60322 21/06/2010 14:49:06 1 Front PREPS C M Y K PREPS C M Y K PREPS C M Y K PREPS C M Y K PREPS C M Y K PREPS C M Y K CELEBRATING SALES ACTIVITY ACROSS OUR BRANDS issue 8, JuNe 2010 “Congratulations to all of our award winners!” SPREAD THE “OVERWHELMED – SHOCKED, BUT DELIGHTED” – DAVE KENT SURPRISED TO WIN THE STW AWARD “PERFORMANCE” AN AWARD-WINNING AWARDS Our conference really was ONe FiNe DAY for Robbie Wiliams fan Dave Kent, who was crowned winner of our coveted spread the Word award. Dave, General Manager of our Newcastle Washington Premier Inn Co-located site, will soon be enjoying three Lazy Days in Marbella as part of his prize. “There are so many good things happening throughout WHR up and down the country and I really was very surprised to win this award,” said Dave. “I was overwhelmed – shocked, but delighted.” During the trip with our other award winners, Dave (who also gets a £1,000 prize) will be hoping to Let Me Entertain You in a karaoke bar or two on the costa. (Let’s hope there’s no Karaoke Overkill.) “I’m looking forward to singing my favourite Robbie track, Rock DJ, having a beer, and networking with all the other winners,” he said. Dave certainly deserves a break – just take a look at his headline achievements: His site is 14 per cent up on last year, with midweek sales up nine per cent and weekends up 11 per cent. Sales are up £190,000 on budget and the WINCard is All Green. Brand audit scores stand at 89 per cent, guest recommend at 61.1 per cent, and labour turnover at 25 per cent. The site has no criticals or non-criticals. incentive In addition to this, our STW winner moved more than 15 accounts from competitors as part of the Co-lo Going 4 Gold incentive, signed up three Business Accounts and won the G4G incentive twice in his area. With so much activity, it’s hard to single out Dave’s secrets for success. Among his great wins this year has been the Sales Fest week (he United with Joe Crosby, GM of Leeds City Centre PI, on this) and devising the Internal Management Account systems rolled out to the region for DGMs to educate their teams on the importance of ‘sales through service’. His Multi-Site Manager, Andi Teasdale, said: “Dave is relentless. He is determined never to give up and to keep finding new and creative ways to keep spreading the word, not just at his site but in his region.” And with so much hard work paying off, no wonder Dave has No Regrets. SEE INSIDE FOR ALL THE WINNERS OF THE AWARDS “TO S OME OF OU GIVING OUT AWARDS Business of the Year The Treacle Mine Table Table and Eastbourne Premier Inn Massive congratulations to the whole team – a truly exceptional business. The team just can’t help themselves – they live the promise daily across every part of their business. They are obsessed about giving their guests a good night’s sleep and great-value food and drink – with a smile. They’ve achieved an ALL GREEN WINCard, sales in +10% growth, profit at 120% and record-breaking Guest Recommend scores. Hotel of the Year Premier Inn London Southwark The team is known for running this hotel as though it were its own small family business. Keeping our values alive every day, they’ve grown profit by 15% in a year when their sales dropped YOY, achieved outstanding guest measures and snatched two gold Brand Audits with YTD at 91%. Restaurant of the Year King William IV Brewers Fayre This site has just seen its second consecutive year of 100% ALL GREEN WINCard. It is a role model business and a credit to the Brewers Fayre brand. With the immaculately landscaped gardens, the spotless environment and team members who are proud to pull on their shirt every day, the guests love it and the site achieved sales growth last year of 19%. Team Member of the Year Amy Douglas from Border Gate Table Table and Premier Inn Carlisle Amy really does make dreams come true – she came in early on Christmas morning (her day off!) to leave two presents, plus refreshments for Santa and his reindeer, all because she was determined that two small children and their parents who had checked in on Christmas Eve as they were unable to reach their destination wouldn’t have their Christmas ruined. It’s just one example of why our guests love her. We do too! Runners-up: Les Davison, Newcastle Central PI Beverley Armitt, Bridgewater Arms Table Table and Shrewsbury PI Lisi Senerchia, London County Hall PI Allan Jones, Bolton Reebok Stadium PI Guest Obsession Craig White, General Manager, Treacle Mine Table Table and Eastbourne Polegate PI An ALL GREEN WINCard and the highest RPI guest measures across WHR – an incredible achievement. Runners-up: Anchor Inn Brewers Fayre and Skipton North PI The Drove Brewers Fayre and Glasgow East Kilbride (Peel Park) PI New Business of the Year London Victoria Premier Inn Delivered an ALL GREEN WINCard, record-breaking Brand Audit score of more than 90%, highest Guest Recommendation in their region (70%), 98% of reviewers on Trip Advisor recommending the hotel, 20% of the team on apprenticeship schemes, three silver Shoot Stars, two bronze and one Steel. Runners-up: Linen House Table Table and Lisburn PI Hull City Centre PI Brentwood PI Maximise Your Talent Paul Banks, General Manager of the Rusty Cutter Beefeater and Havant PI Paul’s a pioneer at maximising talent having turned the site from a 17% WINCard to 100% ALL GREEN thanks to a relentless drive and belief in talent, proving the power of investing in your people. Runners-up: Steve Adams, Broadland View Brewers Fayre and Norwich Central South PI Davina Spindler, Gatwick Airport Central PI Sarah Frost, London Talent Pillar Reception Team of the Year Victoria Park Brewers Fayre and Ebbw Vale PI Two consecutive ALL GREEN WINCards, highest Guest Recommendation scores in their brand and third highest in PI. Runners-up: Birmingham Great Barr PI Chester City Centre PI Leicester South Oadby PI Breakfast Team of the Year PI London Putney Bridge – Ben Kynoch Professional and resilient, this great team bounced back from the tragic death of a young guest. They served more than 65,000 breakfasts last year without a single complaint. Runners-up: Belfast City Centre Waring Street PI Red Lion Beefeater and Blackpool Bispham PI Crossways Brewers Fayre and Caerphilly Crossways PI Front of House Team of the Year Liskeard Tavern Table Table and Liskeard PI Attitude and behaviours are what make this team so special – remembering guests’ names, likes, dislikes, special occasions…. They achieved so many bookings through FIT FOR CHRISTMAS they needed a marquee to seat an additional 60 guests! Runners-up: King William IV Thank you for all your fantastic story submissions! We’re really keen to hear from Team Members for the next issue. Please send us your hints, tips, success stories and photos using the submission form on the intranet (find it in ‘Communications Centre’) or email [email protected] SPREAD THE word is written and designed by Headlines Corporate Communications, Medina House, Silbury Boulevard, Milton Keynes MK9 2AE • www.corpnews.co.uk • email: [email protected] “ DRIVING SALES” SUPER ACHIEVEMENT FOR GUEST-OBSESSED TAMI WINS GOING FOR GOLD MINI Lead receptionist Tami Perree- Jones is taking to the roads of Cornwall in style after becoming our latest G4G MiNi winner. An amazed Tami was presented with the super shiny runaround at our conference. It’s in recognition of the incredible achievement of landing 14 Business Accounts worth more than £350,000 this year. She’s also been credited with transforming her way of working, completely embracing our Spread the Word philosophy and helping her site, Liskeard Tavern and Premier Inn, to a recession-busting 54 per cent sales growth. She said: “It was a total shock to find out I’d won a MINI – it’s still sinking in. My friends and family are very jealous! “I think it’s shown what’s possible, even if you work in one of the smaller sites. I have to say I couldn’t have done it without the rest of the team – everyone got involved and we had fun getting the business in.” great results Guest-obsessed Tami has genuine kindness and desire to look after her customers. She’s achieved great results by being herself, having conversations with guests at every opportunity and then following up those essential sales leads. It was Tami’s first G4G training session that put her on the road to success. Shortly after this, she landed her first BA with Braces Bakery, worth more than £70,000 a year. But there was more, much more, to come, including: Uniflare, secured after a conversation with a regular guest, and worth £24,000 year. Topline Electronics, a mega win through Tami’s understanding of guests’ needs and worth a whopping £180,000 a year. WestWard Recovery, up to £12,000 a year and secured after a walk round the local business park to promote the restaurant, three site visits, a showround and many phone calls – a great example of persistence paying off! Liskeard General Manager Matt Kenley said: “I am over the moon for Tami. She has worked very hard and is a very deserving winner. She is so passionate about driving business that the least we could do was to make sure she drives it in style!” FAST