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Institute Of Hospitality London Branch News February 2011

Welcome to the first London Branch Newsletter of this New Year. It’s February already and I am sure we are all now well into our budgets, plans and activities for this new financial year having hardly had a moments respite from the ‘storms of this recent winter’ and the challenges of the last year. We are ever optimistic within hospitality, are we not? We are in a profession and an industry that not only relishes challenges, but often successfully rise above them. It’s just that in the current climate, we never believed that those challenges would be so demanding or so sustained.

What we are now being asked to consider during such times, is ‘well-being’ – not only of others, but of ourselves. We just had our first Branch Meeting of 2011 at Hotel Verta – an absolutely amazing new-build property adjacent to London’s Heliport, built with no little foresight into the many new opportunities and the growth of business now happening at great pace south of the river and also incorporating one of the most opulent and relaxing Spa facilities in the Capital. It really is impressive and well worth a visit. Indeed, we are pretty successful now at incorporating spa resorts, pampering suites and ‘well-being’ retreats into our ever expanding hospitality repertoire to enhance our guests' experiences, but what about our own and those of our staff? 

Well-being, or as the OED describes it, “the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy” is the next initiative being run-out by those in the know – (whoever they are), and already the Government is funding substantial research and investment into how employee well-being will follow engagement as a mantra for improved employee satisfaction and enhanced performance*. “Look for it in a CPD programme coming shortly to you!” (It’s just a shame they can’t put the same money into supporting the World Host Programme to ensure all our Customer Service Teams are equipped for the Challenges of the Olympic Year!)

Believe me you’ll be amazed at what the latest gurus are recommending we be doing with our employees this year! I can’t really see our Kitchen Porter, Edward, on his lunch break, swaying to and fro in a bath of jasmine scented water, with the smell of luscious oils wafting around him, chanting ‘Maha Mantra’ and chiming his ‘Zill’ cymbals in the middle of our Staff Room! Perhaps we just have to be what most of us already know we should be… Good Employers & Great Leaders! There are enough of them around if we only take the time to look.

Talking about great leadership, we have some exponents lined up for our first CPD event of the year, our Hospitality Leadership Conference ‘Aspire To Inspire’ on Thursday 24th March 2011 at Westminster Central Hall. The Institute of Hospitality London Branch are organising this afternoon Conference in partnership with Hospitality Leadership’s Chief Executive, Alan Cutler FIH who is at the very fore-front of best leadership practice within the industry and who will be presenting the conference. We also have Chris Sheppardson, Managing Director of Chess Partnership as a key note speaker and the wonderfully amazing Anna-Marie Dowling FIH, General Manager of the 5* Royal Horseguards Hotel & One Whitehall. The conference costs just £25.00 and is aimed at all London Hospitality professionals, especially those with a real commitment to being inspirational leaders and to all our ‘Aspiring Manager Award Winners’ for whom places at the Conference are complimentary. All details are available on our Conference Flyer or contact our Branch Secretary, Roberto Simeone to book your places now.

Our next Branch Meeting is at My Hotel Bloomsbury, 11-13 Bayley Street in Bedford Square WC1 3HD on Thursday 17th February 2011 at 6.00 pm for 6.30 pm and that is followed on Friday 25th February 2011 by our first Branch Dinner Evening at No. 12 Restaurant at the Ambassadors Bloomsbury. Tickets are just £30.00.

Did you know that the London Branch has over 70 Retired fellows? If you are one of them, why don’t you get involved in our Silver’s Group and keep in touch with fellow ‘Retirees’ and attend one of our Silver’s Events. The first one of the year is Afternoon Tea at the famous 5* Athenaeum Hotel, Mayfair on Thursday 10th March 2011, for which we have negotiated a great price of just £15.00 for Silvers. Further events for the Silvers for the year are already lined up including a visit to Kew Gardens in June. Contact Angela Elkholy our Silvers Officer to register your interest and stay in touch.

We are pleased to announce that the London Branch have already secured The Ritz Hotel for our AGM on the evening of Thursday 19th May 2011 – a date which you really must put in your diary now! Our ‘very special’ Guest Speaker for our AGM will be announced shortly.

Four_Seasons_HotelWell, after last year’s London Branch Chairman’s Ball & Aspiring Managers Awards held at The Savoy, there aren’t many better places we could move on to. It most certainly is an extremely difficult act to follow having served us so superbly. However, the newly re-opened Four Seasons Hotel, Park Lane is most definitely one of them and we are pleased to announce that it will be the venue for this years’ Chairman’s Ball & Aspiring Managers Awards on Friday 28th October 2011.

Places will be very limited, but details will follow shortly on how you can enter one of your  ‘Aspiring Managers’ for our successful Aspiring Manager Awards now in their third year.

For notification of attendance at any Branch Meeting or other Event and to book tickets, please contact our Branch Secretary, Roberto Simeone MIH on r.simeone@talk21.com and confirm your attendance or, for further information, contact myself on colee@vsc.co.uk

Check out the Flyers attached for all our current events and please make sure that you spread the word and get involved. Do have a great 2011! Hope to see you soon at one of our forthcoming events.

Eamonn Cole FIH
Chairman - London Branch Institute of Hospitality

 

Institute Of Hospitality London Branch News December 2010

Well we started with snow in January and now we are ending with some of the severest weather the UK has seen in almost a century. Whist we all have to weather the meteorological storms, we have all had to deal with the political and economical storms that have hung over the UK all year with many proving to be just as unpredictable and just as harsh.

Were we not raising our heads over the parapets back at the beginning of the year hoping for better things on the horizon? How much has actually materialised? 2010 will only go down in the annals of hospitality history as one to forget. So with the VAT increase imminent and hikes on taxation within the licensed trade, further job losses and the decimation of public services and reductions in hotel investment concessions, training funds and people’s disposable income, where is the optimism for 2011?

