Mr Matthew Clifford was born in Nelson, New Zealand but grew up in Hunters Hill from the age of 7. He finished his secondary schooling at the Kings School in Parramatta where at the age of 16 he saw a presentation from the Blue Mountains Hotel School It was then that he knew his future lay in the hospitality industry.

Matthew did his first placement with the Regent Hotel in Sydney as a banquet waiter/barperson and his second as a concierge/porter with the Observatory Hotel, also in Sydney.

Matthew graduated with a Diploma in Hotel Management in June 1995 and began work as a porter at the five-star ANA and later as a porter/concierge at the Novotel Darling Harbour.
Matthew then moved to the Rydges Wentworth Hotel as a front office receptionist. He was quickly promoted to Reception Supervisor, Night Audit, Night Manager and Duty Manager.

In October 2000, he moved to Rotorua with Rydges as Front Office Manager before being given his own hotel to open and run as General Manager in Palmerston North in December 2001. Now Matthew is Executive Assistant Manager of the 190 room Rydges Hotel in Auckland, responsible for co-ordinating and facilitating the day-to-day operation of all departments of the hotel.

“As students, we had a great pool of industry experts as lecturers to learn from and to guide us,” says Matthew whose advice to those interested in a career in hospitality is “work hard - to succeed you need to keep focused on the long term goals and doors will open.”