FACTS Liskeard is a small town in Cornwall with a population of just 8,000 and one business park – making Tami’s achievement all the more remarkable. Matt was relieved that Tami won – if she’d not won the MINI he said he was going to buy her one himself! Tami becomes our FOURTH G4G MINI winner. She goes out every week to promote her site to local businesses. WINNER TAMI PERREE-JONES WINS A MINI UR STARS ” Brewers Fayre Treacle Mine Table Table and Eastbourne Polegate PI The Packet Steamer Beefeater Liverpool North PI skills for Life Fiona Wilkin, Taybarns South Shields With her fantastic attitude, huge commitment and superb brand knowledge, in the words of her general manager: “Fiona has blossomed like a beautiful flower in the last 12 months.” Runners-up: Kristian Smith, Packet Steamer Beefeater and Liverpool North PI Suzie Taylor, Reading Central PI Aneta Swiecka, London Kings Cross PI Housekeeping Team of the Year Sheffield St Mary’s Gate Since opening 18 months ago, St Mary’s Gate has consistently delivered rooms that are simply outstanding. Room attendants know every inch of their rooms and our guests benefit. One said: “The key reason our people like staying here is the consistently great room standards the hotel delivers.” Runners-up: Mersey Farm Table Table and Manchester Sale South PI The Combined Dubai PI teams support Team Member of the Year Sandra Kelly, Skills and Apprenticeship Manager The guiding hand in two major training strategies and programmes that have really benefited the whole business, Sandra has also navigated us through a critical OFSTED inspection, wowing the inspectors with her own commitment and depth of knowledge. shooting star of the Year April Eames, new GM of The Plough, Dover One of the best examples of someone working really well to drive their own development. April’s an inspiration to others and her team is happy and focused. Runners-up: Andrew Duncan, Holding GM at Poole North PI Emma Browbraska, Dilke Arms Table Table Rudy Soubra, Heathrow Airport (M4 J4) PI Outstanding Contribution Shwetank Singh, PI India’s Brand Operations Director He owns the brand and IS the purple police! A great guy and a Spread the Word dynamo truly embracing the PI ethos. Kerry Paine, Oakwood Table Table and Gloucester North PI Kerry took over this problem site a year ago and has changed its fortunes. Sales have gone through the roof and Guest Recommendations have jumped 20%. She’s got an absolute belief and ruthless focus on making the right decisions for the business and her team. every Penny Counts Nuno Sacramento, General Manager London County Hall Even when Nuno’s away on holiday – or, more likely, supporting his peers – his business is under control. Demonstrating great clarity of vision and leadership, he’s taking this challenge to the broader business, supporting Dynamic Price Development and the Development of Financial Reporting in Solus. Runner-up: Fran Keogh, Stockport Central PI Good Together Green Champion Rick Rose-Coulthard, Preston North PI Passionate about the business with a quiet influence on colleagues, Rick’s been inspirational in bringing our Energy and Environment tool-kit to life. It’s thanks to him that, in a previous role, his team reduced their carbon footprint by an amazing 18% – that’s more than 290 tonnes of CO 2 in three months. Runners-up: Michael Oliver, Taybarns Coventry Kieron Golding, Brighton City Centre PI Operator of the Year Louise Middlemass After really challenging herself over the last two years, Louise has finished top of the WINCard league within her Ops Co with 93%, owns the people agenda in her region, brand and throughout WHR, championed the Your Say process and much more! No Limits Award Amanda Brady and her team of Regional HR Managers Playing a massive role in making our talent matrix live throughout the business, driving management promotions and cross-brand talent moves, creating bespoke leadership and development workshops for all our regional operations managers. Good Together Fundraising Champion Heath Hotel Table Table Runners-up: Elstree Premier Inn Kai Hepworth Kitchen Team of the Year Winwick Quay Table Table and Warrington (M62, J9) PI Great food presented to perfection every time – it’s no wonder their guests keep coming back! This team works in tandem with front of house and a meal only leaves the kitchen when they know it will delight their diners. Runners-up: The Pemberton Beefeater and Llanelli Central East PI Cambridge (A14, J32) PI The Old Brickworks Brewers Fayre and Leeds Bradford South PI Taybarns Newcastle Metro Centre