Well, if it begins anywhere, it begins in London. In fact the capital has not done badly in the last year. The weak pound has ensured visitor numbers have continued to rise resulting in higher hotel occupancy and, in the last quarter, some substantial gains on RevPar; we’ve seen the opening of some amazing new hotel properties like Hotel Verta & Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge, not to mention the re-opening of the Savoy with many more refurbishments and openings on the way in 2011 boosting our room stock for 2012; our Restaurants continue to offer a variety of meal experiences almost unprecedented anywhere else in the world… and now they are doing so far more competitively; our Pubs… the good ones, are unrelenting in the face of so much political interference in how they continue to innovate and grow business; and our contractors are now finally delivering on ‘nil subsidy’ like their lives depended on it. So, if you are still hanging in there, it’s not a bad time to be in business.

So, what if you’re not! What if you are in the public sector - civic, education, hospital, social services or care catering? What if the shoe -string budget you’ve been working with for the past five years has finally snapped? London might pride itself on setting the standards for commercial hospitality growth in the UK, but we are the last ones who should be complacent. Not all of our colleagues in these sectors have multi-national global businesses backing them up, national or regional support structures and the budget to call in professional consultants and additional resources. Very often, they have only themselves and their staff to rely on and it is only their own ability, pride and commitment that is ensuring the continuation of catering services to patients, pupils and public servants. The hospitality professionals working in these sectors in this capital face some of the most difficult challenges anywhere in our industry.

This is why the work of catering associations such as the Hospital Caterers Association, (HCA), the National Association of Care Caterers (NACC); Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA) and many more like-minded organisations is so important and why the Institute of Hospitality and the members of the Institute should seek to partner with and support them in the work they do.

Hospitality is not just about Hotels & Restaurants. It’s about being involved and sharing with fellow professionals in one of the largest and most valuable industries in the UK, and of course throughout the world,  covering very many sectors, in every region in the country with thousands of hospitality professionals. Let’s make sure we reflect that through the work we do in our industry, but let’s make sure we start here in London.

Well we’ve had such a busy end to the year in the London Branch. It’s been a struggle to get out our final Newsletter.  Of course our year culminated with our Chairman’s Ball & Aspiring Managers Awards at the Savoy at the end of October and it was, if I may be so bold as to say, a fantastic success due, in every part, to the work of my colleagues on the London Branch Committee and the support of our sponsors, the Savoy management and staff, all our IOH members and London guests who attended, but, most of all, to the many hospitality groups who put forward Aspiring Managers for the Awards. All the winners were truly remarkable in their achievements within their organisations in the past year and it really was a privilege to see so many of our ‘up and coming managers’ receiving recognition within the London hospitality industry. Congratulations to all our winners:

awardwinners

Organisation     Aspiring Manager     Title
Stonebow     Ruth Mills     Corporate Client Manager, Stonebow
Jury's Inn     Behram Kotwal     Assistant Manager, Jury’s Inn Heathrow
Thistle & Guoman     Ulyana Pastushenko     Financial Controller,Thistle Westminster
Four Seasons Hotel     Christiano Pellizzari     Director of Restaurant & Bar, Park Lane
Hilton Worldwide     Huanita Megerle     General Manager, Podium Restaurant
The Cavendish Hotel 
    Nitin Padwal     Head Chef, The Cavendish Hotel
Reception Academy     Evelyn Suess     Front of House, Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel

In November, we enjoyed a lovely evening at The Dukes Hotel thanks to the hospitality of their GM, Debrah Dhugga FIH and our Silver’s Annual Christmas Lunch at the Ambassadors Bloomsbury. We also held an extremely successful Student Colloquium at Westminster Central Hall which saw over 100 hospitality students from London Universities & Colleges and from Paris join together to hear a succession of topical speakers presenting on ‘The Essence of Hospitality’ who included Geoff Booth FIH, from Westminster Kingsway, Philippe Rossiter FIH, our Chief Executive, and our key speaker Jonathan Raggett FIH from Red Carnation. In December we had our Christmas Drinks evening at The Ambassadors Club and, only just last weekend, our Annual Christmas Dinner with the HCA in the Rubens’ s Suite on the 29th Floor of Guy’s Hospital. A great end to the year!

It just remains for me to tell you a little bit about some of the events we have planned for 2011, which will kick-off with our first Branch Meeting at the Hotel Verta on Thursday 20th January 2011, but you don’t have to charter a ‘copter to get in! Just turn up on the night and contribute your ideas to what you would like to see the London Branch undertaking on your behalf in the New Year. That will be followed by a number of CPD events focusing on our Aspiring Managers and include an early launch of our Awards for 2011; a Hospitality Leadership Conference on 24th March; business breakfast with Rate Tiger on 5th March; international ‘twinning’ and video conferencing; dinner events; networking; our Chairman’s Ball on 28th October; and, hopefully, a very special location for our AGM in May.

Thank you all so much for your support to the London Branch in 2010. May you all have the happiest Christmas and Peace & Prosperity to you all in the New Year!

Eamonn Cole FIH
Chairman - London Branch Institute of Hospitality

Institute Of Hospitality London Branch News October 2010

I hope you are all well and a few of you were able to enjoy the perennial summer holiday at least of some description even if it wasn’t sunning ourselves on far away beaches, but, under these times of ‘austerity’, just a day out at Legoland because we got the ‘two for one’ offer from the back of a cereal box! ‘Two for One!’ How often have we heard that in recent times? How often have we used that in our businesses in recent times? Nothing wrong with that if we are not compromising on quality or service, but genuinely seeking to boost sales across other areas of our product mix, protect customer loyalty, keep our people employed and ensure our businesses keep turning over. In fact, many of us are doing much better than that. Hospitality businesses are showing positive growth across most sectors.

What was the recent mantra - ‘Keep calm and carry on? Isn’t it great when the  business commentators pull out quotes from our history of when the great British ‘bulldog’ spirit was most prevalent, (as it was again recently when we all had to trawl, crawl and fall through the streets during the latest assault on our patience and our feet from Mr Crow and his band of merry jongleurs!), but they’ve missed one important proviso this time. It overlooks the fact that for this to work, you had to be doing it right in the first place. ‘Keep calm and carry on doing the right thing!’ Now that sounds much better and I have to say, in hospitality, we tend to be doing the right thing more often than not.

