Hotel hospitality has its rewards

Tuesday 6th July 2004, 12:00AM BST.

HOSPITALITY and service have been recognised by a new award scheme introduced by VisitGuernsey. The Old Government House Hotel was the only local winner of a gold award in the nationally recognised Gold and Silver Awards. Only 53 golds have been earned nationwide.

General manager Simon Courtenay-Warren dedicated the award to his employees.

‘Our staff have an exceptionally positive attitude,’ he said.

‘It’s a people business and our team are passionate about service.’

Mr Courtenay-Warren said that hotel owner Ken McVey had invested time, money and commitment and had also introduced a high level of training.

‘The hotel has put to bed its dubious reputation of about five years ago. We are now able to commit greater resources to physically looking after guests. We have a guest service team to ensure comfort.’

The awards were piloted in Guernsey last year. They are partly assessed during incognito visits by assessors from York-based Unicorn Tourism, which has the contract for the whole of the British Isles.

‘The programme is designed to give an indication of the great service and attention to detail the hotels offer their guests,’ said operations manager Gary Swarbrooke.

‘If you like, it’s giving the visitor a bit of local knowledge.’

More than 20,000 establishments are judged across the British Isles. A total of 13 Guernsey hotels were presented with awards yesterday, which takes the local average for gold or silver to above that of the UK.

VisitGuernsey chief executive Stuart Pinnell said that the voluntary award scheme ran alongside the traditional star ratings and was designed to recognise service and attention to detail. The star ratings include the range of facilities alongside service and general quality.

He said that the awards were about guest experience.

‘It’s down largely to staff and the way they look after visitors to the island.

‘The awards help the visitor to identify establishments that excel within their star rating.’

One such establishment is the two-star La Michele Hotel, at Les Hubits, St Martin’s, owned and run by Susie and Roger Edwards and which won a silver award. It was the only two-star establishment to be recognised.

‘I’m really thrilled. It shows as two-star establishments we can still offer hospitality at a higher level than our stars dictate,’ said Mrs Edwards.

‘My staff are dynamite. Guests have been coming back year after year and wouldn’t come back without us running the hotel. They feel so at home.’

All winning hotels were praised for their commitment to training and guest comfort.

Duke of Richmond Hotel general manager Steve Purtill said that his staff and heads of department deserved recognition for their efforts.

‘We’ve been striving to improve standards and guests have ever-increasing expectations. It was nice to get a pat on the back.’

Gold award

Old Government House Hotel

Silver awards

Bella Luce

Cobo Bay

Duke of Richmond

Hotel de Havelet