Jim Murphy - PREM Group’s Managing Director

Hotel Gift Vouchers - The Perfect Gift

PREM Group have just launched a new website www.hotelgiftvouchers.com .

Hotel Gift Vouchers are the perfect gift no matter what the occasion!

They can be redeemed at over 40 hotels and serviced apartments in Ireland, England, Belgium and France, offering a great choice of destinations and hotel brands for that special some-one.

You can choose to have them delivered by post, or by e-mail in the form of an e-voucher.

Available in either euro or pounds sterling, they can be purchased in denominations of €20 and €50, and £20 and £50

Simply present your voucher(s) at your chosen hotel upon check in to redeem. For more information visit www.hotelgiftvouchers.com

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 30. November 2009 at 14:48 pm | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

PREM Group restructuring

On the 27th August 2009 my BLOG post announced that the senior manager’s in PREM Group had acquired Paddy Kelly’s majority shareholding in PREM’s hotel business . While this acquisition only applies to the hotel business , there is a number of ,non related , company’s that Paddy was involved in that unfortunately are under pressure . One of those company’s was Premier Hotels Management ltd which ran a number of office buildings and in which Paddy held a 81% stake . The serviced office business has seen huge declines in business over the last 12 months and despite significant work been done to address this decline ,the company had little choice but to start the liquidation process last week .There is no legal connection between Premier Hotels management ltd and Premier Hotels ltd .

We are also working on assigning the Premier Business Centre in Belfast to the landlord this week . Paddy is also an shareholder in this company . We are working through a process of tidying up our non core business in order focus on growing our hotel management company across Europe .For a full list of Hotels and Serviced Apartments that we operate visit www.premgroup.com .

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on at 14:42 pm | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

PREM Group Win Hospitality Diversity Award 2009

The Office of the Minister for Integration funded Diversity Awards highlighting diversity & equality within the Irish Hospitality and Tourism Industry Thursday November 5^th 2009: The Winners in five categories of the Hospitality Diversity Awards were named this evening: · PREM Group won the Hotel (Groups) category· McDonald’s won Restaurants (Chains) category · Aramark Healthcare Catering won the Catering Operations category · Fallons Bar & Café won Restaurants (Individual) category · Crowne Plaza Dublin Northwood won the Hotel (Individual) category This year each was recognised for nurturing a wide diversity of employee and customer backgrounds through structured and meaningful integration strategies and resources within their organisations. The Hospitality Diversity Awards have been funded by the Office of the Minister for Integration, and were developed to recognise and celebrate the initiatives, policies and practices taken by both companies and individuals who have embraced diversity & equality within the Irish Hospitality and Tourism industry. Speaking, on behalf of the Office of the Minister for Integration Diarmuid Cole, Director General said ; “The Minister believes that events like the Hospitality Diversity Awards are an opportunity to reflect on the changes in our society, to exchange ideas on how we should move into the future and of course, to focus on the many positive aspects of the diversity in modern Ireland.” Speaking on behalf of the Equality Authority, Chairperson Angela Kerins added: “It is great to see business take the lead on equality and to practically demonstrate that having services and workplaces that promote equality and ensure that customers’ diverse needs are met makes good business sense. The efforts made by the members of the Irish Hospitality Institute shows their commitment to giving all customers the best service they can offer. The partnership between the Equality Authority and the Irish Hospitality Institute has been very beneficial and we look forward to replicating this work in other sectors”. Also speaking at the awards ceremony was Chief Executive of the Irish Hospitality Institute, Natasha Kinsella, she said: “As an industry that faces economic challenges and business pressures it is even more important to emphasis that investment into Equality & Diversity strategies is a key to survival. Due to the developments of the awards this year and the integration of the 10 Steps guideline which provided a framework for action, evidence within Recruitment & Selection, Induction & Orientation and Training & Development was sought by each panel not alone for employees but also consideration towards the integration of the customer service provisions. Also examined is the wider element of Diversity & Equality of an inclusion programme not just in relation to International workers but evidence of integration of those from minority groups, people with disabilities and local co! mmunity groups. I am delighted to say that it is both the short listed candidates and overall categories winners who demonstrate this and will be recognised here tonight. She also added: “Diversity awards focus on awareness but as a fundamental goal of the overall initiative is to learn from each other’s experiences as well as demonstrating the huge benefits, it is the winners of tonight through their involvement will help us to continue the success of such programmes to encourage others both within & outside the Hospitality sector, emulate this approach.” The Diversity Awards aim to reward cultural integration in recognising the work done to integrate workers from all varied backgrounds and in doing so, showcase the benefits from such initiatives and the examples of best practice for other Irish businesses to follow. All companies who picked up awards did so for the strength they showed in these areas. The overall winners of last year’s Hospitality Diversity Awards Hotel, The Shelbourne Hotel, showed further support by hosting this year’s event.

