On Wednesday January 30th a glitzy awards luncheon was held to honour the finalists and announce the winners of the 2008 HRS Hotel Excellence Awards.

The venue, Altitude, which is situated on the 29th floor of the Millbank Tower offered breathtaking views of London as Grant Appleby, Commercial Director of the Hotel Reservation Service (HRS) introduced the awards scheme and praised the high standard of entry received this year.

The HRS Hotel Excellence Awards celebrate hotels that have successfully introduced innovative ideas and as a result have achieved an outstanding and measurable improvement to their hotels business.

The Awards recognise and celebrate best practice in hotels of all sizes and aim to encourage other hotels to adopt similar initiatives to improve their business, thereby making a real contribution to the success and profitability of hotels throughout the UK.

All winners demonstrated excellence and innovation in the way they run their business. The BHA was proud to partner the awards and we offer our congratulations to all finalists and winners.

Awards were presented in eleven categories which included ‘excellence in marketing’, ‘excellence in business management’, ‘excellence in customer service’ and ‘excellence in social responsibility’. They were also split into group and independent hotels.

To find out more about the winners and to view case studies as well as photographs from the awards ceremony please go to the winner’s page of the HRS Awards website which can be found at: www.hrshotelexcellenceawards.co.uk.

To enter the awards next year simply go online and write about your success stories. A criteria for entry can be found at: www.hrshotelexcellenceawards.co.uk/criteria-for-entry.

Photograph: Grant Appleby and Bob Cotton present nitenite city hotel in Birmingham with the award for excellence in innovation.