Hotel & Catering Personnel & Training Association 11th Annual Awards for Excellence

On the evening of the second day of terrorist attacks in London, guests from the hospitality industry were determined not to allow their celebrations of excellence in human resources to be affected. In full evening dress, many made their way on foot along Piccadilly and Park Lane to the 11th annual Hotel & Catering Personnel & Training Association (HCPTA) Awards for Excellence ball at the Four Seasons Hotel.

In an industry where people make or break a business, these awards recognise the very best practice in human resources management. The winners of the distinctive star-shaped Tiffany trophies and cheques for £500 were:

Excellence by an Operations/Line Manager

Christian Nikles, Front Office Manager for the Park Lane Hotel.

Excellence in Training & Development

June Harvey, Training Manager for contract caterers Bartlett Mitchell.

Excellence in Human Resources (Joint winners)

Christine Henney, Human Resources Manager and the HR Team at the Lowry Hotel, Manchester
Caron Jones, Human Resources Manager and the HR Team at the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh

Establishing Links with Schools, Colleges and Universities

Andrew Bennett, Executive Chef, Park Lane Hotel

Rising Star Award

A new award introduced this year to recognise new talent in the industry was awarded to Jo Gibson, Director of Human Resources, London Marriot West India Quay Hotels and Executive Apartments. Jo’s prize was a Tiffany Star plus management development to the value of £1000 courtesy of learnpurple.

The evening was hosted by HCPTA Chair Judith Owen, Regional Human Resources Director for Le Meridien Hotels andJohn Stauss, Regional Vice President and General Manager of The Four Seasons. Representatives from the Award sponsors were on hand to help with the presentations – talent retention experts learnpurple, DLA International Law Firm & recruitment firm Quest Elite.

The Awards judging panel consisted of Donald Sloane of Oxford Brookes University; John Stauss, General Manager & Regional Vice-President at The Four Seasons Hotel and recipient of last year’s special award; Marianne Haddow, HR Director Grosvenor House; Carl Smith, Training Manager, Rezidor SAS; Fiona Rassell, Managing Director of Storm Training and Development and former HCPTA Chair; Diana Warren, representing CIPD.

HCPTA is currently a London-based industry forum consisting of over 300 HR professionals in the UK’s leading hospitality companies, however it is due to expand into the North of England in 2005/2006. For general information visit www.hcpta.org or email hcpta@hcpta.org