service gap that opens after checkout and what smart operators are doing to close it. Guest loyalty in hospitality is built or lost after checkout. When operators hand the guest relationship to an OTA or third-party platform, the guest remembers where they booked -- not where they stayed. The data to fix this already exists inside most hospitality businesses. It simply isn't being used. Michelle and Carlos discuss why the post-checkout gap is where loyalty disappears and how to close it with direct, intentional systems. Key Takeaways Why third-party booking platforms own the guest relationship -- and what operators must do to take it back. How checkout is the beginning of long-term loyalty, not the end of the transaction. Why existing guest data is worth gold and how to use it to drive repeat bookings through personal connection. How a shift in team mindset from delivering a stay to starting a relationship changes the entire guest experience. How hospitality operators can start building direct booking infrastructure without overhauling their entire business. Next Steps Subscribe to The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify: https://www.michellepascoe.com/The-Michelle-Pascoe-Hospitality-Podcast Join Michelle's newsletter for leadership, culture, and service excellence: https://www.michellepascoe.com/blog Book customer service workshops and middle management programs tailored to clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues: https://www.michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms About Michelle Michelle Pascoe helps hospitality leaders build multigenerational teams, lift service standards, and embed values-led culture. A Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in the hospitality industry, Michelle delivers bespoke keynotes, workshops, and leadership programs for clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues across Australia and internationally. Book customer service workshops and middle management programs: https://www.michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms About Carlos Carlos Castillo is the founder of DirectBookMe, a platform helping hospitality operators increase direct bookings, build stronger guest relationships, and move beyond third-party platform dependency. Based in Arizona, Carlos works with property owners and operators globally to create repeat, direct business. Website: www.directbookme.co | Email: carlos@directbookme.co

June 2, 202650 min

Can AI Replace the Human Touch in Hospitality?

Human connection cannot be automated away in hospitality. Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional and hospitality training expert with over 30 years' experience, sits down with Brian Vujnovic, CEO and Co-Founder of MIA Hospitality Management, to explore how AI is reshaping hotel operations and guest experiences while the human touch remains the irreplaceable core of the industry. Can technology make us more human in hospitality -- or does it risk taking away the very thing guests come for? Michelle Pascoe is a Certified Speaking Professional and hospitality training expert with over 30 years' experience helping clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues build service cultures that retain staff and delight guests. Michelle brings together global voices to explore what it really takes to lead, connect, and deliver excellence in hospitality. Brian Vujnovic brings 25+ years of hotel operations, development, and asset management expertise. His view is clear: AI will automate the administrative so that hospitality teams can invest more in the experiential. The guest who wants a seamless text interaction gets that. The guest who wants a human moment gets that too. Both are possible -- and both are necessary. Key Takeaways AI is most actively reshaping hospitality through marketing search optimisation and front-desk administrative automation, not yet through robotics or culinary replacement. The ultimate goal of AI in hotels is to remove administrative burden from guest-facing staff so they can dedicate more attention to the person in front of them. Leadership in hospitality has grown harder post-Covid, with leaders now required to be more patient, more present, and more invested in training multigenerational teams. Ambition is the quality that cannot be trained or installed -- and it is the number one thing emerging leaders need to go counter to the trend and build a meaningful hospitality career. Off-site community connection, particularly giving back locally, is proving to be one of the most effective retention tools for Gen Z hospitality teams. Next Steps Subscribe to The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify: https://www.michellepascoe.com/The-Michelle-Pascoe-Hospitality-Podcast Join Michelle's newsletter for leadership, culture, and service excellence: https://www.michellepascoe.com/blog Book customer service workshops and middle management programs tailored to clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues: https://www.michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms About Michelle Michelle Pascoe helps hospitality leaders build multigenerational teams, lift service standards, and embed values-led culture. A Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in the hospitality industry, Michelle delivers bespoke keynotes, workshops, and leadership programs for clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues across Australia and internationally. Book customer service workshops and middle management programs: https://www.michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms About Brian Brian Vujnovic brings 25+ years of hotel operations, development, and asset management expertise. He previously led asset management at Robert Finvarb Companies, overseeing 10 new hotel developments, and played a key role in launching award-winning rooftop venues Rosa Sky in Miami and Charlie Park in Tallahassee. He now leads MIA Hospitality Management, a Marriott and Hyatt-approved platform driving operational excellence and portfolio growth across the US. Website: https://miahospitalitymanagement.com/

