Hotel employees gathered outside for an informal lunch, which included voting for influential female staff members.

General manager and director Tenille Pentland said the event was designed to encourage peer to peer recognition and support.  

“Through our event today we hope to not only celebrate our gender diversity but also encourage our female team members to support each other and influence other females into a more senior career path,” she said.

Ms Pentland has led the hotel’s senior management team in all facets of the business, since purchasing the hotel with her siblings in 2012.

She said parity between men and women had always been a priority.

“Gender equality is a contemporary social issue which is close to my heart, having worked in various roles within a variety of hotel chains and witnessed first hand the positive outcomes in the development of females into leadership positions.

“Quite often it’s a lack of confidence and bravado which needs to be overcome in order for women to flourish.”