“We have 38 boats, 25 golf buggies, and 15 vehicles in the fleet including two gold Bentleys.”

After graduating from Blue Mountains I was offered the position of Assistant Concierge Manager at the Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai. We have around 250 colleagues in our department which is spread over three five-star hotels. There are a total of 900 rooms within the resort and it is next door to the Burj al Arab which is good to see everyday!
I will always cherish the moments I had with all the wonderful people I met from all over the world at Blue Mountains. At the end of the day it’s the people who you study with that make the school what it is. I made a lot of friendships that will last a lifetime.
Chris Hewitt, New Zealand, 2006
Assistant Concierge Manager, Madinat Jumeirah
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

“I met the Spice Girls and drove Beckham’s Ferrari!”

After graduation I moved to Queensland to work in the concierge department at the Heritage Hotel Brisbane and two years later headed off to the One Aldwych Hotel, a chic five star boutique hotel in the heart of London, where I met the Spice Girls and drove Beckham’s Ferrari!
In 2000 I began working in the Super Yacht industry. For five years I worked on private luxury yachts of the super-rich, cruising around the Mediterranean to events like the Cannes Film Festival. I came back home to Perth in 2006 and established my own recruitment company, Australian Yacht Crew, with bases in Australia and Monaco, specialising in placing crew on luxury yachts in Australia and internationally.
Duncan McKinnon, Australia, 1997
Director, Australian Yacht Crew
Perth, Western Australia

“Blue Mountains provided me with a strong vocational education giving me solid business acumen as well as a great foundation in the services industry.”

After graduating as Dux, I became a Business Development Executive with Hilton Benelux in The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, managing large scale conferences and exhibitions. I moved on to become an analyst with Ogilvy & Mather Group, Benelux, based in Brussels and later Hong Kong, looking after marketing consulting projects with companies such as Starwood Hotels, Interbrew, Nokia, and Philips.
Currently I am the Regional Marketing Manager for Google Inc Hong Kong, Taiwan and South East Asia, in charge of the marketing and communications strategy for the business across business and consumer markets in the region.
Derek Callow, 1999
Regional Marketing Manager, Google Inc.
Hong Kong

“I like this role as I have to clearly communicate a concept and brand which is new to China – a hip hotel focused on fashion and design and offering a customer experience.”

I began my career journey with Swiss-Belhotel when I undertook my Industry Placement with the five-star Century Swiss-Belhotel in Jilin. I then took a break from study that I commenced in 2001 at China Tourism Management Institute (CTMI) and continued to work in various capacities with Swiss-Belhotel before enrolling directly into Year 3 with Blue Mountains in their partner school joint-venture program.

After graduating in 2007, I returned to my position as Marketing Communications Manager with Hotel Soul, Swiss-Belhotel International in Suzhou where I put the theory into practice, demonstrating what I had learned. I like this role as I have to clearly communicate a concept and brand which is new to China – a hip hotel focused on fashion and design and offering a customer experience.
Helen Li (Li Xiaoqiong), China, 2007
Marketing/Communications Manager
Hotel Soul, Swiss-Belhotel International, Suzhou, China