May 26, 20267 min

Could You Replace Your Best Manager From Within Right Now?

Building a leadership pipeline in hospitality means investing in your managers' skills, confidence, and capacity before a crisis forces your hand. Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in the Australian hospitality industry, explains why promoting without a development plan sets managers up to struggle and clubs up for costly, avoidable turnover. If your best manager resigned tomorrow, who would step up — and are they actually ready? In this episode, Michelle draws on conversations with three of the sharpest leadership minds she has interviewed this month — Christin Marvin, Hanna Bauer, and Rich Ellis — to bring together a practical three-layer framework for building leaders who last. Michelle Pascoe's core argument is this: a leadership pipeline is not a spreadsheet or a succession chart. It is a living, breathing investment in your people. When clubs promote the most loyal person in the room without a structured development plan, they are not building a pipeline — they are setting that person up to struggle and the venue up for the consequences: manager burnout, team turnover, culture drift, and the CEO back in the weeds handling issues that should have been resolved two levels down. The clubs that will thrive over the next five years are the ones building their leaders now, not when the crisis hits. Michelle Pascoe's Middle Management Movement and Executive Leaders Movement programs are built specifically for registered clubs and hospitality venues that are ready to make that investment. Key Takeaways Why promoting loyalty without a leadership development plan sets managers up to struggle and clubs up for avoidable turnover The framework that reframes the order in which clubs should invest in their teams Why middle managers are the critical connector between strategic leadership and frontline performance, and what happens when that layer breaks down Why burnout is a leadership pipeline problem, and the early warning signs that a manager is running on empty before the dramatic crash The three-layer framework combining energy, connection, and process that underpins a sustainable leadership culture Next Steps Subscribe to The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify: https://www.michellepascoe.com/The-Michelle-Pascoe-Hospitality-Podcast Join Michelle's newsletter for hospitality leadership, culture, and service excellence: https://www.michellepascoe.com/blog Book workshops and leadership programs for clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues — including the Middle Management Movement and Executive Leaders Movement: https://www.michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms Resources & Links Christin Marvin: https://www.columbinehospitality.com/ Hanna Bauer: https://heartnomics.com/ Rich Ellis: https://www.richellis.nz/ About Michelle Michelle Pascoe helps hospitality leaders build multigenerational teams, lift service standards, and embed values-led culture. A Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in the hospitality industry, Michelle delivers bespoke keynotes, workshops, and leadership programs for clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues across Australia and internationally. Book customer service workshops and middle management programs: https://www.michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms

