Edinburgh’s landmark hotel The Balmoral has won the highly coveted Customer Care…
Edinburgh’s landmark hotel The Balmoral has won the highly coveted Customer Care – Hotel of the Year award at the 2004 Scottish Thistle Awards that were held in Edinburgh on Friday evening (29 October).
The Customer Care – Hotel of the Year award recognises excellence in service, hospitality and customer care within the service industry. The Balmoral was applauded for the exceptional service and hospitality skills displayed by its staff, which result from its commitment to training staff to highly detailed brand standards thus ensuring that customer needs are anticipated and the highest levels of personalised services are delivered.
In addition, The Balmoral’s Michelin-starred number one restaurant was a finalist within the Flavour of Scotland category, which is a business development initiative that aims to improve the quality of food available to visitors to Scotland.
Created by VisitScotland, the Thistle Awards, now in their 13th year, are widely recognised as a mark of excellence and professionalism across Scottish tourism and reward businesses for contributing to the country`s reputation as a first-class visitor destination.
Scotland’s Tourism Minister, Patricia Ferguson, who attended the award ceremony, said: “The winners and finalists are to be congratulated, as they are examples of the level of world-class quality evident across Scotland`s tourism product; the kind of quality that is essential if the sector is to continue its growth and maintain its position as one of our country`s most important industries. Each and every one of them has set the required standard for Scottish tourism`s continued success as a must visit, must return destination and I applaud them.”
The Customer Care – Hotel of the Year award is a testament to The Balmoral`s core business objective – customer care in order to exceed guest expectations – as driven by General Manager Debbie Taylor. Since joining the hotel in December 2003, Debbie has placed great emphasis on a customer care training strategy for staff at all levels within the hotel. In addition to guest expectations being exceeded, a key reason for this training strategy is staff retention: if employees have the necessary skills to deliver their duties within a dynamic and rewarding environment and are assured of a progressive career within Rocco Forte Hotels, they are more likely to stay.
2004 has been The Balmoral’s year. In March, the hotel unveiled an extensive £7-million refurbishment programme, which confirmed its position as Edinburgh’s most luxurious hotel and, throughout the year, a range of exciting initiatives have been introduced, such as The Bath Butler and kerb-side check-in. In addition, the hotel has scooped no less than 14 outstanding accolades this year, including Runner-up “Best UK Business Hotel” as voted by readers of Conde Nast Traveller; “Third Best Hotel in Europe” by American Airlines’ Premium Class Passengers and an “Icon of Scotland” within the Food and Drink Category.
General Manager Debbie Taylor commented: “I am delighted The Balmoral has been recognised as the benchmark for customer care within Scotland. This is down to the commitment displayed by my world-class team on a daily basis, as well as the vision we all share, which ensures that our guests enjoy an outstanding Balmoral experience. We aim to maintain our high levels of service and continue to raise our game.”
Sir Rocco Forte, founder and chairman of Rocco Forte Hotels, added, “I am very pleased for Debbie Taylor and all her team at The Balmoral, as they have worked hard on all aspects of service delivery. Each hotel in my collection has its own character, but all are linked by the same high standards of service to the customer, treating each guest as an individual.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
