Letters
Why I won't join a consortium…
As an independent hotelier, I found the Multiple Choices feature about hotel consortia (Caterer, 15 February, page 31) of great interest, but one vital element was missing - the inability or unwillingness of some consortia to commit to specific levels of business for a hotel.
My company is looking forward to opening the Brigstow, a 117-bedroom, contemporary waterfront hotel in Bristol this summer, and the initial appeal of a consortium was obvious. However, after a great deal of time spent in discussion with one consortium in particular, it became clear that I was expected to part with many thousands of pounds in joining fees and membership fees, brand my hotel and then pay even more thousands of pounds for business generated.
Par for the course, you may think? Perhaps, but surely not when commissions were to be paid on business that was not even generated by the consortium but on my total rooms revenue.
I am obviously naïve because, when I requested some form of performance guarantee in exchange for this massive commitment, I was looked at as if I had recently arrived from another planet.
Having joined Fuller's from a mainstream hotel chain background (Granada, Thistle, Holiday Inn), I fully appreciate the value of a brand association, but it cannot be a one-sided arrangement.
Your article correctly states that all consortia are fighting for members, which may well be the reason membership levels have remained static in recent years. Fighting on behalf of members might prove more beneficial for all parties and encourage disenchanted hoteliers such as myself to revisit the idea of consortium membership.
Justin Huber, Operations Manager, Hotels Division, Fuller Smith & Turner
…but the benefits of membership are considerable
Your article Multiple Choices did not give sufficient credit to the indispensable role that consortia play in allowing the smaller independent hotel to compete alongside the vast marketing budgets of group-financed hotels.
Calcot Manor has been a member of Pride of Britain for 15 years and our fee is more than justified by the success the consortium has achieved on our behalf in the USA alone. As a member of Pride of Britain, the details of my hotel are distributed every year to 25,000 targeted travel agents. I benefit from an association with the prestigious travel group Virtuoso, and the use of a dedicated USA reservation office. The cost of undertaking these three marketing activities alone, as an independent hotel, would exceed a figure three times my annual membership fee to Pride of Britain.
In the UK my hotel appears in the Pride of Britain directory and a twice-yearly consumer magazine, which enjoy a combined distribution to 150,000 known hotel users. I can make use of the services of a dedicated PR agent (whose activity has already paid my membership fee this year), and I benefit from cross-promotion and referral from 32 of the country's best hotels (and a luxury boat and train).
I could go on to tell you about the coverage Pride of Britain gives me in Europe, on the GDS, the Internet and in the UK travel trade, and refer to the purchasing benefits that the consortium has provided, but I hope my point is clear.
Richard Ball, Managing Director, Calcot Manor, and Chairman, Pride of Britain Hotels
Success follows pain for the Forte empire
I was struck by the interesting article on RF Hotels (Caterer, 22 February, page 34) because, despite the widely held opinion that the City never understands our industry, it does in this case appear to have produced the most appropriate outcome.
The Forte empire had run out of steam by the time Granada took over. Rocco Forte was clearly much more comfortable running international luxury hotels than Little Chefs, MSAs or mid-market hotels. His company was too broad-based to offer the excellence which the market - and the City - requires for success. Cash was vacuumed from mainstream operations to support the prestige operations. This was unsustainable financially, and Forte was taken over with the blessings of the City. At the time there was outcry across the industry - loss of jobs, asset stripping, short-termism.
But what is the judgement now? Little Chef, Travelodge, Welcome Break, et al, have received investment and refocus from their new management teams and are far more successful. The Forte hotel businesses are being transferred into what is likely to be dedicated hotel company ownership, having been re-segmented and repositioned.
As for the aggrieved Forte family, they have realised the value of their investments and, having swallowed more than a little pride, Rocco Forte is doing what he really wanted to do all along. RF Hotels will surely be a roaring success.
Keith Pringle, Managing Consultant, The Keith Pringle Consultancy, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands
Big Boys still need us
I have worked as a sales executive for a fruiterer for about eight years and have become quite dismayed at the way the industry is going.
We are a small, family-run business that is committed to providing the best service and quality produce.
I am always striving for new customers, but these days I am always coming up against the "Big Boys", the larger companies that can supply nationwide and give head offices retrospective discounts.
This is all well and good if the chef is happy, but I find that a lot of caterers have to accept inferior produce just because someone, somewhere is happy with the figures. But what amazes me most is that these large companies often call us up and ask us to do emergency deliveries for them.
Far from being able to deliver on a national basis to secure large contracts, they are really just relying on companies like ourselves to get them out of trouble if they cannot cope with the size of a particular contract.
Mandy O'Sullivan, Sales Executive, Hallows Fruiterers
