5-Minutes With Fiona Maurer at Langham Melbourne

It has been a little while since our last '5-Minutes With' interview but today we were thrilled to chat to Fiona Maurer, Marketing & Events Director at The Langham Melbourne!

Fiona is the gorgeous face behind many of the amazing events at The Langham Melbourne, including the popular #littlelanghamhightea series.

Our fam just adores The Langham - I held my 21st at Langham, Pete and I had our wedding reception in the Ballroom and in the last couple of years we've been lucky to enjoy many 'Little Langham' tea parties with our little loves at the Hotel.

We caught up with Fi to hear all about her role at The Langham Melbourne and she has shared some insights into the Little Langham High Teas. Fiona has also kindly shared some photos from the upcoming Mickey and the Roadster Racers High Tea which is running weekdays from March 30 - April 20.

We hope you enjoy! xx

1. Please tell us a little bit about your role at The Langham Melbourne.

Well, one thing I can tell you is that no day is the same. My role is Marketing & Events Director and some days it involves back-to-back meetings, planning, juggling the ever-overflowing inbox while other days it's staging events for 10 guests to 1000 guests or setting up a photo shoots for our hotel to media and celebrities. The one constant is that I always, always have my phone in my hand. In a nutshell, I am responsible for marketing the hotel's food & beverage operations, Chuan Spa, accommodation and Flavours of Langham, our very own retail boutique. Plus, I am also in charge of all of the hotel's social media accounts, which some would say is a role itself!

2. The #littlelanghamhighteas are my kids favourite school holiday activity! When was the first one held and how many have been held over the years? (And can you share which one was your favourite?)

I am very proud of how the children's high teas have become so popular with children and adults alike. They started in 2011 and we recently had our 50,000 children’s high tea guest attend. Now, we have a waiting lists before the holidays even start and serve over 2500 per children's high tea theme. Our next one is Mickey & The Roadsters high tea, taking place during the next school holidays until 20 April. My favourite? Oh, that's a hard question, but probably Disney Frozen as we flew Anna and Elsa out of Disneyland and hosted a special high tea in the ballroom for four days. It was logistically tricky and challenging but the little girls just loved meeting the Princesses and we created some magic back in 2015.

3. Take us through the planning for the #littlelanghamhighteas - how do you come up with the theme and menu?

I'm a bit of a culture vulture and probably spend too much time trawling Instagram and the Internet checking out trends and seeing what movies or what's popular with children. From there we hone the theme and see how we can interpret the characters into something edible and Insta-worthy. It's hard work but also a lot of fun.

4. What do you love most about your job?

There are so many things I like about my job. I love mentoring and coaching new team members, I love building our online community as well as achieving some pretty remarkable revenue targets. I also love seeing a child coming back to the hotel year after year. When we started the high teas for children it ignited a pattern where children then asked their parents to come back to the hotel for their birthday or to stay. We now have families coming to celebrate Christmas here and I am sure it won't be long before some of these children grow up and get married here too!

5. Lastly, can you share any insights or clues into what’s ahead at Langham Melbourne this year?

Sorry, I can't share too much as so many of our events are under embargo as they may be tied to movie launches or special releases but I can encourage your readers to follow us on social media where we’ll make some more announcements very soon!