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October 2012

City awards celebrate the unsung heroes of Sheffield’s hotels and venues

Sheffield’s hotels and venues staff were celebrated on Thursday 11^th October at the Hospitality Sheffield annual dinner and awards ceremony. 

The annual awards, which culminated in a glittering gala dinner hosted by BBC personality Tom Ingall at Tankersley Manor, celebrate the huge contribution that hospitality workers make to the city’s economy. According to recent figures, the sector is worth as much as £500m annually.

During the evening a prize raffle was drawn with the money raised, an impressive £1000, being donated to local Sheffield charity Freeman College, which educates young people aged 16 to 25 who have sever autistic spectrum conditions and developmental delay.

Ian Slater, Chair of Hospitality Sheffield and General Manager of The Sheffield Metropolitan Hotel, said:

 “I would like to offer my congratulations to all of our winners and runners up.

“Every year the judges find it harder and harder to decide on the winners of our awards and this year we saw the highest number of entries to date, with genuine improvement across all areas.

“It’s a privilege to work with people that enhance the visitor experience of the city and the awards truly reflect the quality of employees we have here in Sheffield.”

The awards are organised by Hospitality Sheffield, a consortium of 30 of the city’s hotels and venues, which creates strategic collaboration between businesses in order to drive the excellence agenda in service standards, raise the profile of Sheffield as a business and leisure tourism destination, and lobby on relevant political issues.

The awards plays a central role in its work by spotlighting and celebrating the people that work so hard to make visitor’s experiences of Sheffield special and memorable.

And despite the economic downturn, the event continued to get strong support from local businesses and industry suppliers, with Mercury Taxis, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield College, AV&C, cf6media.com, XTC, Dragonfly, Rhythm of Your Choice and Steel City Promotions demonstrating how much they value the sector.

September 2012

Sisters go Head to Head at Sheffield Hospitality Awards

Stunning Sheffield sisters Collette and Sheridan Brindley will be going head to head in this Year's Hospitality Sheffield Awards 2012!

Sheridan (21) works at Sheffield’s largest independent hotel the Rutland, and sister Collette (25) works for the Principal Hayley Kenwood Hall Hotel. Both hotels have nominated a team for the Team of The Year Award category – of which both sisters work within the teams nominated.

Sheridan who works as a receptionist and is part of the Reception Team of the Year and Collette works as a wedding coordinator and is up for the award as part of the Sales Team of the Year.

Sheridan commented “Collette and I are incredibly close and have a great sister relationship – she must learn to accept the fact that the Rutland will however win the Team of the Year Awards!”

As with all sisters sibling rivalry is rife, with Colette stating “I am the oldest and always win. I have more experience in the industry than Sheridan does. She is following in my footsteps and aspires to be like me!”

Collette studied at Sheffield Hallam University and since graduating has worked at Rudding Park and then the Kenwood Hall Hotel. For Sister Sheridan the Rutland is her first hotel job, having previously worked at W H Smith.

This years Hospitality Sheffield Awards takes place at a glitzy black tie bash at Tankersley Manor hotel on Thursday 11^th October where the girls will find out who has won the award. The awards ceremony recognizes the staff and their hard work across the hospitality industry in the city. Watch this space to see who wins!!

July 2012

Sheffield to host Arts Marketing Association Annual Conference and showcase the city’s cultural credentials

The Arts Marketing Association (AMA) is to hold its annual conference, in July 2013, at Sheffield City Hall. It will be the first time the city has hosted the event which will highlight Sheffield’s art and cultural credentials and is thanks to a successful partnership bid between Marketing Sheffield, Sheffield International Venues and Hospitality Sheffield.

 Approximately 550 arts professionals are expected to attend the event which will run from 16^th to 18^th July 2013, with Sheffield City Hall as the main conference venue. There will also be a series of networking and social events across the city. The city’s hotels are gearing up to welcome the delegates in 2013- the same year for which Sheffield was shortlisted for the prestigious Capital of Culture.

