Marcolette Anastasi: From Hotel Finance to GM, “If Someone Doesn’t See Your Value, Move On”

The Town Hall Hotel GM on why finance is an underrated route to the top, jumping before you feel ready, and the danger of confusing constant availability with good leadership.

Marcolette Anastasi always knew she wanted to run a hotel. She even had a childhood version of the ambition: “I wanted to be the princess,” she laughs. “Clean up the castle. Same thing.”

The route she chose to get there was less conventional.

After growing up in Malta, where tourism was part of everyday life, Anastasi moved to the UK, with stints in finance and buying at Selfridges and later in sales before finding her way back to hotels at K West Hotel & Spa. She then spent more than a decade working her way up at Royal Lancaster London, eventually becoming Director of Finance before making the jump she had been planning all along: General Manager.

Today she runs the 97-room Town Hall Hotel in Bethnal Green, an independent East London property where she has considerable freedom to run the business her way. She has been GM for more than three and a half years and was recently named to Boutique Hotelier’s 2026 Power List.

hertelier chatted with Marcolette about why aspiring GMs should learn finance, what happened when she was repeatedly passed over for operational roles, why women should stop waiting until they feel ready, and the leadership lesson she wishes more women would learn: being available all the time doesn't make you a better boss.

You always knew you wanted to run a hotel. Why did you choose finance as your route in?

I remember working at a Radisson in Malta when I was younger and overhearing two managers talking about something financial that needed signing. One said, basically, “Just give it to the GM. He doesn't know what he's signing anyway.”

And in my head I thought, I am never going to be like this.

For me, out of the whole operation of a hotel, finance was the one thing I felt you needed to know inside out. So that's what I did.

I studied commerce, arts and hospitality management, but I think learning on the job is what makes you. When I was at Royal Lancaster, I introduced finance apprenticeships because they didn't exist. We always had an apprentice in the department. If you're doing CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) or ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) alongside the job, I don't think you necessarily need university.

You eventually became Director of Finance at Royal Lancaster. When did you start trying to move into operations?

I had always said I wanted to go into hotel management.

The first time I applied for the hotel manager role, I didn't get it, but I was fine with it because they chose someone much more experienced.

Then the role came up again. I remember being told I was perfect, but they wanted someone “fresh.” They brought somebody else in.

That was the point where I thought, okay, I'm done. You know where I want to go. You know what I want to do. You say you support it, but when it comes to the crux of it, the support isn't there.

So I decided to go elsewhere.

Was it difficult convincing people that someone from finance could run a hotel?

I went for a couple of roles where the feedback was, “Your experience is amazing, but the owner wants someone with a rooms background.” Another wanted someone with an F&B background.

Eventually this opportunity came up at Town Hall Hotel and the owner basically said, “I want someone to run the business. I don't care what background you have. The fact that you have finance is easier for me.”

When I arrived, there hadn't been audits for years. There were no budgets and there were all sorts of things that needed sorting out. For me, those things were easy.

That's the thing. It's great if you have an F&B background or a rooms background, but at GM level, you have to understand finance.

So would you tell women who want to become GMs to spend time in finance?

Definitely.

But I would also say there isn't one route to becoming a GM.

If you're trying to make a case for yourself, first work out whether the objection is genuinely about your experience or whether somebody has already decided what they want.

Don't fight a battle you know you're not going to win.

If someone says, “We've never done this before, I'm not sure,” then absolutely prepare the case. Show them what you bring. Show them how you can support the business and make better decisions.

But if the door is closed, don't keep knocking.

If someone doesn't see your value, move on. If you're constantly trying to force somebody to see your worth, I think it devalues you.

You worked your way through a lot of finance roles before becoming a director. Were you someone who asked for promotions?

I think a lot of women wait until they feel ready before asking for a promotion or saying, “I want this job.”

I was never like that. I jump first, ask after.

I know my limitations, but with every single progression, I jumped before I felt completely ready. Because if you wait until you're 100% ready to cover the next role, you're already ready for the one after that.

You've got to take risks. I'm not saying bluff your way through it. You need self-awareness and you need to know your limitations. But if you already know 25% of the next role, go for it.

To be fair, I think I'd go for it if I knew nothing either! That is one way to learn quickly.

Town Hall Hotel is independently operated. Has that changed the way you lead?

Completely. It suits me.

When I joined, the owner told me, “I want someone to run the property. I don't want to be involved operationally.”

And he wasn't joking. Sometimes we don't even speak every week. We agree the budget and then I go and run the business.

I refurbished the rooms. I picked everything. I did everything and then showed him the finished product. Luckily he liked it! I have a lot of freedom and liberty here that I don't think most places would allow.

Town Hall Hotel in London

You've also studied coaching. Where did that interest come from?

I did a master's in coaching last year and specialised in neuro-linguistic programming, or NLP.

I'm fascinated by behaviour and the things that stop us doing something even when we already know what we need to do.

Take someone who wants to get fit. They know what healthy food is. They know they need to exercise. But perhaps every night at 11pm they open the fridge and binge. That's the behaviour I'm interested in.

At work it might be, “I have this job, but I don't feel like I deserve it.”

You can tell somebody to create a new habit, but you also have to understand what's stopping them from creating that habit in the first place.

Eventually I'd like to do more with the coaching, whether alongside hospitality or instead of it.

Hospitality's hours are often cited as one reason women don't progress into GM roles. How do you manage the job without being available constantly?

As GM, you are available seven days a week. If they call me on Sunday, they call me on Sunday.

But if you're calling me on Sunday, it better be good. If you're calling because you don't know whether you should put a bottle of wine in someone's room, we're going to have a conversation.

My door is always open. My phone is always on. But think before calling me.

I've seen senior women get this wrong because they want to be constantly accessible. I think sometimes they believe being constantly accessible shows how much they care.

But you're also enabling people. If you're on holiday and everybody is still messaging you about everything, that's not good leadership. The same applies to continually working long hours or picking up extra shifts.

Obviously openings and exceptional situations are different. But in a normal operating hotel, you can have balance.

A lot of it is about boundaries and being able to say no.

What's your morning routine?

Coffee and emails.

I wake up and look at everything that's come in overnight and forward things to wherever they need to go.

My days vary because I don't have a traditional sales team on property. A couple of years ago my Director of Sales left and we tried using a remote team instead. It ended up working better for us, so I never replaced the position in the traditional way.

I now have a business development manager focused on outreach and two reactive salespeople handling enquiries. If I have clients or suppliers to meet, I'll often do that in the morning, then I'll normally get to the hotel around 10 or 10:30 and do a walk-around.

We have about 80 people here, so there's always something happening.

What does self-care look like for you?

I love a good spa day. I see friends, I read and I travel a lot.

In the mornings when I'm getting ready I listen to Blinkist, and I use Mindvalley quite a lot. It started more around meditation, but now there are programs on everything from AI to personal development.

I've also been reading Happily Content, about finding peace, purpose and joy in everyday life, which someone sent me to review. I've really enjoyed it.

Finally, what's the advice you come back to most?

There are two sides to every story.

Don't compare your chapter with somebody else's.

And don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it.