We have some fantastic tools in our industry. Everything from the latest PMS, Revenue management,  EPOS & IT systems, through innovative food production and service technology, some of the best hotel properties in the world, fabulously designed restaurants and innovation in food service systems & delivery, world class food produce,  beverage & supplies, committed hospitality education providers, astute & consistent investment and some of the most dedicated training organisations and charities who provide cutting edge support & solutions to the recruitment, development & retention of our people like People 1st, learnpurple, ‘Eat The Elephant’ & Springboard.. and of course, we have some of the most dedicated and talented people working in our industry throughout almost every organisation and at almost every level.

We have a fantastic& vibrant hospitality industry here in London, as indeed, we have throughout the UK, so make sure you take advantage of everything that is available to you for you and your businesses to thrive. We have never had so much available to us to achieve that success. Open your eyes, get the knowledge and get with the plan!
Be inspired! You work in a fabulous industry!

Ohhh… and eat some chocolate! That’s right! Our next Branch Meeting on Thursday 14th October 2010 includes a Chocolate Presentation & Tasting from the Fair Trade Divine Chocolate Company presented by David Greenwood-Haigh and kindly hosted at the Thistle Hyde Park by their GM - one of our previous Aspiring Manager Award Winners, Paul Knightley AIH.

Of course the main event of the year is only weeks away, so if you have not obtained your ticket yet for The Savoy for the London Branch Chairman’s Ball & Aspiring Managers Awards to be held on Friday 29th October 2010, now is the time to panic! This world famous venue re-opens this year after a closure of more than two years for major restoration and substantial investment of over £220m. The London Branch will have the privilege of being one of the first hospitality organisations to have use of the Lancaster Ballroom in this most prestigious of venues following the re-opening and also have the real honour of having Kiaran MacDonald FIH, General Manager of The Savoy as our Guest Speaker to tell us about all the ‘trials & tribulations’ they have undergone during that period. I’m sure he will also inform us of how proud he and his team are to be managing one of the greatest hotel properties in the world, now restored to all its former glory! We have already sold over 250 tickets with just a few remaining, so please contact Michael Musgrave MIH, London Branch Treasurer now and send payment to him at The Ambassadors Bloomsbury, 12 Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0HX. T: 020 7693 5424; F: 020 7388 9930; E-mail: michael.musgrave@ambassadors.co.uk
or, for further information on  booking a table of 10 and entering the Aspiring Manager Awards contact: Antonio Fernandes FIH on asfernan@blueyonder.co.uk. All details are in the Pdf version of the Invitation Flyer downloadable here

I am extremely grateful to the following ‘Premier’ sponsors who have come on board with us so quickly in supporting this year’s Chairman’s Ball:

PREMIER SPONSORS:

I am also grateful to our ‘Silver’ sponsors, The Mystery Partnership, Davenport Lyons and a special thank you to Penny Beauchamp at Red Tractor for coming in as Evening Sponsors on the night; to Learnpurple for partnering with the London Branch on presenting the ‘Aspiring Manager Awards’; and to the ‘One And All Foundation’ who will be our nominated Charity to receive a donation from the raffle on the night of the Ball… and finally to the fantastic 9 Piece Band whom we have brought on board ‘Gefunkt’ who are promising us all a night to remember!

After The Ball, our November Branch Meeting will be at The Dukes Hotel on Thursday 18th November 2010 at 6.00 for 6.30 pm. A wonderful opportunity to view this auspicious property and that is followed by our Annual Hospitality Student Colloquium organised in partnership with the London Metropolitan University at Westminster Central Hall on Wednesday 24th November 2010. Thank you to Michael Sharp FIH, CEO at WCH for his support in helping us to put on the Colloquium organised by Ioannis Pantelidis FIH from London Met, which will have a number of key industry speakers throughout the day including Jonathan Raggett FIH from Red Carnation, whose support to the Institute this year has been incomparable. The Colloquium is for hospitality students from Universities and colleges in and around London and to promote the Institute to them. We are also pleased to welcome a student delegation from Paris to the Colloquium.

Our year gets wrapped up with our Annual Silvers Christmas Lunch this year hosted by Michael Musgrave MIH, GM at the Ambassadors Bloomsbury on 30th November 2010; and in December with our London Branch Christmas Drinks evening on Thursday 9th December 2010 at a venue yet to be decided; and finally, a wonderful Christmas event to end the year, our Annual Christmas Dinner Party with the Hospital Caterers Association in the Rubens Suite on the 29th Floor of Guy’s Hospital on Saturday 18th December 2010 at the remarkable price of just £20.00 for IOH Members (£25.00 for guests).

For notification of attendance at any Branch Meeting or other Event, please contact our Branch Secretary, Roberto Simeone MIH on r.simeone@talk21.com and confirm your attendance or, for further information, contact myself on colee@vsc.co.uk.

Check out the Flyers attached for all our current events and please make sure that you spread the word and get involved. Hope to see you soon at one of our forthcoming events.

Eamonn Cole FIH                                                                                                           

Chairman - London Branch Institute of Hospitality

Institute of Hospitality London Branch News July 2010

There was, the other week, a most interesting, albeit contentious article on the apparent demise of the ‘Hotel Manager’. Remember them? In this day and age of credit crunch, double-dip recession, slash & burn coalition governments, ‘employee release’, and investment whitewash - it’s cost control management, profit maximisation and driving ‘revenue per employee’ that we want from our ‘business’ managers, is it not? We want them in the accounts office ‘pawing’ over the latest RevPar, ARR, ROI, Asset Ratios, Pivot Tables & ROCE so they can protect our investments and secure their future… do we not?