 The Arts Marketing Association support arts professionals who are passionate about bringing arts and audiences together. Through a wide range of events and resources they help members gain the skills to develop their organisation and support their professional and personal development. The event is currently being held in Brighton.  Annabel Busher, Events and Services Manager for AMA said, ‘Sheffield meets our brief perfectly for 2013 thanks to a great main conference venue and an exciting range of arts venues in the city with potential for excellent networking events! The city has great transport links for our delegates. What’s more it’s very welcoming with all venues and hotels within walking distance of each other. We have dealt with helpful and knowledgeable staff throughout- at all the venues and at Marketing Sheffield.’

 Dominic Stokes General Manager of SIV Events said: “Hosting such a prestigious event for the AMA highlights how SIV can really focus on crossing the boundaries of our many distinct areas of business. Sheffield International Venues is a major influencer of sport, arts and culture in this region, from grass roots to elite performance and we are determined to look for synergies across all those areas. We will be using our core business as our attack brands in the business event market

 The City Hall is a cultural icon in the city celebrating its 80^th anniversary. It plays host to many of the worlds greatest entertainment artists, classical musicians and cultural performers. The link between our heritage, our business, and the Arts Marketing Association’s conference and our future strategies are very clear to see. All of this will inevitably lead to the delivery of a great event for all involved”

 Ian Slater, Chair of Hospitality Sheffield and General Manager of the Park Inn, Sheffield, said:

“We pride ourselves on our partnership approach in Sheffield which is why we are happy to be working alongside Marketing Sheffield and Sheffield International Venues to secure the Arts Marketing Conference for 2013.  Business tourism is the corner stone of the city’s tourism economy and our partnership work has delivered great results in the past and we hope that this will continue to bring in much needed conference and events business going forward.”

 The relationship with the Arts Marketing Association was initiated during Marketing Sheffield’s attendance at International Confex in London in March 2011.  This is part of Marketing Sheffield’s business tourism sales strategy and generates significant event leads for the city each year. Previous event successes from International Confex include the National Union of Students annual conference and the Liberal Democrats Spring Conference, both also hosted at Sheffield City Hall. Emma France, Business Tourism Manager at Marketing Sheffield, said ‘The success of the Sheffield bid reaffirms how crucial trade shows like International Confex are us. We are fortunate to be able to attend each year in partnership with key venues across the city such as Sheffield International Venues to pitch for conferences like the AMA to choose Sheffield for their next event. We are delighted that Sheffield is their host city for 2013. Let’s hope that our other bids are equally successful!’

December 2011

Hospitality Sheffield members join forces to recruit new business for the city

Hospitality Sheffield members recently joined forces with Sheffield Convention Bureau to deliver a conference sales drive for the city in an effort to secure Sheffield’s next phase of conferences, events and exhibitions.

 Sales representatives from hotels and venues across the city came together to nurture the many leads gained by the Sheffield Convention Bureau at exhibitions they have attended over the last twelve months including Square Meal, CONFEX and CONFEC Green.

Gemma Bradshaw, Business Tourism Manager at the Sheffield Convention Bureau, commented: “Over 300 calls were made by the team with some great leads established. The aim is to raise the profile of Sheffield’s venue portfolio, ensuring that the city is at the front of the queue when conference and event organisers are planning where their events will be hosted.

“We are currently working on events as far ahead as 2017 so this is certainly no short term measure. This is about helping to secure the long term future of Sheffield’s conference venues, hotels, bars and restaurants which are worth millions of pounds to the city’s economy.”

Ian Slater, Chair of Hospitality Sheffield who have supported the drive, added: “The value of business tourism to the city’s economy should not be underestimated. This is the first time that the Convention Bureau and the city’s Sales Managers have undertaken a joint Sales Day and I hope that it will be the first of many.”

Participating venues included the Holiday Inn Royal Victoria, Sheffield International Venues, Jurys Inn, Kenwood Hall, the Hilton, Copthorne, Park Inn Sheffield, Jurys Inn, Leopold Hotel, Conference 21 and Double Tree by Hilton.