May 19, 202631 min

The Silent Signs Your Hospitality Team Is Running on Empty

Burnout in hospitality teams shows up long before the dramatic crash — in dropped shoulders, extra coffees, and withdrawal from team conversations. Michelle Pascoe, a Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years' experience in hospitality, and energy coach Rich Ellis share practical tools for reading early warning signs and embedding a simple 1-to-10 check-in system that prevents burnout before it becomes a resignation. Are you seeing the signs in your team — or are you too busy to notice them? If you have ever ended a busy season wondering how your team made it through, or found yourself managing someone's exit that you never saw coming, this episode is worth your full attention. Rich Ellis has spent nearly two decades helping leaders understand that energy is not a wellness topic — it is a performance discipline. He and Michelle Pascoe explore what burnout actually looks like in a hospitality environment, why the standard responses rarely work, and what small, sustainable changes make a real difference over time. This is not a conversation about self-care programs or office fruit bowls. It is a practical framework for leaders who are serious about retaining their best people. Key Takeaways The body language and behaviour shifts that signal a team member is depleting — weeks before they say a word. The science behind morning light exposure and why 7-10 minutes outdoors is the single highest-return daily energy habit. How the 1-to-10 check-in system works in a team setting, and why it becomes self-managing once it is embedded in the culture. Why building a genuine wellness culture requires a 12-month commitment — and how to demonstrate return on investment to a board or owner group. A practical mindset for helping frontline staff deflect disrespectful customers without absorbing the impact. LINKS AND RESOURCES Subscribe to The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify: https://www.michellepascoe.com/The-Michelle-Pascoe-Hospitality-Podcast Join Michelle's newsletter for hospitality leadership, culture, and service excellence: https://www.michellepascoe.com/blog Book customer service workshops and middle management programs tailored to clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues: https://www.michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms WORK WITH MICHELLE Michelle Pascoe helps hospitality leaders build multigenerational teams, lift service standards, and embed values-led culture. A Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in the hospitality industry, Michelle delivers bespoke keynotes, workshops, and leadership programs for clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues across Australia and internationally. Book customer service workshops and middle management programs: https://www.michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms ABOUT RICH ELLIS Rich Ellis is an energy, resilience, and wellbeing coach with nearly 20 years of experience working with business owners, leaders, and corporate teams. Known as The Energy Coach, Rich helps organisations take control of their energy through practical, sustainable habit change — combining his background in fitness coaching with workplace wellbeing strategy to reduce burnout and build cultures where people genuinely thrive. Website: https://richellis.nz/

May 12, 202644 min

Why Leading with Love Actually Lifts Your Standards

Middle management in hospitality is the critical connector between leadership vision and frontline guest delivery. Certified Speaking Professional Michelle Pascoe and leadership expert Hanna Bauer of Heartnomics agree: middle managers who make daily trust deposits, hold non-negotiable service standards, and champion psychological safety are the primary defence against team burnout and high staff turnover in clubs and hotels. What if the gap between your service vision and the experience your guests actually receive comes down to one overlooked role in your organisation? Subscribe to The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. In this episode, Michelle sits down with Hanna Bauer, founder and CEO of Heartnomics, to explore why love and excellence are not opposing forces in leadership, and why the middle manager holds the heartbeat of any hospitality organisation. The conversation covers a critical truth: you cannot consistently meet high service standards without first acknowledging the human delivering them. As Hanna explains, love in leadership is not about softening standards. It means holding them with consistency, because inconsistent standards are not kind, they are confusing. The standard does not change to fit the person. What changes is how leaders communicate, support, and see the people upholding it. Michelle Pascoe has spent decades working with hospitality venues that confuse having standards with communicating them. This episode tackles exactly that gap, with practical insights on how to stop burnout before it starts, how to lead through rapid change without burying your team, and how to make the daily trust deposits that mean your people show up for the hard moments. Key Takeaways Middle managers are the human connector in every hospitality organisation, bridging leadership vision and frontline delivery in ways no system can replace. Love in leadership means holding consistent service standards without exception, because it is precisely that consistency that creates psychological safety and trust. Burnout in hospitality teams most often stems from misalignment, not workload: team members who do not understand the standard, or who feel unseen, disengage first and leave second. The trust deposit principle holds that leaders must make daily investments in recognition, communication, and visibility before pressure arrives, not during it. Rapid change adoption without the deliberate removal of old processes is a leading cause of team overwhelm and cultural breakdown in hospitality venues. LINKS AND RESOURCES Subscribe to The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify: https://www.michellepascoe.com/The-Michelle-Pascoe-Hospitality-Podcast Join Michelle's newsletter for leadership, culture, and service excellence: https://www.michellepascoe.com/blog Book customer service workshops and leadership programs tailored to clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues: https://www.michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms WORK WITH MICHELLE Michelle Pascoe helps hospitality leaders build multigenerational teams, lift service standards, and embed values-led culture. A Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in the hospitality industry, Michelle delivers bespoke keynotes, workshops, and leadership programs for clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues across Australia and internationally. Book customer service workshops and leadership programs: https://www.michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms ABOUT HANNA BAUER Hanna Bauer is the founder and CEO of Heartnomics, a leadership and organisational transformation firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. A Maxwell Leadership faculty member, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and Baldrige examiner, Hanna blends human-centred leadership with practical systems to help organisations eliminate burnout and align culture with purpose. Her Heartnomics framework draws on her experience as a childhood heart disease survivor to reframe love and excellence as the twin foundations of sustainable leadership performance. Website: www.heartnomics.com Complimentary Alignment Assessment: https://heartnomics.com/assessments/

