Hotel veteran Allan Trew is to step down as hotel manager of the prestigious Hamilton Princess.

But Mr Trew, who has spent 38 years in the industry, will not give up work entirely as he will stay on as part-time as director of community involvement for the hotel.

Mr Trew, 66, said: “I really very much enjoy working with people and I’ve enjoyed every day of the time that I’ve spent here.

“To this day, I look forward to coming to work.”

He added: “The nice thing is that no two days are the same. Different things are coming your way, whether guest-related issues or staff issues — it’s really interesting.

“I’m very fortunate in that the hotel has asked me to stay on three days a week — I’m very much looking forward to that because I enjoy golf and that will allow me to get in two extra days playing golf.”

But Mr Trew, who began his career in 1979 as assistant front desk manager at the Fairmont Southampton, might never have joined the industry he came to love as he first took a degree in business administration at McMaster University in Canada and worked in accountancy for consumer goods firm Proctor & Gamble for several years before returning to Bermuda.

He said: “I always enjoyed working with people and after working for three years at Proctor & Gamble, I didn’t meet anyone. After three years of that I wanted to try something different and returned home and opened a sweater shop — after three years of that, I joined the hotel.”

And since then he has swapped between Southampton and Hamilton in increasingly senior management posts before returning to the Hamilton Princess as hotel manager, in charge of day-to-day operations, in 2006.

Mr Trew said: “Over these years, I’ve seen quite a few changes. I’ve seen the hotels go from primarily being serviced by Bermudians and I’ve certainly seen a change in the guests we now get.

“In the past few years, our guests have come with higher expectations. Bermuda is not an inexpensive destination and if they come with higher expectations, it’s up to us to deliver.”

He added: “Because the hospitality industry is a seven-day operation, even though people don’t work seven days, a lot of Bermudians at that time enjoyed their weekends off.

“There was a growing construction industry which led a lot of young locals away into that industry because their earning power was greater and they had their weekends off.”

But he said he was glad to see a drive, spearheaded by the Bermuda Hospitality Institute, to recruit more Bermudians into the industry.

Mr Trew added: “There is a sort of a turnaround and we’re seeing more interest by young Bermudians.”

He explained that many thought their options were limited to waiting duties or housekeeping.

But he said: “There are far greater opportunities than those two careers. We will do tours for schoolkids and we’ll take them through the kitchens and show them the pastry chefs or butchers at work and it’s very nice to see the interest shown by young Bermudians in these areas.”

Mr Trew’s time at the Princess has seen the hotel transformed with a massive investment of around $100 million by new owners the Green family.

He said: “The changes that we’ve made here have been absolutely fantastic — and they’ve come at the right time.

“Having been at the hotel for a number of years and seeing the state of the physical plant prior to the Greens buying it, I was almost every day wishing someone would come along with a lot of money and invest in us.

“For me, it’s been personally satisfying and personally and professionally challenging to see this whole project come to fruition.”

Mr Trew added that he had dealt with a few interesting situations over his career which still made him look back and laugh.

He recalled a guest during one of his stints at the Fairmont Southampton who arrived without a booking from the UK and said that his visit would be paid for by a local travel agent, by arrangement with an overseas travel operator.

Mr Trew checked the guest in and later called the travel agent who confirmed the story of the guest — who ran up a $25,000 bill in just three days.

Mt Trew said: “In ten days, the gentleman’s bill was $84,000. He left us, we sent the bill to the local travel agent and they paid the money.

“Some time later, I was at home watching 60 Minutes on television and he was featured as a fraudster who was selling investment schemes to people.”

And he said of his new role as community ambassador: “We get approached by a lot of local entities looking for support or in-kind donations I’ll be looking after that and ensuring we get more involved in the local community.”

Jamahl Simmons, the Shadow Minister of Tourism, offered congratulations on behalf of the Progressive Labour Party.

“Mr Trew is a fine example of what we believe is Bermuda’s greatest tourism asset: hard working Bermudians in the industry,” Mr Simmons said. “We enthusiastically welcome his continued involvement in Tourism in his new role as director of community involvement for the hotel and wish him much success.

“Having had the pleasure of working with Mr Trew at The Hamilton Princess’ sister hotel, I can personally attest to his work ethic and commitment to quality service. His willingness and enthusiasm in encouraging and mentoring Bermudians in hospitality sets a high standard.”