Iain with (L-R): Lady Cobham (VisitEngland Chairman), Sue and Caroline from The Bath Priory

Craig and I were fortunate enough to attend the Visit England Awards for Excellence last night at the Athena in Leicester. It is inspiring to see the best tourism businesses operating at the top of their game. They had all achieved something quite special and really deserved their hard-earned time in the limelight.

We all manage businesses and aspire to be the best we can, but as most owner-operators know, we can often feel that we’re in a fairly isolated place where recognition and thanks are in short supply. Success when it’s earned needs to be celebrated, and we take our hat off to everyone who was there last night. It’s impossible to measure the passion and focus that got these award winners to the event; their drive to deliver better, day in day out, customer after customer, meal after meal is well worth making some noise about!

A special congratulations to the finalists of our sponsored category, “Small Hotel of Year”: The Bath Priory, Bath and Swinton Park, Yorkshire. They’re absolutely amazing properties, offering only the very best in hospitality.

Also a big thanks to Visit England for hosting a fantastic event and making everyone feel so welcome. Again it was all about the people.

You can see all the winners here: http://bit.ly/KBcchm