High Resolution Press Images:

[+] award-032.jpg

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 6. November 2009 at 12:31 pm | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

PREM Group Presented With Beyond the Moon Award

PREM Group have received recognition from our nominated charity Beyond the Moon for our long lasting support . I was delighted to accept , on behalf of the PREM team , a Bronze award to acknowledge the 10 families that we have sent on a holiday of a lifetime . We have been working with Beyond the Moon since 2006 . We participate in the “Change for Children”collection box programme and have organised several fundraisers over the past few years . Some of the fundraisers have been Golf outings , quiz nights , marathon runs and donating our Christmas card budget .

BEYOND THE MOON offers children suffering from a life-threatening disease, and their families, the opportunity to spend valuable quality time together and to enjoy a memorable, cost-free and carefree vacation in a child-friendly environment far away from hospitals and daily treatments. We are honoured to be part of this wonderful charity . For more information go to www.beyondthemoon.org .

High Resolution Press Images:

[+] bronze-award.jpg

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 5. November 2009 at 17:10 pm | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

Some Funny Complaints

When working in the hospitality business one of the first things you learnt is how to deal with customer complaints .Most of the time complaints are genuine and are dealt with in a sympathetic and professional manner . But sometimes the complaints are so outlandish there really is very little an operator can do . The following list comes from Sunshine.co.uk an independent online travel agent based in the UK .

One lady’s plane journey was a disappointment because the sky was too cloudy; obstructing both her and her children’s view of the sea and ruining their plans for eye-spy.

Having landed at the airport in Portugal from Cardiff, one complaint was made from a family who had not been told that it would be so sunny and therefore they were too ‘hot and sweaty’ in their travel clothes.

When collecting suitcases from the airport conveyor belt, a gentleman was annoyed that so many other people also had plain black suitcases and he could therefore not distinguish which case was his.

Most people are eager for the travelling to end and the holiday to begin, but for one couple the 20 minute transfer time was worthy of a complaint as they were unable to see the sites of the Island.

When arriving at the hotel and unloading their cases, one lady noticed that her shampoo had leaked over her clothing and then, to her disgust, the hotel provided complimentary shampoo and so the whole incident was very preventable.

During a day trip to a local theme park, one woman complained that the Log Flume ride made her feet wet and that the ice cream from a particular shop melted too quickly in the sun.

Another couple complained about the children’s entertainment at their resort; it was too good and therefore the children did not want to spend any time with mum and dad.

Luckily, for some mum’s and dad’s this means peace and quiet and some sneaky cocktails beside the pool. However, one family claim that they were unaware how strong the cocktails were and ended up a little worse for wear in the early afternoon.

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 22. September 2009 at 07:51 am | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

News from some of our Hotels

|Days Hotel Kilkenny

Declan O’Rourke, Irish singer/songwriter, and his band stayed in the hotel in August. They were performing in the Watergate theatre here in Kilkenny that night.
The Arts festival was held in Kilkenny in August and was the most successful since the festival began 35 years ago. It brought a lot of business into the city and ticket sales were 25% higher than expected.

