Pictured above: (l-r) Ruth Hyde, Charlotte Mitchell
(East Lodge), Samantha Otter (East Lodge) and Jo Hayward
East Lodge hotel has triumphed once again. At the East Midlands
Tourism Enjoy England Excellence Awards, the renowned Rowsley Hotel
beat the cream of the region's tourism businesses to strike gold
and victory in the 'Outstanding Customer Service' category - in
recognition of the hotel's investment and efforts in making sure
that the East Lodge experience is second to none.
East Lodge joined 50 other finalists from leading East Midlands
tourism organisations including Leicester City Football Club, The
National Space Centre, and near neighbour Chatsworth at the lavish
gala awards dinner at the Roundhouse in Derby on 7 October.
Businesses from across Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire,
Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland competed for the 18
coveted awards on the night and East lodge, together with all the
other Gold winners will now progress to the national final, which
will be held in spring 2011.
"To win two gold awards in different categories in three years
is an amazing achievement and one we are all overjoyed about," said
Iain Hardman, managing director at East Lodge. "We spend a great
deal of time and effort ensuring East Lodge delivers a level of
customer service that exceeds the expectations of our guests, so it
is fantastic this commitment has been recognised by the judges.
Meeting the highest standards day in day out is by no means easy
and is not just a matter of money. There are many sophisticated
challenges that involve ensuring the guest experience remains high
and I would like to thank all our staff, because it is their
consistently high performance that makes everyone's stay at East
Lodge memorable for all the right reasons."
Designed to identify only the best of the region's tourism
businesses, the awards set a high benchmark for the rest of the
tourism industry to aspire too and the prestigious award was
presented to East Lodge staff Charlotte Mitchell and Samantha Otter
by the host for the evening Jo Hayward together with Ruth Hyde,
Tourism Director at the East Midlands Development Agency.
"All the participants in the awards were very strong and it gets
more difficult each year to choose a winner. It's a great
achievement to get to the final stages given the quality of the
entrants this year. The standard was such that mystery shoppers who
visited each finalist were so impressed with what they saw they
want to go back and visit some of the businesses as customers,"
commented Ruth Hyde. "Use of local produce is now almost standard
amongst all categories showing how far we have come as a region in
using fresh local food, an area which the region excels in. All the
finalists demonstrated a great understanding of their customers'
individual requirements and how they are using feedback to improve
their service. "
This award makes it three in a row now for East Lodge, as the
hotel recently scooped three red stars from the AA and secured
another Visit England Breakfast award. This latest gold award is
the icing on the cake and rounds off a hat trick of real quality
for last year's winner of 'Small Hotel of the Year' and for one of
only 48 hotels in the country ever presented with a Visit England
Gold Award.
East Lodge is owned by the Hardman family and the hotel is no
stranger to awards. The coveted AA "Inspectors' Choice" accolade
places East Lodge within the top 150 hotels in the UK - hardly
surprising for a hotel that has also been a former silver Winner at
the national finals of "Hotel of the Year 2009/10" - renowned
as the tourism Oscars.
"Winning this award is a great achievement but East Lodge will
not be resting on its laurels," added Iain. "A hat trick of awards
is a great feeling, but our sights are now fixed on the forthcoming
Derbyshire Restaurant of the Year."