May 5, 202642 min

How Do I Scale My Venue Without Burning Out?

Effective restaurant leadership means moving beyond survival mode into a CEO mindset built on three pillars: people, process, and profit. Michelle Pascoe, a hospitality training expert with over 30 years' experience helping clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues build service cultures that retain staff and delight guests, sits down with restaurant coach Christin Marvin to share how independent operators can scale intentionally, reduce staff turnover, and build culture-led teams that run without the owner present. Are you building a business, or building a trap for yourself? Subscribe to The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. In this episode, Michelle is joined by Christin Marvin, founder of Solutions by Christin and creator of the Independent Restaurant Framework. Christin has helped restaurant groups scale from six to 48 locations in seven years. Her message is direct: hospitality businesses cannot cut their way to profitability, and prioritising wellness is not a weakness. It is the competitive edge most owners are still missing. Cutting staff to save money does not save your business. It destroys the guest experience, drives customers away, and creates a spiral that is far harder to recover from than the original cost pressure. The answer is smarter labour scheduling, stronger leadership development, and the discipline to step back from operations so your team can step up. Key Takeaways How the three pillars of people, process, and profit provide a structured path to scale without losing culture or control. Why promoting loyal staff into management roles without clear development plans is one of the most costly mistakes in independent hospitality. How restaurant owners can recognise burnout before it becomes a health crisis and build boundaries that make leadership sustainable long-term. What the shift from operator or chef to CEO actually looks like in practice and why most owners resist making it. Why smarter labour scheduling, not staff cuts, is the real key to reducing labour costs without sacrificing service quality. 🎙️Subscribe to The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify: https://www.michellepascoe.com/The-Michelle-Pascoe-Hospitality-Podcast 📖 Join Michelle's newsletter for leadership, culture, and service excellence: https://www.michellepascoe.com/blog 🎓 Book customer service workshops and leadership programs tailored to clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues: https://www.michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms About Michelle Michelle Pascoe helps hospitality leaders build multigenerational teams, lift service standards, and embed values-led culture. A Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in the hospitality industry, Michelle delivers bespoke keynotes, workshops, and leadership programs for clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues across Australia and internationally. Book customer service workshops and leadership programs: https://www.michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms About Christin Christin Marvin is a restaurant coach, speaker, and author based in Denver, Colorado. As founder of Solutions by Christin and creator of the Independent Restaurant Framework, she specialises in helping independent and multi-unit restaurant owners scale without losing their minds or their culture. With over 20 years of hands-on experience across fine dining and high-volume growth concepts, she has helped restaurant groups scale from six to 48 locations in seven years and has opened 13 restaurants. Christin is the author of Multi-Unit Mastery: Simplify Operations, Maximize Profits and The Hospitality Leaders Roadmap: Move from Ordinary to Extraordinary, and hosts the Restaurant Leadership Podcast. Find her at https://www.columbinehospitality.com/. Or book a FREE coaching session here: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/bookings/christin-marvin-personal-calendar-r1jjarmnw

April 28, 202626 min

What Is Your Venue Actually Doing for Your Community?

