Congratulations to the team at Leopold Hotel Sheffield who have been shortlisted for the Large Hotel of the Year category of the Yorkshire White Rose Awards.

Celebrating excellence in the tourism industry, the White Rose Awards are Yorkshires most prestigious hospitality awards.  Judges will be conducting mystery guest visits to all shortlisted hotels over the coming weeks and the annual award ceremony this year takes place on Monday 4th October at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate.

Building on the success of last years event, there were a record number of entrants for the 2010 awards and some stiff competition for these tourism Oscars.  Best of luck to all at the Leopold Hotel Sheffield we know you can do it.

It has been announced the Ramada Plaza Liège are the proud winners of the Zoover Best Liège Hotel Award 2010!

Zoover is Europe’s largest independent travel review site, drawing users from across the world to give their views on hotels, guesthouses and every other style of accommodation provider.  Reviewers are all individuals who have stayed at the property and the awards can be seen as a great indicator of the travelling public’s independent assessments.  Awards are made in 40 countries across 14 category ranges.

Congratulations to Louis and all the team at the Ramada Plaza Liege on this well deserved award - keep up the great work!

Paul McCann of Grant Thorntonhas today been appointed as receiver and manager to the company Naas Developments Limited, trading as the Osprey Hotel and Spa.

The receiver has been put in place by Allied Irish Bank plc.

Mr. Paul McCann has appointed Hotel Asset Management Services Limited (HAMS) as operator to continue trading the business as a going concern. HAMS in turn will avail of PREM Groups hotel management services to assist with the running of this hotel .

The core business consists of The Osprey Hotel, Conference Centre, Leisure Centre & Spa as well as the well known ‘TIME’ nightclub.

Approximately 150 people are employed within the business including 70 full time staff.

Further to the article in the Irish Times today, the following is an update on Premier Hotels Limited:

Premier Hotels Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arago Investments Limited. Arago trades as and is more commonly known as the PREM Group.

Arago Investments comprises a number of subsidiary companies which operate hotels in Ireland, the UK , Belgium and France. Premier Hotels is one such company and trades as the Days Hotel, Dublin Airport .

Premier Hotels has been in discussion with the owners of Days Hotel, Dublin Airport with a view to securing a rent agreement that is reflective of the market conditions that have emerged over the past two years. These discussions were the last in a series of individual negotiations with property owners. All other negotiations were concluded successfully.

However, in the case of Days Hotel, Dublin Airport, a satisfactory outcome was not achieved and a decision has been taken to cease our management of this property. This decision is aligned with our strategy to match our business to the new and emerging market opportunities for our services.

Consequently, the Directors of the company, Premier Hotels Limited , have decided to wind up the affairs of the company by way of a Creditors Voluntary Liquidation.

We are working closely with the owners of the Days Hotel, Dublin Airport to ensure a smooth transition. The hotel will continue to operate and we understand that there will be no impact on staff.

Days Hotel, Dublin Airport is the only property managed by Premier Hotels. No other property or any of the other Group Companies are affected by this decision.

Peter Crauwels, General Manager of Holiday Inn Hasselt and Express by Holiday Inn Hasselt will be running in the “12th In Flanders Fields Marathon this September”.  The 42,2km route runs from Nieuwpoort over Diksmuide to Leper on 12th September 2010.

Our hotels has a long association with Beyond the Moon and Peter will also be raising money to support their work.  Beyond the Moon offers children suffering from life threatening disease and their families the opportunity to spend valuable quality time together and enjoy memorable cost-free and carefree vaction in a child friendly environment away from hospitals and daily treatments.

For details how to sponsor Peter and track his progress visit his Run for Beyond the Moon group on Facebook.