Are we really surprised then when we see so many operators, not just from the hotel sector, but from all areas of the industry slashing many of the initiatives and ‘best’ practices within their businesses that could actually guarantee their continuity and future success all for the sake of a few ‘hard fought’ pennies on the bottom line? Reducing costs for many means down-sizing on food portions and using cheaper cuts of meat, but increasing restaurant prices; not changing our linen quite so often in our bedrooms or on our restaurant tables; reducing DDR’s in our conference rooms, but commensurately reducing the offer; can we even remember what Carbon Neutral and ‘Green’ Policy was ever about; and the perennial classics of desisting with training & development, but insisting staff work harder and longer for no more remuneration, recognition or reward – ‘after all, they are lucky to be employed, aren’t they?’ This is not effective or appropriate cost management – this is ‘knee jerk’, fear management that smacks of a lack of knowledge of what drives our businesses and what we really need to be doing, not only to survive, but to thrive. This is why good management must go hand in hand with effective leadership.

… and this brings me nicely back to the real ‘Hotel Manager’ – the real hospitality professionals who know not only how to manage, but also how to provide the right kind of leadership and direction, not just in hotels, but throughout the hospitality industry. Yes, they really do know how to control costs - after all, as it was relayed to me recently rather curtly, but relevantly by one operator, ‘show me a manager who is not making a profit and I’ll show him the door’ - but real hotel managers do it appropriately because they know their business and their clients intimately; they focus on improving their revenue management and marketing to actually drive sales rather than simply reducing costs; and, most importantly in the areas of product and service quality, employee engagement & retention and the delivery of the best customer experience - they will not compromise. The one place you will not find these managers on a Monday morning is in the Accounts Office. ‘A good manager will have an eye on the bottom line, but a great leader will also have an eye on the horizon’*.

Well we’ve just enjoyed a couple of fantastic events in London in partnership with the Guild of Travel & Tourism – last month at the Special Summer Barbecue Evening’ that was held at Red Carnation’s Montague On The Gardens Hotel, Bloomsbury on Tuesday 22nd June and last week at The House of Lords where Philippe Rossiter, Chief Executive of the Institute was the Guest of Honour and Principle Speaker. Philippe spoke positively about what has been happening in the hospitality sector this year and reiterated that it certainly is not all ‘doom & gloom’ and many businesses who are doing the right thing, are enjoying increased occupancy, customer numbers and sales growth, but all need to continue to put in the hard work to bring everyone back in to prosperity. The hospitality industry was setting the example in achieving that.

The last branch meeting before the summer break was held on 22nd July then we will resume in September with our Branch Meeting to be held, at the Victory Services Club in Marble Arch on 16th September 2010 when we will have Sean Valentine & Steve Saunders from the Aspire Group tell us how they went within just a couple of years, from hosting ‘Dinner Evenings’ to providing the hospitality at two of the largest and most prestigious Motor Racing events in the international calendar at Silverstone & Abu Dhabi!

All London Members should, by now, have received your personal invitations for The Savoy for the London Branch Chairman’s Ball & Aspiring Managers Awards to be held on Friday 29th October 2010. This world famous venue re-opens this year after a closure of more than two years for major restoration and substantial investment of over £200m. The London Branch will have the privilege of being one of the first hospitality organisations to have use of the Lancaster Ballroom in this most prestigious of venues following the re-opening and also have the real honour of having Kiaran MacDonald, General manager of The Savoy as our Guest Speaker to tell us about all the ‘trials & tribulations’ they have undergone during that period, but, I’m sure, to also inform us of how proud he and his team are to now be managing one of the greatest hotel properties in the world and now restored to all its former glory!

The price for IOH Members will be just £100.00, but you need to book your places very soon as we have already sold over 100 tickets including several ‘Aspiring Manager’ tables for hotel & hospitality companies and the price will go up after 31st August, so don’t delay. All details are in the Pdf version of the Invitation Flyer downloadable here.

You can book by sending payment to our new London Branch Treasurer, Michael Musgrave MIH at The Ambassadors Bloomsbury, 12 Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0HX. T: 020 7693 5424; F: 020 7388 9930; E-mail: michael.musgrave@ambassadors.co.uk or, for further information on  booking a table of 10 and entering the Aspiring Manager Awards contact: Antonio Fernandes FIH on asfernan@blueyonder.co.uk

I am extremely grateful to the following ‘Premier’ sponsors who have come on board with us so quickly in supporting this year’s Chairman’s Ball:

PREMIER SPONSORS:

Of course, I am also grateful to our ‘Silver’ sponsors, The Mystery Partnership & Davenport Lyons; to learnpurple for partnering with the London Branch on presenting the ‘Aspiring Manager Awards’; and to the ‘One And All Foundation’ who will be our nominated Charity to receive a donation from the raffle on the night of the Ball.

For notification of attendance at any Branch Meeting or other Event, please contact our Branch Secretary, Roberto Simeone MIH on r.simeone@talk21.com and confirm your attendance or, for further information, contact myself on colee@vsc.co.uk

Check out the Flyers attached for all our current events and please make sure that you spread the word and get involved. Do have a lovely summer. Hope to see you soon at one of our forthcoming events.

Click here to view the London Branch events itinerary

Eamonn Cole FIH                                                                                                             
Chairman - London Branch Institute of Hospitality

 

Institute of Hospitality London Branch News May 2010

There are few management positions within industry where you get to wear quite so many hats as in hospitality and in recent weeks I am sure we have all had to pull a few more from the cupboard to see just how well they fit. My ‘political commentators hat’ was balanced very precariously the other week before falling off completely and being trampled underfoot, whilst my Volcanologist hat quickly turned to dust along with my ‘Air Traffic Controller cap’ and when one guest asked if the imminent testing of the Hadron Collider was going to result in the demise of half of Northern France and the meltdown of his Swiss Bank Accounts, I thought I would simply retire to the Restaurant to be asked no more taxing a question than, ‘would the Pinot Grigio go well with the Scallops?’ Trying times indeed, but we love it really. Isn’t this what excites us so much about our industry? We can’t be all things to all men, but most of us will bend over backwards to try to prove otherwise or else die trying!

