Warwick Conferences hosts the National TUCO Skills Competitions

Warwick Conferences, at the University of Warwick, last week hosted the National TUCO Skills Competitions (21-22 March), the annual showcase for the culinary talents within Higher and Further Education. This was a major change of venue as for the previous 14 years the competition had been hosted in Blackpool.

The competition saw a record number of competitors and attendees with over 350 competitors, suppliers, and guests attending from across the industry and sector.

The event made use of both the Rootes Building and Warwick Arts Centre, with the former venue hosting the Chinese themed night, Chefs Salon, Barista skills, food service and bars competition.

Warwick Arts Centre saw the introduction of eight live kitchens with Speed Cook, Street Food and Chefs team challenges. The venue was also used for the Grand Awards Dinner for 350 guests where all of this year’s winners were announced. 

The University of Warwick had its own Gold winner with Samantha Chick in the Food Service competition, while Pete Fry and Mary Fry won Bronze and Silver in the Salon competition. 

Clive Singleton, General Manager, Conference Park & Events, said: “It was fantastic to host the annual TUCO Skills Competitions here at the University of Warwick. We welcomed a record number of competitors and attendees in what was an enjoyable two days for all involved. By using both the Rootes Building and Warwick Arts Centre we had more than enough space for all of the different competitions and setups, while ensuring that attendees and competitors were able to get from challenge to challenge, meet the suppliers, network and actually be able to view all competitions live.” 

Julie Barker, chair of TUCO, described the two days as hugely successful. “Warwick has been a fantastic setting and lived up to all expectations,” she said. 

A full list of winners from the 2016 TUCO Skills Competitions can be found here http://www.tuco.org/news/item/and-the-winners-are.

A hat-trick for Woodland Grange

EEF Venues’ Woodland Grange conference centre in Leamington Spa has won three awards, underlining the quality of the venue and its team. 

For the fourth consecutive year the venue has received a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence Award. The accolade, which honours hospitality excellence, is given only to establishments that consistently achieve outstanding traveller reviews on TripAdvisor.

For the third year running, the venue has achieved a top rated status in the prestigious Laterooms.com ‘Simply The Guest Awards’ after receiving an average review score of over 80% across 30 or more genuine guest reviews left over the past twelve months on LateRooms.com, the UK’s leading hotel booking site.

Woodland Grange has also received an Award of Excellence from Booking.com in honour of the venue team’s  8.5 rating consistently achieved over the last three years.

Ian Chaplin, general manager of Woodland Grange, said: "At Woodland Grange we aspire to world class customer service so we feel very proud to get this positive feedback and recognition directly from our customers. I am particularly delighted for our team who work tirelessly to make every customer’s journey with us memorable and enjoyable.

“Benchmarks such as these latest awards strengthen our reputation as a quality player with consistently high standards.”

Woodland Grange takes silver at the National Apprenticeships4England Awards

EEF Venues’ Woodland Grange conference centre in Leamington Grange, Warwickshire has been awarded silver under the ‘25-100 Employer Awards’ category at the Apprenticeship4England Awards 2016 for the team’s outstanding work with apprentices and for the provision of training to staff.

Matthew Parsons, executive chef, (Mentor of the Year in the National Apprenticeship Awards 2015 and Apprenticeship Ambassador with The Apprenticeship Ambassador Network) and Ailish Griffin, originally an apprentice but now a commis chef at Woodland Grange, attended the award ceremony at the Emirates Stadium in London on Thursday 25th February. They were presented with their award by Sharon Walpole, CEO of Walpole Publications Ltd.

This national awards programme showcases and rewards outstanding examples of quality, best practice, innovation and excellence in apprenticeship delivery.

Working closely with Stratford-upon-Avon College, eleven apprentices have been trained at Woodland Grange over the last nine years, all of whom have gone on to take up positions within the hospitality sector, with five taking up permanent positions at Woodland Grange.

Ian Chaplin, general manager at Woodland Grange, said: “We are grateful to Stratford-upon-Avon College for putting us forward for this award and we are delighted to receive this national recognition because we genuinely celebrate young talent and value what they bring to the business.  

“Investing in training and development at all levels of the business plays a key role in our strategic objectives. It continues to impact positively on our performance and on our reputation for customer service excellence.” 

