Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club reveal new general manager

He is Adam Della Rocca, who captains Ilkley Rugby Football Club’s second XV and, from 2010-12, was deputy manager at the Wheatley Arms hotel in Ben Rhydding.

Adam, who replaces Charlie Maunder in the role at the Stourton Road club – he stepped down last autumn - has an impressive career in hospitality and boutique hotel management.

The 39-year-old, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism and marine affairs from the University of Miami and started out in business as a freelance tour director.

That involved showing groups of up to 300 people the sights and sounds of the United States, and Adam has a track record of both increasing profitability and the reputation of luxury beach hotels.

Adam, whose family relocated from California back to West Yorkshire two years ago, was earmarked as a general manager to watch by Hotel Management Magazine in 2017.

After his near five-year stint as a tour director, he worked in Central America, firstly briefly as manager of the Casa Oro International beach-town hostel in Nicaragua and then, more extensively, as general manager of the Popa Paradise Beach Resort in Panama, where he both supervised final construction of the hotel and its grand opening.

Then came his spell at the Wheatley Arms, a 12-room hotel with a 115-cover restaurant, before he was again lured to sun, sea, sand and surfboarding by becoming general manager of the 66-suite Oceanside Marina Suites in Oceanside, California, where profit was increased by 22 per cent, and general manager of the 53-suite Surfer Beach Hotel in Trigild, San Diego.

After that, Adam was a hotel operations consultant with Bond Partners, helping to oversee a hostile takeover of the five-star Trump International Panama, converting it to the Bahia Grand Hotel in preparation for its eventual management by the JW Marriott group.

Latterly, Adam has been general manager of the Keating Hotel Group property in San Diego (September 2016-August 2019), a 35-room four-star property that was built in 1890, and has also set up a hotel consultancy business.

Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club say of Adam: “He looks forward to broadening his experience in the hospitality industry by matching his leadership skills with the pedigree of ILTSC, where he hopes to call upon his managerial experience to continue to drive the excellent reputation of the club.

“Adam is a lifelong athlete and traded in his quiver of surfboards for that of a rugby ball (he played for the University of Miami’s rugby team) upon his return to England.

“He currently holds the captaincy for the Ilkley RFC 2nd XV. He is dubiously hopeful that he can transfer some of that athletic prowess to the squash and tennis courts.”

Adam has two daughters who attend Ashlands Primary School in Ilkley.

“The camaraderie and familial ties of ILTSC were significant points of interest in his vying for the role. He will begin on March 1 and expresses his optimism that he can begin meeting members in person not long after that.”