#250 - Hospitality Meets Dawn Lister - Sales, Service & Stubornness

#250 - Hospitality Meets Dawn Lister - Sales, Service & Stubornness

From Hospitality Meets... with Phil Street by Phil Street

April 8, 2026 · 52 min · Season 9 · Episode 250

About this episode

Phil Street interviews Dawn Lister about her journey in hotel sales and the importance of a people-first approach.

This week, I sat down with the brilliant Dawn Lister - and honestly, I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get someone from the world of sales on the show. And what an introduction to it this was. From wanting to be an air stewardess at 10 years old, to building a 20+ year career in hotel sales, Dawn’s journey is packed with graft, growth, resilience… and a lot of persistence (some might call it “relentless follow-up” 😅). Now Sales Director for B&B Hotels UK, Dawn brings a no-nonsense, people-first approach to an area of hospitality that often gets misunderstood, and massively underestimated. In this episode, Dawn and I get into… How a childhood dream of travel turned into a lifelong career in hospitality Starting in conference & banqueting… and quickly being moved out of it 😅 Falling in love with sales (mainly by talking too much at coffee breaks) Why she didn’t go to university - and built her career through doing instead The importance of early mentors (and learning under “formidable” leadership) Being told to stop calling people so much … and why persistence still wins The reality of sales: rejection, resilience, and finding the right fit Leading with a “people…

People in this episode

Host: Phil Street

Guest: Dawn Lister

Topics covered

  • sales
  • hospitality
  • career growth
  • resilience
  • mentorship

Keywords

  • hospitality
  • sales
  • career
  • mentorship
  • resilience
  • B&B Hotels
  • experience

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: B&B Hotels UK

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