The consistent excellence of service offered to customers by the Cala Hotel group in Stornoway has been recognised by a world class standard for service.
The Caladh Inn has just been awarded with the internationally recognised Hospitality Assured accreditation at the same time as the Royal Hotel has been re-accredited for the second year running.
Hospitality Assured is the standard for service and business excellence in the hospitality industry. It is operated by the Institute of Hospitality - the professional body for hospitality, leisure and tourism and supported by the British Hospitality Association.
Meanwhile, General manager of the Caberfeidh Hotel, Stuart Beaufoy has just scooped a separate top industry accolade and been honoured with a 2007 Acorn Award. The awards recognise the outstanding achievements of industry professionals under the age of 30 who go above and beyond the call of duty in their everyday roles.
Hospitality Assured in the Outer Hebrides is supported by HIE Innse Gall. Lisa Maclean is the Outer Hebrides Hospitality Assured coach as well as the co-ordinator for Who Cares Wins - a business support programme funded by HIE Innse Gall. She said: "It is great to see more and more businesses in the Outer Hebrides being recognised for their service excellence.
"Hospitality Assured is the first step for businesses to take if they want to provide quality and get better results all round. It's about enabling the industry to continuously improve and has been primarily driven by the industry ensuring it supplies exactly what the customer needs, with the enterprise network providing a supporting role."
Lorna Macaulay, head of developing skills and customer service at HIE Innse Gall said: "I am delighted to see the efforts of these three hotels in meeting and exceeding the expectations of their customers which these awards recognise.
"These accreditations are not easily achieved. The Hospitality Assured accreditation is an ongoing process, providing a series of performance indicators against which an organisation can continually measure itself.
"It is only by taking this approach that we can be sure of providing visitors to the area with the consistently excellent service they expect."
For more information about Hospitality Assured and how the local enterprise's skills team can help, contact the local enterprise company - HIE Innse Gall - where staff can help to identify training needs, source relevant training provision and consider ways of funding it.