The news comes in advance of National Apprenticeship Week starting on 14th March. #NAW2016

Bryan Anderson, Apprenticeship Team Leader at Stratford-upon-Avon College, said, “I’m very proud of our relationship with Woodland Grange. They are an exceptional apprenticeship provider and offer outstanding training. During their apprenticeship reviews with the College, learners have often commented on the support they receive from Woodland Grange, the high expectations that are set and the time devoted to them by the staff to help them not only meet but exceed their own personal expectations.”

Wyboston Lakes Announced as South East Regional Finalist in National Red Ribbon Awards 2016

Conference, training and leisure venue Wyboston Lakes is proud to announce it is the South East Regional finalist in the National Red Ribbon Awards 2016.

The Red Ribbon Awards are the most prestigious accolade awarded to British family-owned companies.  They seek to recognise the incredible contribution that enterprising families make to our economy.

Chelsey Hutchinson, People and Culture Director says, “The Red Ribbon awards are the only UK awards that purely acknowledge the achievements and entrepreneurial spirit of Family Businesses.  I feel especially proud of this achievement as it not only recognises Wyboston Lakes as a great place to work, but also recognises the effort, commitment and individuality that comes with being a family business.”

The National Award Ceremony takes place on Friday 15^th July at Wembley stadium where the National winners will be announced.

Chelsey concludes, “We are truly delighted to be recognised as South East regional finalist,  to achieve such an accolade is source of enormous pride throughout the organisation.”


Wyboston Lakes has also achieved success in the Sunday Times Best Companies to work for 3 years running.

Warwick Conferences takes Gold at the M&IT Awards

Warwick Conferences is celebrating its 10th consecutive year of Meetings & Incentive Travel (M&IT) award success, after winning Gold for Best Academic Venue for the 20^th time in the awards 29 year history.

The collection of meeting venues – based at the University of Warwick – also picked up Bronze for Best UK Management Training Centre and were recognised as finalists in the Best UK Conference Centre and Best Conference and Banqueting Staff categories.

Warwick Conferences has enjoyed significant success at the M&IT Awards, which are voted for solely by event organisers and readers of M&IT magazine.

This year’s ceremony took place at Battersea Evolution and was attended by more than 1,000 meetings and events professionals to reward excellence in service.

Rachael Bartlett, head of sales and marketing at WarwickConferences, says: “We are delighted with our achievements at this year’s M&IT Awards, especially as these awards are voted for by our customers who have first-hand experience of our facilities. It is a huge honour for us to receive these awards, and we are exceptionally proud to have been recognised amongst the best in the industry by our customers.

“Our success is testament to the team’s fantastic attitude and ethos of always going above and beyond what is expected of them to ensure every customer has the best possible experience when holding an event with us. It is particularly rewarding to know that our customers recognise and appreciate this service.”

Later this year Warwick Conferences will open its new £5.3m dedicated meeting venue on the University of Warwick campus. The venue will offer 650 square metres of contemporary and highly flexible event space. 

EEF Venues takes the title for the third consecutive year

For the third year running, EEF Venues has been named ‘No 1 Small Group’ and ‘Best Value for Money Group’ in BDRC Continental’s VenueVerdict Awards 2015 – the only industry awards programme based entirely on the voice of the customer.

In addition, Engineers’ House, EEF Venue’s Bristol venue, has been named ‘No 1 Overall Venue’ and ‘No 1 Conference Centre’ for the second year running.

This year's results are based on 20,003 individual responses throughout 2015 from event planners across a pool of over 375 participating venues nationwide.

EEF Venues was ranked in top place within key people-related areas of the customer journey such as understanding client priorities, friendliness & helpfulness of staff, flexibility & responsiveness and meeting & greeting performance. Other areas also scored top marks such as technical facilities, Wi-Fi speed & connectivity and meeting room size, comfort and temperature.

David Vaughton, director of venues for EEF Venues, said: "People skills and engagement are vitally important issues for customers on their journey with us because that is what they remember so to have gained this important accolade three years in a row shows the consistency of our standards and satisfaction levels. 

“Achieving world class customer service is an integral part of our business model and it continues to reap sustainable business benefits such as trust, loyalty, repeat business, increased revenue and recognition such as this. We couldn’t ask for a better start to the year."

The results underline a recent report by the Institute of Customer Service on 2016 trends which highlight that focusing on the customer experience impacts positively on business outcomes.

