Nicola began her career in the hospitality industry working in Conference and Banqueting Sales with Queen’s Moat House Hotels in 1987. She then moved to London and was Sales Manager with Hilton International then Richard Branson’s Virgin Hotels before moving back to Scotland in 1989 to lead Sales and Marketing for the exclusive private members health and fitness club, Parklands Country Club on the south side of Glasgow.
In 2003 Nicola joined Chardon Management as a director and shareholder when it operated just four hotels and helped grow it into the UK’s leading independent hotel management company with a portfolio of £163 million employing 2500 staff, encompassing over 50 hotels and seven health and fitness clubs throughout the UK, including such leading global brands as: Indigo, from InterContinental Hotels Group; Doubletree by Hilton; Best Western & Choice Hotels; Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, as well as many independent properties under their own unique brand.
Responsible for the management of the global hotel brands and ensuring their systems deliver, Nicola sat on the committee for European Sales and Marketing for IHG across all brands – Crowne Plaza, Indigo, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. She currently chairs the Holiday Inn Express Owners committee in the UK, which feeds directly into the global IHG Owners board and sits on the board of The British Hospitality Association.
In 2022, the Taylor family sold their family-owned Scottish group Chardon Hotels to Atlas Hotels bringing to an end 50 years of hotel ownership for the company which was set up by Maurice Taylor and his wife in 1972 and which has been run by daughter Nicola for nearly 20 years.
