HCPTA

Hospitality HR in the spotlight - HCPTA Awards for Excellence

18 July 2002 at The Savoy, London

The eighth HCPTA Awards for Excellence dinner at The Savoy was attended by some 200 human resource professionals from all branches of the hospitality industry and took theatre as its theme. Act One, the presentation ceremony, was a theatrical extravaganza in its own right, opening with a number from Fosse and building to a dramatic climax following the announce-ment of the Awards winners.

The hosts for the event were

• Lord Thurso,
• HCPTA Chair Fiona Rassell of STORM Training & Development
• HCPTA Treasurer Jane Sunley, MD of Learn Purple.

The Awards judging panel -

• Mike Boella and Steven Goss-Turner of the University of Brighton
• Michael Shepherd, Managing Director of The Savoy
• Diana Warren, representing CIPD
• John Wright, Global Brand President of 6 Continents

The awards panel introduced the short-listed nominees and explained the criteria on which the selections had been made and the winners judged. The judges emphasised that their scrutiny had been rigorous. They had been impressed by the creativity shown by candidates and they declared that being short-listed was no mean achievement.

Representatives from the Award sponsors - Quest Elite, Graphico, Savoy Educational Trust and Croner@CCH, carried out the presentation of the HCPTA awards. Stepping into the spotlight to receive the distinctive star-shaped Tiffany trophies and cheques for £500 were:

• Sally Knief, Operations Manager at Leiths for Excellence by an Operations/Line Manager who has made a Significant Contribution to HR, sponsored by Quest Elite.
• The HR team at The Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park for Excellence in Establishing Links with Schools, Colleges and Universities, sponsored by Graphico, and supported by Springboard.
• Peter Ambrose, HR Manager, Hotel Services at P&O Stena Line for Excellence in Training and Development, sponsored by The Savoy Educational Trust
• Paula King, HR Director at The Royal Garden Hotel & Sara Edwards, HR Director at Claridge’s for Excellence in Human Resources, sponsored by Croner@CCH

The HCPTA Special Achievement Award went to John Stauss General Manager & Vice President, Four Seasons Hotel, London

Act Two was a superb dinner continuing the theatrical motif with an overture of appropriate canapés and a finale of ‘artist’s palette of desserts’. Act Three saw the assembled company celebrating and dancing and the final curtain coming down well past midnight.

The Chair and Committee of HCPTA wish to thank all those who made the evening such a success. Special appreciation to the Award sponsors - Quest Elite; Graphic; Savoy Educational Trust and Croner@CCH - without whom nothing would be possible, and to the Award supporters - Caterer & Hotelkeeper and Springboard. A particular round of applause also for the five recent graduates from the London Studio Centre whose theatrical talents created the setting in which the hospitality HR stars could shine so brightly.

HCPTA Awards Dinner is a firm fixture in the calendar of the hospitality industry in London and plans are already in hand for next year, so there will certainly be an encore in summer 2003.

HCPTA is a London-based industry forum consisting of over 250 HR professionals in the UK’s leading hospitality companies.