Alan Parker: Sailing enthusiast plots a course through slowdown

6am

Alan Parker, chief executive of the hotels-to-restaurant group Whitbread, bears little resemblance to the Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps, but they start their morning in a similar manner. After a quick cup of tea, Mr Parker heads into the back garden and swims 30 lengths in his heated 10-metre swimming pool.

At 7am, his driver takes him from his home in Virginia Water, Surrey, to Whitbread's office in Dunstable. In the car, he reviews Whitbread's overnight occupancy figures at Premier Inn and the group's sales, as well as media coverage of Whitbread on his BlackBerry.

Two days ago, Whitbread – whose brands include Premier Inn, the budget hotel operator, Costa Coffee, and its pub restaurants Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Table Table and Taybarns – delivered like-for-like sales up 7.1 per cent for the 24 weeks to 14 August. To date, Whitbread has avoided any substantial slowdown at Costa Coffee.

Mr Parker, who joined in 1992 as managing director of the Whitbread Hotel Company and was made chief executive in 2004, says: "In a downturn people prefer to spend their money on affordable treats such as lipstick and a latte."

8am

Mr Parker gets to the Dunstable office and orders a black Americano at its ground floor Costa Coffee. He then meets with his executive assistant to check if she has any messages for him.

At 8.30am, Mr Parker meets Whitbread's chief operating officer, Paul Flaum. In the absence of Patrick Dempsey, managing director of Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants, Mr Flaum reports to Mr Parker. This week, Mr Dempsey started a two-month Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School in the US, which Mr Parker did in 1996.

Mr Parker says developing people is one of the favourite parts of his role. "Our culture is one of being very people-oriented – look after your people and they will look after your customers and the profits will come in."

At 9.30am, he and Mr Flaum have a one-and-a-half-hour meeting with the management team of Whitbread's hotels and restaurants business unit. Mr Parker only arrived back on Monday from a two-week holiday in New Zealand, so the meeting is a review of the group's priorities.

Whitbread currently has three key priorities. First, the company is transitioning its food logistics operations to the outsourcing provider Kuehne + Nagel, which Whitbread unveiled in April. Second, Whitbread will complete the transfer of 21 hotels, acquired from rival Mitchells & Butlers, into its group on 19 September. Third, as part of its development plan, Whitbread is on track to add more than 4,000 rooms to its Premier Inn estate this year, including building 40 new hotels.

10.30am

"I have another cup of coffee because I am feeling a bit jet-lagged," he says. Mr Parker then calls his chairman, who is based at Whitbread's London office, close to Piccadilly Circus, to catch up and to agree to meet later in the week before its trading statement.

At 11am, Mr Parker meets his human resources director, Louise Smalley, to check on the progress of its change programme, Future Spirit, which kicked off in the spring. The programme covers four broad areas: strategy, business structure, systems and shared value.

Around midday, Mr Parker reviews his diary for the next couple of weeks with his executive assistant. Next week, he will hold management board meetings, and it is Mr Parker's job to decide the agenda and circulate it to stakeholders. Whitbread measures the performance of its businesses, down to the profitability of individual hotels and restaurants, in meticulous detail, using a huge amount of data. For instance, Premier Inn sends out 100,000 emails every month to guests, and typically gets back 50,000 responses.

Between 1pm and 2pm, Mr Parker has lunch with his secretary and executive assistant in the office restaurant.

2pm

He has a meeting with the group finance director and communications director about the trading statement on Thursday. On Monday, they view and discuss the first draft, which includes the actual numbers and the wording. "This takes quite a long time debating the specific words and message to be sent off." The trading statement is sent to all the board members.

4pm

Mr Parker meets the group development director. Whitbread is working on a project to identify a new emerging country to expand into, althoughMr Parker declines to name it. Whitbread opened its first Premier Inn outside the UK in Dubai this year, and it has six sites in development. It has also set up a new company to develop six sites in India, of which the first will open in Delhi next year.

5pm

He has another meeting with the UK development director, UK design and construction director and other project team members to discuss an environmental initiative. Mr Parker remains tight-lipped about the specifics of the project, but he says it will involve a green technology for its hotels, such as energy conservation, heating or solar power. "We believe this is an opportunity to look at it very seriously and to become a leader in environmental policy."

6pm

His chauffeur drives him home. In the car, he catches up with his post, voice messages and email. "I get home about 7pm most days, unless I am travelling or meeting people."

At 7.30pm, he takes his wife out for a meal at a recently refurbished Brewers Fayre pub in Bracknell. "It is important for me to see it, and what we see we like, apart from the external signage that needs to have more impact," says Mr Parker.

He gets back home just before the 10 o'clock news.

This week's buoyant trading statement lends further support to Mr Parker's belief that Whitbread is well equipped to handle a prolonged consumer downturn. "I have seen three or four recessions or downturns and Whitbread is well prepared in the present circumstances. We are not saying we are recession-proof but we are recession-resilient."

Out of the office

Alan Parker is a keen sailor and the reason for his recent trip to New Zealand was to check out the Oyster 54 yacht (right) being built for him in Auckland. The sailing yacht will be 17 metres long and Mr Parker has decided to call it Oyster Reach, the name of one of Whitbread's Beefeater Pubs near Ipswich.

In addition to rugby, skiing and golf, his main sporting interest is Arsenal football club. Mr Parker, a season ticket holder at the Emirates Stadium, was born on the Holloway Road, 500 yards from Arsenal's former ground, Highbury.

Hotels and restaurants are in his blood: his parents ran a restaurant, his son runs a hotel in Sharm El Sheikh, and he met his wife when they worked at the same hotel company.

Mr Parker's cultural genes enjoy going to the ballet and opera, while the last book he read was Sashanka by Simon Montefiore.

He plans to buy a new iPod after leaving his previous device, which featured Katie Melua and Amy Winehouse, on the plane from New Zealand.

He has two children and has been married for 35 years.

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