Large Hotel of the Year
Headline Sponsor
www.saffery.com
Category Sponsor
www.natwest.com
Large Hotel of the Year
To enter this award your business must be a large hotel, probably with more than 35
rooms, and offer visitors an exceptional standard of service and an outstanding,
memorable experience. If you are a small/boutique hotel you may wish to consider this
category instead. (Some hotels with fewer than 35 rooms may also enter this category if
they are full service hotels with extensive facilities).
The judging will be based on this entry form and we will also look at your website (on
desktop, mobile and tablet), use of social media, what visitors are saying about you and
how you manage your online reputation. If there is any other information (not available
online) that you would like to include, that illustrates points made in your entry, please
email one pdf document no larger than 5mb. If more than one document is sent or it is
larger than 5mb it will not be sent to the judges.
Please provide complete answers to all the questions, using the checklists to guide you;
if you leave them blank you will not receive a score for that question. At the end of each
question please include web links, if you have them, to support your answer; note these
are not included in the word count.
Please give details of the person we should contact with regard to this entry. Note
that the email given here will be the email address we will use for all future
correspondence.
Contact name:
Business name (that may be used in future publicity):
Full business address:
County:
Postcode:
Telephone number:
Main contact email address:
Twitter:
Website:
Details of any other websites you would like us to look at regarding your entry:
When is your business open?
How many rooms do you have?
How long you have been operating as a business?
How many staff do you employ (full and part time, including yourselves)?
Please give a brief description of your business (max 200 words).
TYPE ANSWER HERE
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1.
Occupancy and Seasonality
Please provide your room occupancy details for the last 12 month period you have
available and how this compares to the previous year.
Please state period covered here _________________
eg 1 Jan to 31 Dec etc
Total occupancy for year
What percentage was repeat business?
Occupancy during peak season (April to September)
Occupancy during low season (October to March)
Last 12 months
Previous year
%
%
%
%
Please explain your figures, and describe how your establishment is contributing to
your county being a vibrant and welcoming visitor destination throughout the year
(max 200 words).
TYPE ANSWER HERE
Checklist
In your answer think about the following:
□ Whether occupancy has gone up, or down, and why?
□ Any products, packages, partnerships or promotions you have implemented to
improve low season occupancy
□ Check you have completed the occupancy figures.
2.
Please list any awards, accreditations and accolades achieved in the last
two years. Include title, organising body, level and date achieved eg
VisitEngland, Michelin, Taste award, local awards schemes, AA, GTBS,
TripAdvisor certificates etc.
TYPE ANSWER HERE
3.
What makes your business special and why should you win this award (max
300 words)?
TYPE ANSWER HERE
Checklist
□ What makes you different from your competitors and worthy of an award?
4.
With regard to your customer service what do you do to ensure your guests
have a memorable time when they are with you (max 300 words)?
TYPE ANSWER HERE
3
%
%
%
%
Checklist
□ Detail what you do to exceed your visitors’ expectations?
□ How do you gather and use feedback?
5.
What improvements and/or developments have you made to your business
to improve your customers’ experience within the last 2 years (max 300
words)?
TYPE ANSWER HERE
Checklist
□ This could include facilities, new experiences etc
□ Was it a result of customer feedback?
□ What has been the impact eg % increase in positive feedback, sales etc.
6.
What facilities and services do you offer to ensure that your business is
inclusive and accessible to all (max 300 words)?
TYPE ANSWER HERE
Checklist
□ Details of any specific training undertaken eg Welcome All
□ In what alternative formats can you provide information about your business?
□ How do you promote the accessibility of your establishment? Is there a link from
your home page to information eg to an access statement with images?
□ Does your website have information on accessibility via road and public transport
(downloadable maps), wifi, mobile signal etc
□ Don’t forget anything you do with regard to sensory, auditory, dietary and
allergen requirements.
7.
What steps have you taken to be more sustainable eg reducing your
environmental impact, supporting your local economy/community and how
has this benefited your business (max 300 words)?
TYPE ANSWER HERE
Checklist
□ Do you use local staff/suppliers/services/products eg food and drink etc?
