Shaun McDonnell
Dartmouth,Devon
Summary
I am a highly experienced and seasoned leader with over 24 years in the Leisure, Tourism and Hospitality industry. More than 20 of these years in a leadership role.
In my many years in leadership roles I have built and developed many high performing teams and consider this part of the role to be my biggest and most valuable strength.
I have a great amount of experience in all areas of the business and I am enthusiastic about recruiting, training, coaching and motivating people from many different backgrounds and with differing characteristics and personalities. I pride myself in being able to encourage my team to get the best from themselves in their respective roles and careers, thus performing to the best of their abilities for the good of the company and their personal growth.
I consider myself to be a well-organised, adaptable and forward thinking individual that is passionate about the guest experience. I aim for the highest standards and I am fastidious about finding ways to further improve performance.
Overview
19
19
years of professional experience
6
6
years of post-secondary education
Work history
Regional General Manager
Lovat Parks LTD
, Cornwall
11.2021 - 12.2025
- I took on this role in November 2021 with Lovat Parks, a growing and ambitious holiday park business and feel I have been an integral and influential part of its success over the years in establishing itself as a provider of high quality parks and accommodation.
- Led operations for four parks in Cornwall, overseeing all business aspects and development projects.
- Had an active role in acquiring Parbola Holiday Park, transforming it into Cornish Meadows with upgraded infrastructure, accommodation and facilities.
- Executed multiple high-quality developments at Padstow Holiday Village, Sun Haven Holiday Park, and Penmarlam Lodge Retreat.
- Built, managed and delivered annual budgets with revenues of between £6 million and £11 million with EBITDA of between £2.5 million and £5 million.
- Led, managed and motivated park and regional teams to deliver the very best guest experience across multiple parks. Fostered a collaborative environment, resulting in guest satisfaction ratings of 4.7 and owner advocacy of 4.1.
- Ensured safety compliance across parks, with my park HOD teams achieving H&S audit compliance scores of between 97% to 99% from 2022 to 2025.
- Optimised resource allocation to enhance productivity and profitability while maintaining operational excellence.
- Conducted regular performance reviews, promoting continuous improvements within the team and development future leaders.
- Played an active role in developing the company culture and subsequent training initiative.
- Achieved multiple park and company awards
Head of Site Services
Beverley Holidays
Paignton
04.2021 - 11.2021
- Although I didn't consider this role a step forward in my career, I took this position when I decided to relocate to South Devon to live with my now wife. My role here was the responsibility for the maintenance and upkeep of site services, utilities, grounds and facilities of this large and long established site in Paignton. I was tasked with building and developing a high performing team back up to required numbers post Covid lockdown's, building in process efficiencies to keep the site, its accommodation, and facilities safe, clean and to the highest possible standard.
- The site is actually 3 separate parks in close proximity consisting of leisure and entertainment facilities such as swimming pools, restaurants and entertainment venues. As well as accommodation offerings such as lodges, static caravans and touring services.
- The hope and intention was to be in a position to take the GM role should it became available. My current employer reached out to me and although the position I currently have is based back in Cornwall the logistics and autonomy I have allows me to make it work with my personal circumstances. I did not want to delay my career progression and therefore left to take on a GM role with my current employer.
General Manager Designate/ Operations Manager
Riviere Sands Holiday Park (Haven)
01.2013 - 04.2021
- Riviere Sands is a 311 static caravan park nestled on the cliff top overlooking the world class St Ives Bay. It has a range of excellent facilities including a 200 cover ocean view restaurant, large entertainment venue (circa 600 capacity), indoor and outdoor pools and café, indoor and outdoor play areas, surf school, crazy golf, full activity package, plus more. All catering for approximately 1500 guests when full and employing a team of between approx. 100 and 150 people depending on the time of season.
- During my time here we increased our customer advocacy score by approx. 7% with a current score of 89.2% and holding a current Net promoter score of 68.8%. Improved our team satisfaction survey score by approx. 6% achieving an employee net promoter score of 77%. This survey contributes to Bourne Leisure continually achieving top 10 position in the Times top 25 big companies to work for with placements as high as 2nd. We also saw continuous revenue growth averaging 8-10% YOY during my time with a pre Covid EBITDA of circa £2.9m. We had a 4 star rating on Trip Advisor. Other notable awards include GTBS Gold and Investors In People Platinum award of which we were one of the first businesses worldwide to achieve and were shortlisted as one of the 10 best businesses in Europe alongside our sister park Perran Sands.
- My responsibilities in my position was a key role in leading and supporting the park leadership team to achieve their respective departmental and park goals. I encouraged the culture of continually looking for ways to improve the quality, service and standards of the business as a whole and maximize revenue opportunity ensuring a strong focus from all heads of department on achieving a well-balanced business.