One amongst us whose hat certainly fits exceptionally well is Jonathan Raggett FIH Managing Director of Red Carnation, who brought a huge measure of calmness and common sense to proceedings when he spoke at the Annual General Meeting of the London Branch at The Berkeley Hotel on Thursday 13th May 2010. Jonathan spoke on the subject of customer and ‘brand’ loyalty and what we should really be doing if we are serious about retaining our customers through delivering an exceptional product, the very best customer service, a bit of sensible customer analysis and evaluation of the ‘Promoters & Detractors’ amongst our clientele, and of course, serving the perfect slice of toast! It was most inspirational and nearly fifty London members were in attendance to listen to the presentation and to closing remarks from our Chief Executive, Philippe Rossiter on the importance of the Institutes Regional Branches and to enjoy some wonderful food & wine at The Berkeley – a flagship property that we all should be proud of.
At the AGM, we were also able to welcome on to the London Branch Committee, two new members - Michael Musgrave, GM at The Ambassadors Bloomsbury Hotel who will be taking over from Geoff Edwards as our  Branch Treasurer, although Geoff will thankfully be remaining on the Committee having fulfilled the challenging Treasurers role most competently for a number of years; and Neel Radia MIH, Head of Business Development for Raj Foods who is kindly coming onto the Committee having been a supporter of the Branch for some time. Welcome to them both. Their commitment is greatly appreciated.

Our next Branch Meeting is on Thursday 17th June 2010 at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, 12 George Street, SW1 just off Parliament Square at 6.00 for 6.30 pm. Thank you to Geoff for arranging this venue with Restaurant Associates/Compass UK where there will be a strong ‘food bias’ and where we hope to have a special guest present who will be announced shortly.

On this same afternoon, Thursday 17th June 2010, the Branch are hosting a Silvers Afternoon Tea at The Rubens At The Palace Hotel. This is a truly wonderful property and their Afternoon Teas are exquisite. This event is open to all retired members for just £10.00 by contacting Angela Elkholy, our Silvers Officer on elkholy@btinternet.com

Then, with the summer almost upon us, our next Branch Event is a ‘Special Summer Barbecue Evening’ to be held at Red Carnation’s The Montague On The Gardens Hotel, Bloomsbury, London WC1 on Tuesday 22nd June 2010. This is a joint event with the Guild of Travel & Tourism. Tickets are just £30.00 including a drinks reception, superb food & wine and wonderful networking opportunities with your IOH and industry colleagues. Places for the Barbecue are limited, so please ensure that you send your cheque for £30.00 made payable to the IOH London Branch to our Branch Secretary as soon as possible.

Our last two events in July before the ‘Summer Break’, are our July Branch Meeting at the wonderful Malmaison property in Charterhouse Square EC1 on Thursday 22nd July 2010 at 6.00 pm and, preceding that on Thursday 15th July 2010, the London Branch are privileged to be co-hosting a Luncheon at the Terrace Restaurant at The House of Lords with The Guild of Travel & Tourism. This auspicious luncheon will be our final Summer event and promises to be a marvellous occasion where Philippe Rossiter, Chief Executive of the Institute is the Guest of Honour and Principle Speaker. Tickets, at £75.00 each for the luncheon, are very limited, so please make sure that you contact Roberto Simeone, Branch Secretary to book and pay for your place immediately.

We will be finalising our Branch Itinerary for the remainder of the year in the next few weeks, but of course, the one event that is already firmly in the diary is this year’s Chairman’s Ball & Aspiring Managers Awards to be held on Friday 29th October 2010 at The Savoy the world famous venue that reopens this year after two years and a substantial £200m ‘restoration’. The London Branch will have the privilege of being one of the first hospitality organisations to have use of the Lancaster Ballroom in this most prestigious of venues following the re-opening. I can announce that the price for IOH Members will be just £100.00. Formal invitations to all members will be going out in the next few weeks, but if you do not want to be disappointed, do register your interest immediately by contacting the London Branch Secretary, Roberto Simeone on r.simeone@talk21.com. You can also register Company tables and entries for the Aspiring Manager Awards now before the official invitations go out.

For notification of attendance at any Branch Meeting or Event, please contact our Branch Secretary, Roberto Simeone MIH on r.simeone@talk21.com and confirm your attendance or, for further information, contact myself on colee@vsc.co.uk

Check out the Information Flyers attached for all our current events and please make sure that you spread the word and get involved. I look forward to meeting with you at one of our forthcoming events.

Click here to view the London Branch events itinerary

Eamonn Cole FIH                                                                                                             
Chairman - London Branch Institute of Hospitality

Institute of Hospitality London Branch News March 2010

Well, we have just had three very exciting and wholly relevant events within the London Branch in March that kicked off with a most pleasant afternoon tea and visit at the Royal Overseas Club for our Silvers Members on 11th March. Thanks to Angela Elkholy, our Silvers Officer for making the arrangements.

A Business Breakfast was held the following day at The Cavendish Hotel where Ken Crosland, from the Ark Foundation gave a most informative and heart-felt presentation on the very real dangers of drugs and alcohol abuse in the hospitality industry. Ken spoke of how careers and lives can be blighted by the trap of addiction that can often go undetected amongst our colleagues and staff for many years, yet can cause considerable anguish to individuals and their families and serious problems for employers. The Foundation is undertaking marvellous work in presenting on these dangers in education establishments, local councils and organisations, and of course to hospitality companies and organisations. Even amongst a relatively small group of industry professionals who were in attendance, several were able to relate worrying stories of drug & alcohol abuse amongst their industry colleagues and, I am pleased to report, that as a consequence of them hearing the presentation, some have been able to provide direction on how they might seek help and advice through Ark. I cannot recommend this awareness programme highly enough. If you are interested in gaining further knowledge or information or would like a presentation within your own organisation, please visit the Ark website at www.hospitalityaction.org  or contact Ken Crosland directly at kenc@awareness-partners.co.uk. We would also like to thank The Cavendish for hosting the breakfast and give a special thank you to Ciaran Fahy who also gave an inspirational presentation on what effective hotel management and real leadership is all about! Something, it is abundantly evident, he delivers consistently at The Cavendish!