□ What have you done regarding re-using, recycling, reducing - energy use, waste,
water etc, using eco friendly/fair-trade/energy efficient products etc?
□ Do you encourage your staff/visitors to get involved eg feedback, suggestion box,
using public transport, reuse towels etc?
□ How do you promote your actions to guests/staff?
□ How do you work with the local community and charities?
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□ How do you promote other local businesses?
8.
What innovative marketing have you done to attract new and repeat
business and what was the result eg increased bookings etc (max 300
words)?
TYPE ANSWER HERE
Checklist
□ Detail any packages you offer or marketing partnerships with other businesses
□ Give examples of innovative promotional campaigns
□ Upgrades to your website/online booking
□ Innovative use of social media
□ Include links to online marketing activities and PR.
9.
Have you (and your staff if appropriate) undertaken any training which has
resulted in improved customer service (max 300 words)?
TYPE ANSWER HERE
Checklist
□ This could include courses, workshops, conferences, networking events, staff
briefing, online courses etc
□ Give details of any customer service awards, accolades or accreditation you have
received.
10.
How do you ensure that your food and drink are of the highest quality and
what makes your food/drink special (max 300 words)?
TYPE ANSWER HERE
Checklist
□ Is it the locally sourced ingredients and the way that you promote this?
□ The creative menu choices?
□ The way it is prepared and presented?
□ Your customer service?
□ Something else?
Optional question - Family Friendly – if you would like to be considered for
nomination for a separate ‘Family Friendly’ award please tell us what makes your
business truly welcoming to families, and what you offer by way of family friendly
services, facilities, improvements, marketing, food options & service. What makes
your business unique in this sector (max 300 words)?
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Note this question will only be considered for Family Friendly awards; please
ignore this question if it is not relevant to your business.
TYPE ANSWER HERE
Checklist
□ What special packages or services are provided for families?
□ Do you target a particular age group or family group and if so, why?
□ How do you balance the needs of guests travelling with children and those
without children?
□ Are you marketing your business direct to the family market? If so, how?
□ Do you have special children’s menus or dining options?
What to do now
□ Please return your entry as a Word document along with any supporting
evidence (max one attachment of 5mb) by email to
[email protected] before the closing date given on the website.
□ Future communications will be from Services for Tourism Ltd, who manage the
Tourism Awards. Their email address is [email protected]. Please
add this address to your address book, to avoid communications being treated as
Spam/Junk; if you do not add this address and are awaiting news please ensure
you check your Spam/Junk folders to see if news is being filtered out.
□ We will contact the email address given on this entry form so please ensure that
this is the correct address for all future correspondence.
□ We reserve the right to split or merge categories if the volume or diversity of
entrants warrants it. We also reserve the right to move entries from one
category to another should this result in a better ‘category match’. Should either
of these changes occur we will consult with all businesses affected.
□ The initial judging will be based on the information provided within the
application form along with websites, review sites such as TripAdvisor and other
external sources. Three to five businesses will normally be short listed in the first
stage of judging for each category. All entrants will receive feedback. Shortlisted
businesses will be visited (mystery shopped where possible). In general we will
try to visit or mystery shop as many businesses as we can.
□ It is a requirement of entry that you agree to waive or refund the cost of a
mystery visit should your entry be successful in being shortlisted and a mystery
visit arranged. Please ensure that all your staff are aware of this. A mystery visit
will normally comprise an overnight stay, including relevant meals, for up to 2
guests. Note should you be nominated in the national VisitEngland awards a
further visit for up to 2 guests may take place. Receipt of your entry is taken as
agreement to this requirement. If your internal procedures require you to issue a
purchase order or set up Services for Tourism Ltd as a supplier, please ensure this
is done as soon as a visit has taken place.
□ For entrants that are nominated to represent the region in the VisitEngland
awards your entry is taken as agreement that we may share our mystery shop
reports with the VisitEngland judges. Please note that if you have won gold in
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the VisitEngland awards this year you will not be able to enter the same category
in this year’s awards.
All entry forms are copyright Services for Tourism Ltd 2017.
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