- A large part of my role was, along with the leadership team, identifying and developing new opportunities for service improvement and/or revenue growth whether that be park opportunities or larger capital projects. Ensuring the company culture is alive and strong and that everyone is working in line with the Company vision and mission.
- Reviewing and acting on departmental and overall guest/customer experience using our guest satisfaction feedback and budget reports then reviewing of business plans and utilising this data to ensure we deliver our targets. Ensuring there is a strong culture and emphasis on providing a safe, clean and well-maintained park, accommodation and facilities is essential, as is engaging the whole park team to be enthusiastic about how they give great service.
Club/ Operations manager
Retallack Resort and Spa
05.2012 - 01.2013
- I was employed by Retallack Resort and Spa, a five star lodge resort, as the club/operations manager. I was tasked with overseeing a private leisure club, beauty spa, bar and restaurant, Flowrider surf simulator and retail outlet, kids activity club and lake water sports including a system 2 wake boarding park. I was also tasked with identifying new activities and facilities that our guests would enjoy. We introduced and implemented a number of lake sports such as kayaking and wake boarding. I had a key role in implementing the project of installing the wake park and taking care of the operation aspects involved once up and running.
- Key focuses were striving to improve standards and provide 5 star services whilst at all times operating in line with company vision and fulfilling financial obligations. At the time the resort had just come out of administration and a key objective was minimizing the ongoing financial losses without sacrificing the standards our guests and property owners expected.
Sports & Leisure Mgr/ Park Safety Administrator
Bourne Leisure Ltd (Haven)
04.2007 - 05.2012
- I was employed as the sports and leisure manager at both Perran Sands & Riviere Sands holiday parks as well as the park safety administrator at Perran Sands. Duties and responsibilities included:
- Leading 2 teams of lifeguards/sports coaches (approx 30 people)
- Control of wage budgets and expenditure budget in excess of £250k
- Generate an income for my department in excess of £250k by marketing and promoting the various activities and facilities we offer.
- Provide training to my team in lifeguard skills, H&S, customer relations plus more
- Ensure all facilities and equipment is in a good and safe working order including pool plant rooms
- Ensure an ‘excellent' standard of service for our guests and maintain excellent facility standards.
- Be park contact for local authority personnel (EHO, Fire Officer etc)
- Ensure paperwork is complete and on file for all departments with regards to company H&S policy and procedures as well as advise less experienced managers in general health and safety policies and procedures.
- Act as duty manager on several occasions for our food and beverage department at one of our sites.
- Aid and support our new Cornish cafe operation newly built at one of our site offering local produce.
Education
BSc Hons degree - Psychology
Open University
01.2013 - 01.2019
Institute of Leadership and Management level 3 -
ILM
Skills
- Strong Leadership skills
- Excellent and influential communication
- Strong business acumen
- Budgeting and financial analysis
- Cost-reduction strategies
- Building a developing high performing teams
- Leadership coaching and development
- Customer, owner and public relationship management
- Policy development and implementation
- Organised and structured
- Change leadership and implementation
- Performance monitoring and coaching
- Conflict Resolution
- Process improvement techniques
- Project management and supervision including large capital projects
- Business continuity planning
- Sustainability initiatives
- Health & safety and other regulatory compliance
- Operational strategy and efficiency
- Continuous Improvement implementation
- Resilient under pressure
- Public speaking
- Service and standards quality assurance
- Digitally literate
Personal
I love to surf, it’s my passion and I wish I was better at it! I also love spending time with my family, eating out and going to music festivals. I’m an outdoors person and basically just like to be as active as I can. I have a keen interest for learning in general and spend a lot of time reading or listening to audio books., I have a Full clean driving license
Relevant Education, Qualifications and notable achievements
Company training Pioneer delivering an award winning customer experience course, Commendation in Cornwall Tourism Business Awards 2023/2024 for Sun Haven Holiday Park, Winner of Gold in Cornwall Tourism Business Awards 2023/2024 for Padstow Holiday Village, Winner of Silver in South West Tourism Excellence Awards 2023/2024 for Padstow Holiday Village
Affiliations
- I love to travel and experience what the world has to offer
- I like to try and keep myself relatively fit and healthy and partake in many active hobbies such as surfing, gig rowing, golf and general fitness exercise
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Regional General Manager
Lovat Parks LTD
11.2021 - 12.2025
Head of Site Services
Beverley Holidays
04.2021 - 11.2021
General Manager Designate/ Operations Manager
Riviere Sands Holiday Park (Haven)
01.2013 - 04.2021
BSc Hons degree - Psychology
Open University
01.2013 - 01.2019
Club/ Operations manager
Retallack Resort and Spa
05.2012 - 01.2013
Sports & Leisure Mgr/ Park Safety Administrator
Bourne Leisure Ltd (Haven)
04.2007 - 05.2012
Institute of Leadership and Management level 3 -
ILM