“It’s all about people”, said David Vaughton. “If you have passionate people who embody your values, it is bound to impact positively on return of investment and on the bottom line. That is why we place so much emphasis on growing talent through our apprentice and trainee management schemes to instil our values for succession planning.” 

Over the last two years EEF Venues achieved 19% consolidated growth and forecasts a further 5% year on year growth for 2016, with a projected annual turnover target close to £6 million for this financial year.

EEF Venue’s three venues have also scooped gold standard accreditation in the VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditation 2015, with a combined Net Promoter Score of +86.8 from customers in comparison to a national average of just +55.1.

James Bland, director of the Hotels and Hospitality team at BDRC Continental, said: “Our role at BDRC Continental is to ensure impartial, unbiased calculation of results to ensure the VenueVerdict Awards and Accreditations are determined entirely by the customer feedback properties receive.  That means that Gold Standard Accreditations are genuine hallmarks of the service and product that meeting and event hosts can expect to experience.  

“To achieve the high standard required to achieve these Accreditations requires hard work and dedication, but above all an unwavering focus on the guest experience.  EEF Venues are to be congratulated for the consistently excellent standards they maintain.”

Wyboston Lakes Announced as Finalist in M&IT Awards 2016

Wyboston Lakes, the leading conference and training venue, has achieved significant recognition in this year’s international M&IT Awards. It has been shortlisted in two categories – Best UK Management Training centre and Best UK Conference Centre’.

Organised by Meetings & Incentive Travel magazine, the Awards are amongst the most sought-after annual accolades to be given within the industry.  There are 19 awards voted for by the readers of Meetings & Incentive Travel magazine, plus a special award: M&IT Personality of the Year. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on Friday 26 February at Battersea Evolution, London.

“The M&IT Awards represent an important recognition of venue standards across the country,” commented Wyboston Lakes’ managing director Mark Jones: “To be shortlisted in such a highly competitive category underline that the impact of our latest investment is widely recognised by our clients.”

While Wyboston Lakes has been established for many years as the UK’s largest privately owned single site specialist venue, the quality of its facilities and overall services has been recently enhanced through a comprehensive £3.5 million investment programme. Its two residential conference and training venues, the Wyboston Lakes Executive Centre and the Wyboston Lakes Training Centre, have been extensively improved to enable the company to offer a uniquely wide choice of facilities, services and delegate packages for conferences, meetings and training events.

Users of both venues benefit from sector leading 200 mbps broadband network, believed to be in some way the most powerful available in any specialist conference venue in the UK. The improved broadband facility has brought a completely reliable Wi-Fi service in all working, residential and rest areas, which is free to all conference clients and delegates. These developments are also represented through strong team morale which has led to Wyboston Lakes achieving a position in The Sunday Times ‘Best Companies to work for’ List for 3 consecutive years.

 “Our advanced technology can now illustrate to our guests that events of major dimensions need no longer be held with fingers crossed.  With the right facilities, carefully managed and monitored, they can be achieved with total consistency. That means our clients can, as they require, create solutions that are at the same time truly ground breaking, for them and their delegates, whilst being totally reliable.” Concludes Jones.

Warwick Conferences Sets Its Sights on Gold

Warwick Conferences is in the running to continue its awards success in 2016 after being shortlisted in four categories at this year’s Meeting & Incentive Travel (M&IT) Awards.

The collection of meeting venues – based at the University of Warwick – has been nominated for four awards in total: Best UK Conference Centre, Best UK Management Training Centre, Best Academic Venue, and Best Conference and Banqueting Staff.

The M&IT Awards are the oldest established awards programme in the industry. Voted for solely by event organisers and the readers of M&IT magazine, they serve to reward excellence in the meetings and events sectors.

Rachael Bartlett, head of sales and marketing at Warwick Conferences, comments: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted in four categories at this year’s M&IT Awards. The awards are a real highlight on the calendar, and as a reflection of the valuable opinions of event industry professionals, are also extremely important to us as a business.

“2016 is set to be an exciting year for us, and we’re exceptionally proud that our facilities and services have been recognised amongst the best in the industry. On behalf of all the team at Warwick Conferences, I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to vote for us.”

College Court Honoured in the Prestigious Laterooms.com Simply the Guest Awards

College Court in Leicester has been honoured in the LateRooms.com Simply the Guest Awards 2016 by achieving the prestigious Top Rated status.

The highly prized LateRooms.com Top Rated status rewards only the very best properties globally, highlighting exceptional hotel standards and service.