When was the last time your venue did something for your community because you decided it mattered — not because a grant required it? In this month's solo recap, Michelle draws on four extraordinary conversations to make the case that community is not something you bolt onto the bottom of your annual report. Community IS the job. Christopher Hill of Hands Up Holidays and Impact Destinations has spent twenty years proving that when you give people the opportunity to contribute to something beyond themselves, it changes them. His framework — that meaningful luxury means both parties leave better than they arrived — applies directly to every hospitality service interaction. Damien Schofield, founder of the Younger Heroes, built nature-based programs reconnecting veteran families because he lived what happens when community breaks down. His insight that resilience spreads through a team from the leader down is one of the most important leadership principles covered this month. Debbie Dickson at The Ary Toukley turned a domestic violence hotspot ranking into a board-adopted action plan, eight years of specialist staff training, and a statewide committee role. Her team didn't wait for permission. They saw the need, they had the platform, and they acted. Jenny Holt at Club Rivers has built a community culture so embedded that her team volunteers over 1,000 hours a year — not from mandate, not for pay, because the culture makes it feel like the obvious thing to do. In this episode, Michelle Pascoe covers: Christopher Hill's philosophy that mutually enriching experiences — where both the guest and the venue leave better than they arrived — is the benchmark every hospitality leader should apply to service culture and daily team interactions. How Damien Schofield's Younger Heroes program demonstrates that resilience spreads through a team from the leader, and what that means for how you lead under pressure on a short-staffed Saturday night. The Ary Toukley's eight-year domestic violence action plan and why registered clubs are safety zones with both the responsibility and the resources to act before a crisis forces their hand. How Club Rivers logs over 1,000 volunteer hours a year by building community connection from the inside out, starting with culture rather than a calendar of events. Five practical actions you can take back to your venue this week: audit your internal community first, stop writing cheques and start building relationships, tell your stories, find your Caitlin, and act before the crisis. Links Subscribe to The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify: ⁠michellepascoe.com/The-Michelle-Pascoe-Hospitality-Podcast⁠ Join Michelle's newsletter for hospitality leadership, culture, and service excellence: ⁠michellepascoe.com/blog⁠ Book customer service workshops and leadership programs tailored to clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues: ⁠michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms⁠ Work With Michelle Michelle Pascoe helps hospitality leaders build multigenerational teams, lift service standards, and embed values-led culture. A Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in the hospitality industry, Michelle delivers bespoke keynotes, workshops, and leadership programs for clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues across Australia and internationally. Book customer service workshops and leadership programs: ⁠michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms⁠