Premier Apartments Birmingham

Premier Apartments, Birmingham recently celebrated business links with IBM India by inviting all in-house guests and partners working for IBM to a drinks reception on the balcony of the apartments. The event went down incredibly well with virtually all IBM guests in attendance and in an unusual turn of events, the weather even held out for us!!

Premier Apartments Bristol

Bristol is very happy to have had some fantastic high profile booking through its doors since the last newsletter. The last two months has seen bookings from the musicals Annie and Chicago and a continuation of bookings from channel 4. We are now awaiting the arrival of Coronation Streets Curly Watts who is playing a part in We Will Rock You.

We are also pleased with the recent success of our summer party night corporate evening where we had a buffet in an apartment and then went on an historical walk around Bristol’s Harbour Side area. This event has so far gained us a few bookings from two separate companies that attended

Leopold Hotel Sheffield Over the last couple of months we have had celebrity stays from Boyzone, Eoghan Quigg and Agnes Carlsson (singer of recent chart song ‘Release Me’).

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 25. August 2009 at 10:56 am | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

The 10 most brilliant marketing screw up’s

Coors Beer put its slogan, “Turn it loose,” into Spanish, where it was read as “Suffer from diarrhea.”
Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”
Clairol introduced the “Mist Stick”, a curling iron, into German only to find out that “mist” is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the “manure stick.”
When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the U.S., with the beautiful Caucasian baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what’s inside, since most people can’t read.
Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno magazine.
An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market, which promoted the Pope’s visit. Instead of “I saw the Pope” (el Papa), the shirts read “I saw the potato” (la papa).
Pepsi’s “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” translated into “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”, in Chinese.
Frank Perdue’s chicken slogan, “it takes a strong man to make a tender chicken” was translated into Spanish as “it takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate.”
The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as “Ke-kou-ke-la”, meaning “Bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax”, depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent “ko-kou-ko-le”, translating into “happiness in the mouth.”
When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read, “it won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you”. Instead, the company thought that the word “embarazar” (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.”

Even the biggest company’s can screw it up sometimes .

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 13. July 2009 at 09:11 am | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

Premier Apartments Liverpool wins Award for the 2nd time

Premier Apartments Liverpool has won for the second year in succession the Self Catering Award with their local Regional Tourist Body, Mersey Tourism. Once again beating many new Serviced Apartments products in the city and in particular their main 4 star competitor, Staybridge. I want to congratulate Marie Melling and her excellent team at Premier Apartments Liverpool , it is a well deserved award .Last month Premier Apartments Liverpool was selected as the PREM Group property of the year . The reviews continually confirm this locations excellence in Customer Care and a well cared for product and I have no doubt the judging panel reference these reviews.

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 19. June 2009 at 12:13 pm | Filed in General, Prem Group UK | 0 Comments

Premier Apartments Manchester Sales Blitz on Piccadilly Station

The team at Premier Apartments Manchester held a sales blitz in Manchester’s Piccadilly train station last week . The idea was to target travelers who may require accommodation and to raise awareness for the wonderfully product that we have in the city . The day was a great success throwing up a number of good leads . Don’t they all look well turned out ?

High Resolution Press Images:

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Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 16. June 2009 at 11:45 am | Filed in General, Prem Group UK | 0 Comments

PREM Group People & Property Awards

Last year marked the first group wide celebration of the ‘Annual PREM Group People & Property Awards’. This year the group will also be awarding individuals and properties for the excellent customer service and professional performance they provided throughout 2008. While there may not be the opportunity to have everyone come together in the same venue, it doesn’t take away the fact that these awards are an enormous achievement for the individuals, properties and our group as a whole.

