Cork’s Grande Dame the Imperial Hotel has been honoured with the Irish hospitality industry’s highest accolade at the 33rd annual Hotel & Catering ‘Gold Medal Awards.
The historic hotel located on Cork’s South Mall was announced as the overall ‘Supreme Winner’ at a gala event which is considered to be the ‘Oscars’ of the is the Irish hospitality world. The awards, sponsored by Virgin Media Business, is the leading independent awards programme for the Irish hospitality industry and was held in Galway on Tuesday [31st Jan].
This year’s Gold Medal Awards was hotly contested with judges receiving over 460 entries from across the country. The judging process involves benchmarking against a strict set of criteria and a mystery guest visit to each property to determine the shortlisted finalists in a variety of categories. The ‘Supreme’ award is then chosen following a review of all the winning entries, crowning one hotel as the best of the best.
Accepting the award along with his colleagues General Manager at the Imperial Hotel Bastien Peyraud said, “It is a great feeling to be recognised by industry experts and to be given a chance to showcase what makes Cork so great! We were honoured to be in such esteemed company with so many impressive winning industry peers from around the country. I want to give thanks and credit to our Imperial Family, all the people we work with, our local suppliers, and the Flynn Hotel Collection without whom our success would not be possible”.
It was a truly rewarding night all round as The Imperial also won a silver medal for ‘Ireland’s Guest Experience’, for innovation including the development of guest experience managers, a Director of Welcomes and extra special touches and surprises during the guests stay; a silver award for ‘Ireland’s Hotel Breakfast’ for their gorgeous birdcage breakfasts which are created around ‘waste not want not’; and the Flynn Hotel Collection scooped the gold medal award for ‘Ireland’s Hotel Group’. The Flynn Hotel Collection is made up of 4 unique family heritage properties including the Imperial Hotel Cork, Old Ground Hotel Ennis, Newpark Hotel Kilkenny and Park Hotel Dungarvan, which offers something suitable for every guest.