April 21, 202636 min

Why Your Club's Community Program Might Be Missing the Point

Community engagement in registered clubs works when clubs go beyond writing cheques and build genuine relationships with the organisations they fund. In this episode, Michelle Pascoe, Certified Speaking Professional with 30+ years in the hospitality industry, sits down with Club Rivers community engagement leader Jenny Holt to explain why showing up in person — and connecting your community stakeholders with each other — is what transforms a club into the true heart of its community. Is your club writing cheques and waiting for acquittal reports — or are you actually getting in the door? Jenny Holt has worked in the registered clubs industry for more than 25 years and has led community engagement at Club Rivers for over a decade. Her team logs over 1,000 volunteer hours and 50+ community events every year — all in staff's own time. From sailing days with Sailability and sleeping rough for Georges River Lifecare, to climbing Mount Kosciuszko for the Autism Community Network and a Tough Mudder for Waterfall Rural Fire Service, Club Rivers has built a community model that goes far beyond the grant cycle. Community engagement works because it is relational, not transactional. As Jenny explains, the moment a club grant is approved, she is on the phone asking: "When can we come along and see your program?" That one step builds the rapport that makes future funding almost automatic — and gives the board the stories they need to approve the next round with confidence. Michelle and Jenny also explore how Club Rivers is now funding swimming lessons and school camp places for children in public schools that can no longer afford them, why their in-venue CRCTV screen keeps older members connected to the club's community story, and what tips Jenny would offer any club just starting its community engagement journey. Key Takeaways In this episode, Michelle Pascoe sits down with Jenny Holt, Community Engagement Leader at Club Rivers, to discuss: Community engagement in registered clubs is most effective when clubs attend the programs they fund, not just write the cheques — this single shift builds stronger board support, deepens relationships with grant recipients, and positions the club as a genuine community partner rather than a funder. Club Rivers logs over 1,000 volunteer hours and 50+ community events per year in staff's own time, including sailing days with Sailability, a Tough Mudder for Waterfall Rural Fire Service, sleeping rough for Georges River Lifecare, and climbing Mount Kosciuszko for the Autism Community Network. Supporting local schools with funding for swimming lessons and school camps has become a growing priority for Club Rivers, reflecting the reality that public schools can no longer afford these experiences for every child — and that every Australian child has the right to learn to swim. Connecting funded organisations with each other — using the club as the anchor — multiplies community impact well beyond what any single grant could achieve, as demonstrated when Lugarno Lions stepped in to support an ACN event at short notice. Clubs starting their community engagement journey should begin with existing grant recipients, tell their stories across every available channel, and build outward from a strong local foundation. Next Steps & Resources Subscribe to The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify: michellepascoe.com/The-Michelle-Pascoe-Hospitality-Podcast Join Michelle's newsletter for leadership, culture, and service excellence: michellepascoe.com/blog Book customer service workshops and middle management programs tailored to clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues: michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms About Michelle Michelle Pascoe helps hospitality leaders build multigenerational teams, lift service standards, and embed values-led culture. A Certified Speaking Professional with over 30 years in the hospitality industry and Disney Institute Alumni credentials, Michelle delivers bespoke keynotes, workshops, and leadership programs for clubs, hotels, and hospitality venues across Australia and internationally. Book customer service workshops and middle management programs: michellepascoe.com/traininganddevelopmentprograms About Jenny Jenny Holt has worked in the registered clubs industry for over 25 years and has led community engagement at Club Rivers — located on the MacArthur railway line in Sydney's south-west — for more than a decade. Her community team logs 1,000+ volunteer hours and 50+ events per year, supporting local schools, disability organisations, youth programs, domestic violence services, and rural fire brigades. Jenny's philosophy: it's not about writing cheques. It's about getting in the door. Connect with Club Rivers: https://www.clubrivers.com.au/

April 14, 202631 min

Safe Venues Start With Visible Leadership

In this episode, I’m joined by Debbie Dickson from The Ary Toukley for a thoughtful and deeply grounded discussion about what community leadership really looks like in clubs and hospitality. We talk about responsibility, visible leadership, staff education and why venues can play such an important role in helping people feel safe, seen and supported. Debbie shares how her club responded to the reality of domestic and family violence in their local area, the steps they’ve taken to educate staff, and why culture and leadership inside a venue matter so much. This is not about grand gestures. It is about being intentional, practical and willing to lead in a way that builds trust across your team, your customers and your wider community. This episode will resonate with hospitality and club leaders who want to build stronger teams, safer spaces and more meaningful community impact through everyday leadership. If you enjoyed this episode: ⭐ Follow the podcast on Spotify⭐ Share this episode with a hospitality leader⭐ Leave a review to help more hospitality professionals discover the show Connect with Michelle 🌐 Website: https://www.michellepascsoe.com💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellepascoe🎧 Podcast: The Michelle Pascoe Hospitality Podcast Michelle is a customer experience strategist, speaker, and leadership consultant who helps hospitality organisations transform service culture, strengthen leadership capability, and build teams that deliver exceptional customer experiences. Connect with Debbie 🌐 Website: https://www.thearytoukley.com.au/