Caterer letters

Tailored help at hand in inhospitable fuels The good news for Best Western senior purchasing executive Chris Arnold ("Beacon gives warning of rising utility prices", Caterer, 20 March) is that industry-specific energy conservation help is at hand to combat the threat of higher fuel prices - in the form of the HCIMA's Government-backed Hospitable Climates programme has seen the combined cumulative energy savings, made by nearly 2,600 participants in the scheme, exceed £12m.

This suggests that, for every pound of public money spent, Hospitable Climates has saved one tonne of carbon dioxide - making a significant contribution towards fulfilling the Government's commitment, made at the 1997 Kyoto environmental summit, to reduce harmful gas emissions.

Accor UK & Ireland Hotels is just one example of a major hotel chain currently benefiting from the programme. Since signing up in late 2001, Accor - which was already doing a lot of work on energy efficiency - has achieved an 8.5% saving on energy consumption for the period January to July 2002, compared with the same period in 2001, as a direct result of following Hospitable Climates' advice.

I therefore urge Chris Arnold to contact us at Hospitable Climates (tel: 020 8661 4932), e-mail us at hospitableclimates@hcima.org.uk, or visit the website at www.hospitableclimates.org.uk.

We can help people like Chris significantly, and it won't cost a penny.

Rosemary Morrison, Director, HCIMA Special Projects (Hospitable Climates), Sutton, Surrey

Throw the (over) book at unthinking GMs

I know that different hotels and groups have their own policies regarding overbooking, but I believe that a standard ought to be laid down somewhere.

I was put into a situation by my general manager when I was working on a late shift recently. We were already overbooked by one room when I had a gentleman turn up saying that he had a booking with us.

There was nothing in the system under his name but he had an e-mail confirmation from a booking agent.

I was going to phone around other hotels in the area to find him another room, but my GM happened to be going past and decided to intervene by saying that it was OK to take the booking and book somebody else out.

I explained that we were already overbooked by one, but he said that it didn't matter and we can be overbooked by a few more.

When I asked him who I should book out, he said I could choose, although he did tell the duty manager who not to book out. He then went home for the day.

I don't think that it's fair on the late receptionist to book someone out whom she/he is unable to contact in advance. The guest will probably arrive after 10.30pm, after a pig of a journey, only to be told that there isn't a room available.

The guest will not be happy and the receptionist will get a lot of grief. And all for £65 to £70 per room per night. Is it worth it?

My question is: what do other hotels do?

Name and address withheld

Give kids the goods and they'll come back

Mark Goldberg of Amark Catering Equipment (Caterer, 20 March) solved one school's need to increase health options by bringing the service in-house. Watford Grammar School solved exactly the same issues by approaching our company, Pride Catering.

Our first step was to observe the students. We wanted to know what they ate when they went out of the school for their lunches. In particular, we looked at their choices when they wanted to eat healthily.

We followed up to find out why they made those choices. The results of our research? Students opt for healthy food when it is interesting, well displayed and fresh.

We applied these principles to the school environment and installed an eye-catching salad and pasta bar. The outcome has gone beyond our expectations - a 30% increase in the number of pupils taking school lunches.

The canteen is packed and there is a real feeling that the students enjoy the food. We have been sent letters from students saying how much they enjoy the transformation, and thanking us for giving them the choice to eat healthily.

Tracy Gibbs, Area director, Pride Catering, Guildford, Surrey

Anthony Harris was an example to us all
It was heartening to hear the homage paid to Anthony Harris by David Michels, and later by Laurie Farr (Caterer, 27 March).

I shared a flat with "Ant" when we were students at Dorset Institute on an HND course in hotel management, so I remember him as a vivacious, talented, Morris Minor-driving, guitar-playing, sports-mad young hotelier.

He got me my first job - as an F&B manager for Thistle Hotels' Royal Scot, where he was front of house manager.

Eventually, I went off to run Cornwall College for many years, and Ant would always be the example why HND students should not feel inferior to degree students. He was a champion of the sandwich programme - study it, then do it.

Having read the biographies of such icons as Hilton, Lyons, Stakis, Joseph, Marriott and Forte, it was tremendously encouraging and motivating for me to talk to my students about a contemporary hero, with a beautiful wife and three lovely kids, who would still rush home to watch the football, and had work-life balance (almost) cracked.

Every so often, this industry is lucky enough to get a visionary, a mover and shaker who is charismatic enough to motivate the next generation of hospitality leaders. Anthony Harris achieved and saw more of life in his 47 years than most people will in several lifetimes.

Vince Falco, Project officer, Cornwall Tourist Board, Truro

Show your dream a new number
We recently asked for anyone who has "followed a dream" - by taking redundancy and opening a restaurant - to get in touch, with the possibility of being featured in a new television documentary series.

Since our letter was published (Caterer, 13 March), our telephone number has changed. The new number is: 020 7013 4394.

Kim Boursnell, RDF Media, London

Never on a Sunday
Forbes Mutch makes reference to his grandfather being a doctor and having no patients in his waiting room on the day the Second World War began (Caterer, 20 March). But war was declared on a Sunday, so it is very unlikely that anyone would have been in his grandfather's surgery anyway.

Bob Sargent, Edinburgh

* I've checked and Dr Mutch was doing house calls that morning - he heard Neville Chamberlain's speech on the wireless in a patient's house. He went on to the next visit but the patient sent him away, as her illness was "no longer important". - Ed.