The wait is over, the votes have been counted, nominations have been assessed and the judges have made their final decisions! - PREM Group is ready to reveal the 2008 ‘Persons of the Year’ & ‘Property of the year’! So everyone, hold your breaths while we announce the winners…. Benelux & France‘Person of the Year’ awards - individual properties

Catharina Sciortino	Room Maid	Person of the year - Ramada Plaza Liége
Annelies van Eynde	Reservations Clerk	Person of the year - Express by holiday Inn Antwerp
Kelly Van Ranst	Chef de Partie	Person of the year - Holiday Inn Gent Expo
Lieselot De Cock	Reservations Clerk	Person of the year - Ramada Plaza Antwerp
Djesonne Warmoes	Stewarding	Person of the year - Holiday Inn Calais
Kristien Onderdonck	Receptionist	Person of the year - Crowne Plaza Brugge
Neri Charmaine	Room Maid	Person of the year - Express by Holiday Inn
Jonas Vanhove	Waiter	Person of the year - Holiday Inn Hasselt
Marta Sinaga	Room Maid	Person of the year - Express by Holiday Inn Mechelen
Sibrich De Meulemeester	Room Maid	Person of the year - Hotel Astoria Antwerp
Gheorghe Alexandrina	Room Maid	Person of the year - Holiday Inn Brussels Schuman
Kristoffel Verdonckt	Front Office Supervisor	Person of the year - Ramada Ostend
Sarah Joossen	Cook	Person of the year - Carlton Hotel Antwerp

UK‘Person of the Year’ awards - individual properties

Dorel Dvininov	Housekeeper	Person of the year – Premier Apartments Liverpool
Sarah Griffin	Receptionist	Person of the year - Premier Apartments Manchester
Alan Stevens	Accounts Assistant (HO)	Person of the year – Premier Apartments Bristol
Ben Wiltshire	Operations Executive	Person of the year - Premier Apartments Birmingham
Annette Dodds	Operations Executive	Person of the year – Premier Apartments Newcastle
Clare Salt	Reception Manager	Person of the year – Ramada Tamworth
Neville Passarelli	Kitchen Porter	Person of the year – Leopold Hotel Sheffield

Ireland‘Person of the Year’ awards - individual properties

Darien Cullen	PBC Supervisor Suburbs	Person of the year – Premier Business Centres Ireland
Ray Fitzpatrick	Assistant Manager	Person of the year – Days Hotel Kilkenny
Sarah Alexander	Receptionist	Person of the year – Days Hotel Tullamore
John Guilfoyle	Head Porter	Person of the year – Days Hotel Galway
Monika Major	Receptionist	Person of the year – IMI Residence Dublin
Sandra Samsonaite	Receptionist	Person of the year – Premier Suites Dublin
Martina Sormova	Sales Executive	Premier Apartments Sandyford Dublin
Claudia Galaske	Front Office Manager	Person of the year – Days Inn Rathmines Dublin
Mario Massard	Porter	Person of the year – Days Inn Talbot Street Dublin
Louise McClean	Sales Manager	Person of the year – Days Hotel Dublin Airport
Aziz Joudar	Head Chef	Person of the year – Days Hotel Park West

‘Regional Property of the Year’ awardsPREM Group Property of the Year 2008 for Benelux France – Crowne Plaza Hotel BruggePREM Group Property of the Year 2008 for UK – Premier Apartments LiverpoolPREM Group Property of the Year 2008 for Ireland – Days Hotel Park West ‘Overall PREM Group Property of the Year’ award & ‘Regional Person of the Year’ awards These results are remaining a closely guarded secret for the time being. The overall property of the year as well as the individuals who have been awarded person of the year for their region will be surprised over the coming weeks!!! Celebrations will be taking place at each location to recognise the awards so keep an eye on the blog over the coming weeks for updates on what events took place…. and some photos too!

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 17. April 2009 at 11:08 am | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

High Resolution Press Images:

High Resolution Press Images:

|Days Hotel Kilkenny

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