This was followed on 18th March by an excellent presentation from Cheryl Hawksworth from IDeaS who presented on ‘2010 – A Year of Opportunity for Hotels’ focusing on revenue & profit optimisation in the hotel sector. The presentation was enthralling and very informative and the event, held at Red Carnation’s ‘The Rubens at the Palace Hotel’ was very well attended in a quite superb property, where we had the fortune to be taken on a show-round by the staff who were excellent.

Indeed, its hard to keep Red Carnation out of the news these days, due to the huge success and recognition they have achieved in recent years in setting the highest standards for hotel facilities, products and customer service and I am privileged to announce that the Managing Director of Red Carnation, Jonathan Raggett will be the Guest Speaker at the Annual General Meeting of the London Branch at The Berkeley Hotel on the evening of Thursday 13th May 2010.

In the last year alone, Red Carnation have achieved Best Places To Work In Hospitality for Employee Engagement; a One Star Status in Best Companies Accreditation 2010; Springboard Awards for Excellence - The Best Employer Award Hospitality and Leisure 2009; National Training Award 2009 for world-class training and development awarded through UK Skills; and the HRS Hotel Excellence Award 2009. If that wasn’t enough, Jonathan himself was the most recent recipient of the coveted Hotel Catey Hotelier of the Year Award in 2009. It promises to be an inspiring evening so do please ensure that you register for our Branch AGM, which is free to attend, by contacting our Branch Secretary Roberto Simeone MIH on r.simeone@talk21.com and confirming your attendance.

Our next Branch event is a ‘Special Restaurant Evening’ to be held at Andy Varma’s recently refurbished, Bombay Bicycle Restaurant at 438 Kings Road, London SW10 on Friday 16th April 2010. For the paltry sum of just £30.00, members can enjoy the most fantastic, award winning Indian cuisine from the sub-continent and around the world, including a drinks reception and wine and wonderful networking with your IOH and industry colleagues. Places for the dinner are very limited, so please ensure that you send your cheque for £30.00 to our Branch Secretary as soon as possible and confirm with him on the e-mail above.

That is quickly followed by our next Branch Meeting to be held at Westminster Central Hall on Thursday 22nd April 2010 from 6.00 pm. VIADEO will also be giving a presentation on this evening on the benefits of ‘Social & Business Networking Media’ a topic which, I’m sure, is close to all our hearts, (if not to our in-boxes!), what with Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and the like now the scourge of our desktops! I’m sure there will be some very useful insights for us all on this very relevant subject.

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for… I am extremely pleased to announce that the London Branch have been able to secure THE SAVOY for this year’s Chairman’s Ball & Aspiring Managers Awards to be held on Friday 29th October 2010. I am deeply indebted to Mark Scholfield, Events Director & the General Manager of The Savoy, Kiaran MacDonald for supporting the London Branch in putting on this event at this world famous venue that reopens this year after a substantial £100m ‘restoration’. Indeed, the London Branch will have the privilege of being one of the first hospitality organisations to have use of the resplendent Lancaster Ballroom in this most prestigious of venues following the re-opening. Make sure the date is in your diary… now!

Check out the Information Flyers for all our current events and please spread the word and get involved.

Finally, please do not forget our luncheon at the House of Lords on Thursday 15th July 2010 at which our Chief Executive, Philippe Rossiter will be the key speaker.

All we need now is your participation. See you all soon!

Click here to view the London Branch events itinerary

Eamonn Cole FIH                                                                                                             
Chairman - London Branch Institute of Hospitality

 

Institute of Hospitality London Branch News February 2010

As I write to you all on this busy, ‘loved-up’ St Valentine’s Weekend, I have been romantically reflecting on the ‘meaning of love’ within our industry. We are constantly told to love our customers, love our restaurant and our hotel and our bar and our business and have a real passion for the job we do! Loving our bosses might be stretching it a bit too far, but one key question has to be, ‘How much do we really love our people?’ ‘How much do we really care for those who work with us and for us?’ ‘How much do we give to those who strive to make our businesses successful day in and day out?’

If we truly are ‘conscientious employers’ and aspire to be great managers, then surely we have to have a love for the people who work for us and with whom we work. How are you proving that to your people? What initiatives is your organisation undertaking this year to prove that to your employees? Well, we can help you to demonstrate your commitment to your people by getting you to do two things….

You can come and find out how the Institute of Hospitality’s new Hospitality Qualifications, specifically designed for hospitality managers in the industry, can facilitate the progression of individual managers and teams across several tiers of management within your organisation and how they can be professionally developed to gain nationally recognised management qualifications to benefit you and your businesses.

On Thursday 25th February 2010, at 6.00 pm at The Cumberland Hotel, the Institute of Hospitality London Branch are hosting a presentation on the new Institute of Hospitality Certificates from Kathryn Benzine, Director of Professional Development at the Institute of Hospitalityand from Geoff Booth, Head of Hospitality at Westminster Kingsway. The Institute of Hospitality has developed a unique set of qualifications which provide industry focused training in management and leadership for the UK hospitality, leisure and tourism industries. The awards are approved by the Sector Skills Council, People 1st and provide flexible units of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) which build up into nationally accredited qualifications at Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced levels. Click here for the Flyer>>

So you need to involve your HR people in this presentation as well as yourselves and your ‘Aspiring’ Managers and encourage them to come along and find out how hospitality career progression can be achieved professionally

The second thing that we would like you to do is get involved with something that is an extremely serious area of concern for all of us involved in hospitality across all our sectors and which can affect all our people, ourselves included.

  • “Lives can and are being destroyed in our industry by the misuse of alcohol and drugs. The Ark seminars are tackling this problem head on by making young people aware of the consequences” HESTON BLUMENTHAL
  •  “Ark is addressing a critical issue for our industry, and the entire sector should get behind and support it” JAMIE OLIVER

A Times Survey at the end of last year identified the Hospitality & Leisure industry as second only to the medical professions for the highest rates of alcoholism in the country. We all know that the dangers of drugs & alcohol within our industry are very real and many of us know of past and current colleagues who have and are being affected. It is the under-lying ‘cancer’ in our industry, which many of us seek to ignore or sweep under the carpet when as industry professionals we should have the knowledge and commitment to do something about it within our organisations and support those who may be at risk or are being affected.

