Foxhills Club & Resort this week promotes Tej Walia FIH MI, its General Manager of five years, to Managing Director. He will oversee business operations and day to day running of the premium Surrey Country Club & Resort, as well as lead its sister club, Farleigh.
With a hospitality career that spans more than 25 years across India and the UK, Walia is a respected member of the Institute of Hospitality and is a St Julian’s Scholar and Master Innholder. His career started with stints at Oberoi hotels, Kempinski, Grand Hyatt and The Leela Palaces & Resorts, before he spent eight years at Hilton developing his management acumen. Walia then held leadership roles at Fawsley Hall Hotel, Dartington Hall, MGM Muthu Hotels, Macdonald’s Crutherland and Houstoun hotels in Scotland before joining Foxhills in 2018.
He has led significant growth at Foxhills including the build and launch of a new £7m family building, The Pavilion – part of a £25m investment project which also involved renovation and improvement work in the restaurants, bedrooms and golf courses. Now with record membership and revenue, Foxhills continues to go from strength to strength under his guidance.
The Club & Resort will also welcome back Mark Thewlis MIH, who previously worked at Foxhills as Operations Manager from 2016-19 and will now take the position of hotel manager.
The moves come as Foxhills commences celebrations marking 40 years of ownership by the Hayton family. Current MD, owner Marc Hayton will take a step back from the day to day running of the business and focus on preserving Foxhills’ culture and unique character.
He said: “Since Tej joined Foxhills, he has made a real difference to the business, to our members and to more than 300 colleagues. He deserves this opportunity. It is 40 years since my family acquired Foxhills and I will now concentrate on ensuring ongoing resources are in place to meet guest expectations into the next 40 years.”
Walia said: “Foxhills is a very special place and it is my privilege to lead the superb team we have here. We recently held a long service celebratory dinner where a quarter of our 300 staff were eligible for an award having been with us for more than five years. That’s because this is a great place to work! Our guests and members feel that which is evident in all the fantastic feedback we get.”
Mark Thewlis, who was previously GM at Alexander Hotels at Barnett Hill, said; “The opportunity to rejoin Foxhills and be part of an award winning team, assisting Tej in ensuring Foxhills continues to grow and develop for the future, is very exciting.”
Foxhills Club & Resort is set in 400 acres of Surrey countryside within an hour of Central London. The estate is home to a 66-bedroom hotel together with an Olympic array of facilities including an award-winning gym and HealthSpa and The Pavilion, a recently built family space measuring 1700 square metres, which includes an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, games room, fitness studios, soft play area, creche and restaurant. In addition to 11 tennis courts, the resort has a total of five swimming pools and three restaurants, offering more than 200 activities and fitness classes each week. One of Surrey’s most popular golfing destinations, it offers two 18-hole championship layouts and the Manor Course, a par-three nine-hole course, as well as a short game Practice Den and driving range.
