Member Article

New Chair Reigniting Cheshire Hoteliers Association

Paul Bayliss MBE General Manager of Carden Park Hotel was voted in unanimously by the Membership as Chair of their Hoteliers Association. Annie Brown GM of The Park Royal was also voted in as Deputy.

Chairing a Hoteliers Association is a position that Bayliss knows well having lead Manchester’s Hoteliers Association very successfully for two years from 2014-16. He increased membership significantly and helped to enhance the city regions reputation on a national stage including speaking about tourism and hospitality in the Houses of Parliament during his tenure.

On his appointment Bayliss said “it’s a fabulous honour as it was the last time that I was asked and appointed to lead an industry association that encompasses everything we do so well whilst people enjoy and luxuriate themselves.”

“For me Cheshire is absolutely unique as it has some of the very best hotels and resorts large and small in the U.K. Hospitality industry and a rare mix of City Centre and Country properties. Our region is very much seen as the place to go to for leisure and conferencing in pleasant surroundings from our friends in the metropolis’ that we reach out to.”

Having worked in Manchester and as a son of the city of Liverpool Paul also feels it’s also a great opportunity to bring the Hoteliers of the North West to work much closer together to the benefit of hospitality and tourism.

“You hear daily about the growth and new ideas from within hospitality with hotels, bars, recreational spaces being announced all the time. It amazes me why more youngsters don’t see us as the go-to industry if they want to travel the world and rub shoulders with the rich and famous whilst learning to run a dynamic and ever-changing business! There’s no other industry where you’re asked to be critical about how you can exact even more enjoyment on a guest’s experience. For me it’s getting people to understand what we do and where this amazing industry can take you. I genuinely believe we beat every other working environment going when it comes to life changing opportunities.

At the Hoteliers Meeting held at The Story House Chester Bayliss’ spoke about his commitment as Chair centring on supporting Cheshire’s Marketing arm to enhance and improve the Tourism offering so that visitor numbers continue to increase. From a business perspective he pledged to link in to the wide range of world class science and pharmaceutical organisations to the benefit of the membership all of whom require more and more accommodation because of the international business that they attract.

At the top of his agenda however is recognition and reward for a hardworking workforce that spans the whole of Cheshire and thousands of hospitality professionals and of course helping others through charity work for the less fortunate.

“Like most Associations we hold an annual dinner so that our people can get together and let their hair down. This year as part of our commitment to our people we’ve introduced awards that we feel any General Manager in Cheshire can access easily and nominate any member of their team for an award that marks them out as exceptional.

“People love to be told they’re doing a great job or that their efforts are appreciated”.

“Getting dressed up in your best frock or black tie and then attending a Gala Dinner and then knowing you have a chance to win an industry award ahead of an outstanding peer group says a lot about how special this recognition is and we need to do things like this as much as we can.”

The Cheshire Hoteliers Awards Gala Dinner will be held at Carden Park on Friday 13th October 2017 and will be attended by over 300 guests.

“This year were supporting Hospitality Action our industry Charity. We’ve been extremely well supported by our suppliers and we’re planning an amazing evening for everyone”.

“I do hope by really getting the Association members enthused and engaged that it will grow and whilst big brands and large scale properties like our own get lots of exposure it’s the smaller property hotels that can really benefit from the actions of a Hoteliers Association by way of multiplying their ability to access marketing and tourism/ business sales opportunities. There’s also a supplier list that allows Hoteliers to assess their current costs against other suppliers which from my days in Manchester made a significant difference to many when profit margins are so important to everyone.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jo Leah .