To be awarded Top Rated status means that College Court in Leicester achieved a minimum review score of 80% on the LateRooms.com site during 2015.

The accolade is part of the annual LateRooms.com Simply The Guest Awards and is given to a select band of hotels in recognition of their excellent record of positive guest reviews.

The awards are special because they are the only UK hotel awards based solely on genuine guest
reviews – calculated through the review ratings given by guests who have actually stayed at a property and gone on to publish a review on the LateRooms.com website.

Andrea Tarpey, LateRooms.com spokesperson said: “The LateRooms.com Simply The Guest Awards have become a highlight of the travel and hotel calendar since they were launched four years ago.  Because all reviews on the LateRooms.com site come only from customers who have genuinely booked and stayed at the property, Top Rated status is now a trusted benchmark amongst those looking for a hotel where they know they can be confident of a truly outstanding stay.   

“According to our guests, College Court is one of the top hotels in the UK and to receive the honour of a Top Rated status in this year’s Simply The Guest Awards  reveals its standards are at the very top of the league in all areas.”

College Courts Centre Director Steve Crawford said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded LateRooms.com Top Rated status. It is firm recognition of the unrivalled quality we insist on here and the hugely exacting high service standards that we have become renowned for.”

Woodland Grange wins gold in the Business Tourism category of VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2015

EEF Venues’ Woodland Grange meeting and conference venue in Leamington Spa has taken gold in the Business Tourism category of the prestigious VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2015, held last night, Monday 11 May 2015, at the Sage Gateshead.

The award places the AIM Gold accredited meeting and conference venue as the UK’s premier business venue.

The VisitEngland Awards attracted a total of 345 applications, with five finalists vying for gold under the Business Tourism category. The gold award is the highest Award for Excellence in Tourism in England which VisitEngland can bestow.

David Vaughton, director of venues for EEF Venues, said:”This is a proud moment for all at EEF Venues and a tangible endorsement of our quality standards. It is testament to our teams who have the expertise and experience to understand the very specific needs of a business client. We feel enormously proud of this national recognition.”

A Conference Centre of Excellence (CCE), Woodland Grange is the flagship venue of the EEF Venues’ group which has two other venues: Broadway House in Westminster and Engineers’ House in Bristol. Set within 16 acres of grounds on the outskirts of Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, Woodland Grange has 26 versatile conference and meeting rooms, superfast synchronous internet, 114 en-suite bedrooms, a leisure suite, two bars, a restaurant and an internet café. Earlier this year, the venue gained BDRC Gold status.

“Our teams have the necessary training and experience to handle the often complex operational requirements of a business event efficiently and competently because that is what they do, day-in, day-out. Every detail is looked after, from setting up presentation equipment to catering requirements. Nothing is left to chance,” said David Vaughton.
“This award is for every single member of staff at Woodland Grange who tirelessly work to achieve customer service excellence.”

VisitEngland Chairman, Lady Cobham CBE, said: “The VisitEngland Awards for Excellence - this year hosted at the wonderful Sage Gateshead - celebrate the very best in English tourism. It is the highest
accolade and recognises the true champions of our industry, as well as the top quality visitor experiences we are fortunate to have on offer in England. The competition is of an increasingly high
standard and so I offer my sincere congratulations to all our winners on this tremendous achievement, particularly the Gold Award winners for their exemplary contribution to tourism in this country.”

James Berresford, VisitEngland’s Chief Executive said “We received hundreds of applications of an exceptionally high quality making the competition for a Gold Award extremely tough. It is therefore a tremendous
achievement for EEF Venue’s Woodland Grange venue to win a Gold Award, the highest accolade for Excellence in Tourism which VisitEngland can bestow. They have raised the bar for excellence for others to aspire
to and I warmly congratulate them on their exemplary contribution to tourism in this country."

CCE Venues achieve multiple wins at biggest ever M&IT Awards

Conference Centres of Excellence member venues achieved significant success winning  a number of gold, silver and bronze awards at the prestigious annual Meetings & Incentive Travel Awards held this week, and celebrated in style with their industry colleagues and peers.

The Meetings & Incentive Travel Industry Awards event was held on March 3rd at Battersea Evolution in London, hosted by former England rugby star Matt Dawson and with more than 1,100 guests in attendance.

