Based in central London the European Club was founded in 1900. The club is a non-profit making charity whose good works for the last 100+ years include offering scholarships for gifted children from poorer countries the opportunities to study in the UK. The Charity is governed by a Board of Trustees who also form part of the Board of Directors. The CEO sits on the Board of Directors whilst the General Manager and Club Secretary report into the CEO. The vision and mission statement is represented as “High quality hospitality at affordable prices.” A statement of values has been an agenda item for almost a year but has not been actioned.

Revenue for the charity is derived from the operation of the central London clubhouse (situated in a fashionable street in Mayfair London W1) containing a very ‘old fashioned’ and largely unused waiter service cocktail bar, The Fox and Hound and 50 seat restaurant, The Dining Rooms, 4 function rooms (no in-built meeting room equipment) and a number of bedrooms (50) which it lets to club members for a highly subsidised amount of just £75 per night. Many of these rooms have not been refurbished in quite a while.

The building itself has a certain faded grandeur but is in need of some much needed planned and reactive renovation and maintenance to furniture, fixtures and fittings. Some of the systems in the Club, including reservations and front office, are still on Excel spreadsheet functions. A manual process is used for creating reservations for the bedrooms, restaurant and bar and function rooms. There is however an online payment system used but there are three separate systems, one for each department. Wifi is available throughout the Club.

Many of the staff have been there for many years and the way things operate have not changed much for a long time. Whilst familiar and comfortable with the current ways of doing things, the staff often moan about the amount of time it takes and the inefficiency of the systems in place. There is a very defined hierarchy and staffing structure in the departments. The organisational chart below details the restaurant, bar and event management departments.