TWO IN A ROW FOR MACDONALD HOTELS

19th September 2007

Macdonald Hotels and Resorts secures a second prestigious accolade

Macdonald Hotels & Resorts has won its second national industry award in two days after scooping the National Customer Services Award for Leisure and Tourism at an award ceremony at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London earlier this week (18/09).

The award comes hot on the heels of the company securing the prestigious title of AA Hotel Group of the Year.

Macdonald Hotels' focus on excellence, best practice and innovation in customer service, and the manner in which it is clearly demonstrated to the customer, led the judges to select it as the clear winner in the Leisure and Tourism category.

Now in its eighth year, The National Customer Services Award recognises not just what companies say they are doing to improve the quality of service provided to its customers and the overall customer experience, but what they are actually delivering on a consistent basis all year round. An annual event, this year's awards were sponsored by major blue chip organisations such as Vodafone, Royal Mail, Royal Bank of Scotland and Oracle, with the Leisure and Tourism award backed by North Star Consultancy.

David Guile, Deputy Chief Executive of Macdonald Hotels, attended the ceremony along with Head of Customer Services, Dimple Sandhu, who collected the award.

"To be recognised by our peers in the industry not once but twice in as many days is truly wonderful. Being a Group owned by and managed by hoteliers, we have a passion for providing excellent facilities and quality services to our guests, which runs right through our business, motivating and shaping our development," said David.

"It is this drive that led us to develop an extremely successful Mystery Guest programme that is highly regarded by our peers, and to develop a customer response process that empowers our managers on the ground. I believe it is initiatives such as this, in tandem with a greater focus on training and employee recognition that has led not only to a dramatic drop in complaints year on year* but an increase in positive feedback and occupancy. This clearly demonstrates a real growth in stature for the Group as we continue our journey to consolidate our position in the four and five star market."

The hotel group was up against stiff competition from companies such as the National Maritime Museum, and was shortlisted from a wealth of strong UK submissions, as Don Hales, Founder and Chairman of the National Customer Services Awards explained.

"This year's Awards ceremony was another resounding success, and the standard of entries in the submission documents was once again high. The Awards demonstrate that businesses are doing more and more to put the customer at the heart of their policies and services. Winners such as Macdonald Hotels truly deserve a place amongst the elite in UK customer service, and recognition for their achievements and success."

Macdonald Hotels & Resort's drive for improvement and excellence continues with its substantial investment programme, including the multi-million pound refurbishment of the Macdonald Old England Hotels in the Lake District which completes in October; the opening of the £8 million Portal Hotel Golf & Spa resort in Cheshire in July 2007 and the launch of the new £50 million city centre hotel in Manchester, which is due to open on 1 October 2007.

With a strong focus on training and development, Macdonald Hotels & Resorts operates a rigorous training programme developed in partnership with key academic institutions and industry bodies, underpinning the high quality service and facilities offered to customers.