Conference Centres of Excellence were once again well represented with several member venues shortlisted as finalists, and a highlight of the evening was the group securing Bronze, Silver and Gold awards in the ‘Best UK Management Training Centre’ category. Gold winners of this category, Warwick Conferences also picked up the gold award for ‘Best Academic Venue’ and a silver award for the ‘Best UK Conference Centre’, enjoying prominent and well deserved customer endorsements for their venue.

 Imago, Burleigh Court also secured a silver award for ‘Best Academic Venue’ and bronze for ‘Best Conference and Banqueting Staff’ which follows a year of winning highly respected accolades and awards in the industry. The Møller Centre was also a multiple award winner on the evening, with silver awards for ‘Best UK Management Training Centre’ as well as ‘Best Conference and Banqueting Staff’, both awards coming despite being in the midst of a substantial redevelopment and refurbishment at the venue.

“These awards celebrate quality standards in all areas of the meetings and events industry, and as a membership organisation based on a commitment to excellence, we are delighted to have once again supported and sponsored these awards” commented Amanda Stacey, Marketing Manager at Conference Centres of Excellence. “To also have a number of our venues once again winning prestigious awards based on an independent customer vote is testament to the quality standards within our group.”

The event also raised more than £36,000 for event charity Meetings Industry Meeting Needs, with both an online auction prior to the awards, and a table raffle on the night of the event.

Burleigh Court first to achieve Gold with Green Tourism’s new assessment criteria

imago’s four star hotel Burleigh Court is once again celebrating after being awarded Gold by the Green Tourism Business Scheme.

It is the third time in a row Burleigh Court has achieved the Gold standard. The latest assessment was marked against the new Green Tourism Version 5 Criteria making Burleigh Court the first hotel in England to achieve the accolade. Green Tourism is the national sustainable tourism certification scheme for the UK. Originally developed in partnership with Visit Scotland, it is now the only certification scheme validated by Visit Britain, through the International Centre for Responsible Tourism (ICRT) and is the largest and most sustainable tourism certification programme in the world.  

With a strong sustainability agenda and a forward thinking approach on issues such as energy, recycling, wastage, procurement and social responsibility, the Loughborough-based hotel and conference centre excelled in criteria which judged the environmental impact of its green policy and the resulting benefit to staff, customers and the local community. 

imago has been recognised for its comprehensive monitoring of energy, water and wastage across all areas of the business to ensure annual  targets are achieved. The hotel also strives to support the community and encourage sustainability by sourcing local produce and supporting local producers and suppliers. It has recently launched a range of ‘Taste of Leicestershire’ menus that includes a payback scheme to raise money for local charities. 

Guy Hodge, Operations Manager at Burleigh Court, comments: “We are thrilled to have retained our gold award for the third time in six years. What makes this achievement all the more satisfactory is that Green Tourism’s standards have been raised and we are the first hotel in England to receive gold with their new auditing criteria. We are passionate about sustainability and ensure all team members are involved and play a part in our green culture. Initiatives such as our cycle to work and staff car share scheme continue to make a difference whilst our green policy, which includes ideas such as recycling food waste and greywater, extends across the whole hotel.  We see sustainability as much more than our efforts to save water and energy - it is also about improving the service we provide which benefits our guests and the community.” 

  

Stuart Park, senior grading officer with Green Tourism said: “Burleigh Court has demonstrated once again that it is one of the leading green hotel and conference centres in the UK, securing Gold under the new Green Tourism Version 5 Criteria. This is the first hotel in England to achieve the accolade, indicative of the determination of the enthusiastic team in introducing and improving sustainability measures within the hotel, and continuing to work very closely with the community and region. Efforts have been made year on year improving low impact technology, such as installing more LED lighting throughout the building, showcasing many local food and drink producers on the menu as well as being an ambassador for sustainable tourism practices – something other aspiring hotels in East Midlands should be aware of.” 

Burleigh Court has achieved much success over the last 12 months, being awarded AIM Gold, Investors in People Gold and winning Gold in the Large Hotel of the Year category at both the   Leicestershire Tourism Awards and VisitEngland National Tourism Awards for Excellence. 

Launched in 2003, imago unifies Loughborough University’s conference and events venues under one brand, providing high quality meeting spaces, venues and accommodation along with excellent sports and leisure facilities. As well as Burleigh Court, imago’s portfolio of venues includes Holywell Park, Loughborough University’s conference and events facilities and The Link Hotel.