Ken Crosland from the Ark Foundation will be presenting on this very subject, ‘The Dangers of Drugs & Alcohol In Hospitality’ at our Business Breakfast being held next month on Friday 12th March 2010 at The Cavendish Hotel. This is free for anyone attending, but please do inform Roberto Simeone, our Branch Secretary on r.simeone@talk21.com to register for this and for any of our other London Branch events. Click here for the Flyer>>

Following this, we have a presentation for all London Hotel, Revenue & Front of House Managers, Owners & Directors who take Revenue Optimisation seriously on Thursday 18th March 2010 at 6.00 pm at The Rubens At The Palace Hotel, 39 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1. Cheryl Hawksworth from IDeaS will be presenting on ‘2010 – A Year of Opportunity for Hotels’. Check out the Information Flyers attached for this and all our events and please spread the word and get involved. Click here for the Flyer>>

Finally, do not forget the Institute’s Fellow’s Dinner at the RAC Club on 1st March 2010, (for which we hope to have a London Branch table - please let me know if you are booking). This is being held during Hotelympia, which runs at Excel from 28th February to 4th March and also our major summer event – a luncheon at the House of Lords on Thursday 15th July 2010 at which our Chief Executive, Philippe Rossiter will be the key speaker. Click here for more information>>

All we need now is your participation. See you all soon!

Click here to view the London Branch events itinerary

Eamonn Cole FIH                                                                                                             
Chairman - London Branch Institute of Hospitality

 

Institute of Hospitality London Branch News January 2010

I do hope that we are all motivated to demonstrate in 2010 our commitment to break out of the stupor of ‘doom & gloom’ of the past year and prove to our organisations, our people and our clientele that we really do mean business in this New Year and set the example in driving forward quality standards, sales growth & people development. Most of all we have to prove this to ourselves as the hospitality professionals who have to provide the leadership and inspiration in setting the objectives and conditions for that progression to happen. If we cannot motivate ourselves, how will we motivate others? If we are not enthused, how can we inspire others? If we do not know the quality we want, how can we expect it of others, and if our customers are not as important as our business, then we have lost sight of the fact that our customers are our business.

The sooner we understand this, and get our people on board with the vision, the sooner we all move forward and create the real climate for optimism, growth and success.

We certainly hope that in this New Year you will appreciate the wealth of support and advice that is available to you through the Institute in helping you to achieve that success. We already have in place an excellent itinerary of meetings and events to support the hospitality industry here in London and fulfil your aspirations for the year. Talking of aspirations, we are already building on the success of the ‘Aspiring Manager Awards’ that were launched last year with the winners now having free access to professional mentoring and coaching workshops and ‘one to one’ support from Robin Saunders & his team at Just Consultancy that they are providing free to our Aspiring Managers and hospitality students in support of the Institute.  

We have exciting and topical presentations on Revenue Management & Optimisation from Cheryl Hawksworth at IdeaS; the problems of ’Drugs & Alcohol in the Industry’ from Ken Crosland at the Ark Foundation; a Viadeo presentation on Social & Business Networking Media; and a number of ‘special guests’ lined up to present at a number of CPD events and food presentations … all taking place at venues as diverse as Malmaison & Red Carnation, Westminster Central Hall, Restaurant Associates, The Cavendish & The Cumberland Hotels and, for our AGM in May, at the Berkeley Hotel. We also have a fantastic restaurant event at Vama and our Silver’s Programme kicking of at the Royal Overseas Club in March. We really are extremely grateful to all these companies and organisations for their support to the London Branch. It is great that we can reflect the diversity of the hospitality industry within London through the network of support now being provided and this is just the itinerary for the first 6 months! We hope to have a great deal more coming your way after the summer.

Of course do not forget the Institute’s Fellow’s Dinner at the RAC Club on 1st March 2010 being held during Hotelympia, which runs at Excel from 28th February to 4th March and our major summer event – a luncheon at the House of Lords on Thursday 15th July 2010 at which our Chief Executive, Philippe Rossiter will be the key speaker.

All we need now is your participation. Every success to everyone for 2010. See you all soon!

Click here to view the London Branch events itinerary

Eamonn Cole FIH                                                                                                             
Chairman - London Branch Institute of Hospitality

Institute of Hospitality London Branch News December 2009

Just a brief Newsletter now in December and one really just to wish all our London Members a really joyous Christmas and, let’s all hope, a Peaceful & Prosperous New Year. I know for many of us, prosperity in our businesses is not something that we have enjoyed in 2009, but I really believe that the prospects for 2010 are so much brighter. Indeed, it is surprising how much having a positive outlook upon our businesses, our colleagues and our clientele can take us in improving our services and growing our business.

The first fruits of an up-turn have been experienced by many of us in this last quarter of the year and we now need to be fighting for our budgets for next year to ensure that we have the proper platform and impetus for business growth in 2010 and beyond. The mantra for ‘selling hard, not compromising on quality or service, and continuing to develop your people to be the best’ has never been more relevant. Look at those operations where this remains the case, and success will not be far behind.

There is also the small matter of some ‘Games’ coming up in the not too distant future and for most of us, they are already looming large on the horizon. In many ways, the London Hospitality industry has lost a year of preparation and we now need to put in place the resources, systems and people to deliver out to the world ‘the Greatest Show on Earth’. We in the Hospitality Industry all have a huge part to play in making those Games a success for London and the UK and there is still much to do.

Our 2010 Business Plan for the London Branch is almost complete and already very full with some fantastic events including a series of IOH Industry Forums in which the Institute will be partnering with the Master Innholders. The London Forum will also include a 2012 Hospitality Working Group looking at the challenges we will be facing for the Games. The Branch will also be supporting the Institute at Hotelympia at Excel from 28th February to 4th March 2010; we are hoping Gary Rhodes will be hosting a showcase event in February; CPD presentations will include Revenue Management from IDeaS, Social & Business Networking from Viadeo, and Drugs & Alcohol Awareness from the ARK Foundation. All this, plus Restaurant events at Vama and the House of Lords, Business Breakfasts, Silvers Events, and to ‘cap’ it all, even a Virtual Golf Day! The 2010 Itinerary will be out with you before Christmas, so make sure you then get the dates firmly in your diaries and make sure you are involved and contributing to all we need to achieve in the New Year!

