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!

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.

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.

The firms chosen will also help Nama in its ‘‘interface’’ with borrowers whose loans are transferred to the agency.  The contracts were awarded to companies in Ireland and Britain in recent weeks, following 163 tenders from financial companies.

Amethyst Consulting, headed up by Ronan King, has won the tender to join this list.  Taking a targeted team based approach, Amethyst will use the resources available from PREM Group  and HAMS to help review the business plans on behalf of NAMA.

In an article published online today at insolvencyjournal.ie,  Claire Hartnett talks to Ronan King, chairman of Hotel Asset Management Services (HAMS) and head of the Chartered Accountants Ireland NAMA forum, about how struggling hotels can be managed through the downturn.

“Even before NAMA was set up, we saw the need to manage property assets,” says King. “Hotels are a special breed of property. Unlike normal leases, they’re a mix of property and trading. Location is vital – but understanding your market segments and exploiting these is key.”  Read the full article

HAMS is a joint venture between PREM Group and consulting firm Amethyst – managing properties on a short-to-medium term basis.  Through HAMS we help to stabilise and secure the business with a view to selling the property at an appropriate time in the future.

HAMS has been operating Tulfarris House and Golf Resort since it reopened in April 2009 and in May, it was appointed managing agent to assist the reciever , Grant Thornton , with the  management of the 120 room Clanree Hotel in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.

The new M3 officially opens today, two months ahead of schedule.

The road could cut an hour or more off peak journey times between Dublin and Cavan, making the beautiful county more accessible than ever.  The 60km stretch bypasses the towns of Navan, Kells and Dunshaughlin and the faster access times from Dublin should be a great boost for the regions tourism.  Opening in time for the bank holiday weekend will allow many more people to enjoy the countryside.

The M3 finishes just north of Kells and very close to picturesque Virginia.  The Park Hotel, situated on the banks of Lough Ramor, is in a stunning location, its country house hotel specials make it the perfect escape for a night or two.  Enjoy delicious dining, fine wine and elegant surroundings in this former lodge of the Marquis of Headfort.

Guests planning a cultural visit to any of the Flemish art cities of Bruges, Antwerp, Ghent, Leuven or Mechelen will now be able to download an interactive guide to the smart-phone.  In an exciting project launched by the Flemish Minister of Tourism Geert Bourgeois the first 25,000 downloads of these fantastic city guides are free.

The multilingual walking tours through the cities highlight cultural places of interest and give funny anecdotes on the lives and history of the local people.

The Leuven and Antwerp guides boast three themed routes whilst the guides for the other cities are designed for users who enjoy rambling through the city, uncovering delights as they go.  Currently the guides are available to users with Android phones and can be downloaded from Story Nations.

Since 1971 Brussels has hosted the colourful festival celebrating Belgium’s favourite flower the begonia.  Every two years a stunning carpet of flowers is created honouring a different theme.  This year’s festival will be held between 12th and 15th August and promises to carpet the Grand-Place and surrounding streets with stunning patterns.  Naturally the displays have developed into a festival featuring performances, artists and events.The tradition was officially begun by floral architect E. Stautemans who beloved begonias to be perfect and interest in his work quickly spread.  Each square metre contains around 300 individual flowers and a total of 700,000 flowers will be used this year.

If you are attending the event the Holiday Inn Brussels-Schuman is perfectly located or the city is a perfect day trip from other locations in Belgian.