Finally, can I say a huge thank you to all the London Branch Committee Members who have supported the Branch and myself in the past year and especially to those Branch Officers who, for various reasons have had to step down including Orna Toeg MIH - every success Orna, back home in Israel!; Colin Smith FIH – Thanks Colin for a fantastic Silvers Christmas Lunch at the St George; and Bimal Gandhi AIH.

May you all enjoy a wonderful Christmas!

Thank you to everyone and I look forward to seeing you all at one of our London Branch events very soon.

Eamonn Cole FIH                                                                                                              
Chairman - London Branch Institute of Hospitality

Click here to view the London Branch events itinerary

Institute of Hospitality London Branch News November 2009

Well, what a fantastic night was had by all at the IOH London Branch Chairman’s Ball held at the Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury on Friday 30th October 2009 in partnership with hotcatUK. It really was a tremendous event that was really well supported by many London Hotel Groups and Hospitality organisations. A huge thank you to all our supporters:

Thistle Hotels, Cumberland Hotel, Cavendish Hotel, People 1st Stonebow, Club Managers Association of Europe (CMAE), Westminster Central Hall, Victory Services Club & Radisson Edwardian (Splendid venue and excellent food &service)

… to our Sponsors of the event:

Small Luxury Hotels of the World, (who also donated some fantastic prizes for the Aspiring Managers and for the Raffle), Learnpurple, RPM Associates & ISS Mediclean

… to our partners hotcatUK and especially, Jose Ruiz & to Malmaison/Hotel du Vin winners of the special hotcatUK ‘Innovation In Hospitality’ Award for their Housekeeper Olympics. The Award was sponsored by ‘IndiCater’

and to our ‘special guests’ on the evening, our Chief Executive, Philippe Rossiter and his wife Pauline; Paul Kennedy, General Manager at the Radisson Edwardian Berkshire Hotel; Sam Coulstock, Customer Relationship Director, Springboard Charity & Springboard UK Ltd and Michael Flagg, London Metropolitan University

After such a fantastic occasion, the remainder of the year looks rather ‘tame’ in comparison however, we do have:

  • our next Institute of Hospitality London Branch Meeting on Thursday 19th November 2009 6.00 for 6.30 pm (click here to view the agenda for this meeting)at the prestigious Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, newly refurbished Venue in Parliament Square, kindly arranged by our Treasurer, Geoff Edwards with support from Restaurant Associates where we will be ‘thrashing out’ our Business Plan for 2010;
  • Silver’s Christmas Lunch on Friday 4th December 2009 at 12.00 noon at the St Georges Hotel, kindly arranged by Colin Smith to which all our Silver’s are invited at a cost of just £15.00 (£25.00 Branch Members);
  • and finally, bringing a hectic year to a wonderful, festive conclusion, the Hospital Caterer’s Association & Institute of Hospitality London Branch Christmas Dinner Dance at Guy’s Hospital, Ruben’s Suite 29th Floor on Saturday 19th December 2009 for what will be a wonderful evening of excellent food, drink and entertainment hosted by Graham Walker FIH in a magical festive atmosphere and an ‘awe inspiring’ location.


Thank you to everyone and I look forward to seeing you all at one of our London Branch events very soon.

Eamonn Cole FIH                                                                                                              
Chairman - London Branch Institute of Hospitality

Click here for for more information

Click here to view the London Branch events itinerary

 

Institute of Hospitality London Branch News October 2009

Hope everyone is well and at least some of us can see an up-turn in business levels even if we still have to keep our belts tightened! A huge big thank you to all those members & guests who are already signed up for the most important ‘Event of the Year’ – the Institute of Hospitality London Branch Chairman’s Ball at Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury on Friday 30th October 2009 in partnership with hotcatUK. There are a few places still remaining and it is not too late to book as, due to the postal strikes, we have extended the deadline to Friday 23rd October 2009 for final confirmation and payment to Geoff Edwards, our Branch Treasurer. We now have Thistle Hotels, Cumberland & Cavendish Hotels, Central Hall, ISS Mediclean, Stonebow People 1st, Victory Services Club, CMAE & others signed up for our inaugural ‘Aspiring Manager Awards’ being launched this year at the Ball in ‘partnership’ with learnpurple and to be presented by their Training Director, Mary-Jane Flanagan. It is great to have so many hospitality organisations from so many sectors supporting the IOH and coming together to recognise those ‘up and coming’ managers within their organisations who have really made an impact to their businesses over the past year. It will be great to recognise their achievements and to meet so many of you who are supporting the IOH in London.

Thank you as well, to those organisations who are sponsoring the Ball including Small Luxury Hotels, Radisson Edwardian, ISS Mediclean, RPM Associates, Stonebow & of course, our partners at hotcatUK and the beneficiaries of the raffle to be held on the night, Hospitality Action.

[N.B: Tickets are being sent out week commencing Monday 26th October 2009 via e-mail due to postal problems]

Our next Branch meeting is on Thursday 22nd October 2009 in the Board Room at Royal Brompton Hospital, Sydney Street, London SW3 6.00 for 6.30 pm (Click here to view the agenda for the meeting). Thank you to Paul Winter FIH, for arranging the venue. It will be a busy session that will also include presentation of the draft business plan for the forthcoming year and fina lisation of the arrangements for the Chairman’s Ball on 30th October 2009. it is also an excellent opportunity for all our London Members to find out about the work of the IOH London Branch and how they can be involved and a wonderful opportunity to network with colleagues in the London Hospitality Industry. We look forward to seeing you there.

Eamonn Cole FIH                                                                                                              
Chairman - London Branch Institute of Hospitality



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