Department of Trade and Industry, UK, Industry Forum Adaptation Programme

A study of International Best Practice in Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Businesses

An 18 month collaborative research study to identify International Best Practices in the tourism, hospitality and leisure sector.  The Study was undertaken for the Best Practice Forum by Hospitality and Leisure Manpower working in partnerships with a multi-disciplinary team of 12 research staff, supported by two full-time research officers from the Centre for Hospitality Industry Productivity Research (CHIPR) at the University of Surrey.  The study resulted in 2,000 transcripts of interviews with Best Practice employers; 150 details case studies of different businesses, and nine separate Best Practice Reports:  a tenth report identified the key drivers of productivity and business performance in the tourism, hospitality and leisure sector.  The resulting report, ‘Raising Your Game’ was launched in 2003 by the, then, UK Tourism Minister, Dr Kim Howells MP.

Budget: £350,000

Department of Trade and Industry, Small Business Service Phoenix Fund

Networking for Productivity

A capacity building project has been taken forward with 197 support agencies, including Regional Tourist Boards, Supply Chain Partnerships, such as Regional Food Producers, and 50 local employer networks and clusters.  The aim has been to strengthen their ability to deliver sector specific business advice.  In partnership with the Centre for Enterprise and the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies, this has included laying the foundations for a sector network of 60 accredited Business Coaches who, to date, have delivered over 22,000 hours of business support.  An extension project ‘Extending Regional Hospitality’ in the West Midlands has involved 50 hotels and restaurants working with 15 local food and drink producers, to create a regional supply chain partnership to increase the sale of locally produced food and drink in local hotels and restaurants.

Budget: £145,000

Department of Trade and Industry, UK, Industry Forum Adaptation Programme

Closing the Gap

Work on a five year study to assess the productivity gap in the UK Tourism Industry is currently being concluded in Hospitality and Leisure Manpower working in partnership with the Judge Institute at Cambridge University, Cranfield University and London Economics.  This has included extensive desk research, field research and benchmarking work with over 1,100 SME businesses in the tourism, hospitality and leisure sector.  Quantifiable business benefits (outputs) which SMEs in the sector have derived from a range of best practice enablers (inputs) have been identified and assessed in terms of the impact which each has made in raising levels of service quality, productivity and business performance.  The results of the study will be published in the first of a series of annual ‘Closing the Gap’ reports during the autumn of 2007.

Budget: £136,000

Faílte Ireland, Optimus Impact Assessment Study

A Study of International Best Practice in Ireland

Hospitality and Leisure Manpower was commissioned by Faílte Ireland the Irish State Tourism Development Agency, to undertake on behalf of the Best Practice Forum, an independent study of Best Practice in Ireland’s Tourism Industry.  This included an assessment of the impact made by Faílte Ireland’s Optimus programme.  Optimus is an innovative, multi-tiered, programme to help tourism businesses become more profitable, more efficient and more competitive.  The three levels of the Optimus programme are the Ireland’s Best Award; Mark of Best Practice and Award of Excellence. Over 50 tourism businesses in Ireland were involved in the study over a three month period and a final project report was published in June 2006.

Budget £15,700

North West Regional Development Agency and European Regional Development Fund, North West Beacon Businesses

Profit Through Productivity

Hospitality and Leisure Manpower is, over two years, managing the delivery of the Best Practice Forum’s ‘Profit Through Productivity’ programme across the North West of England. One hundred and sixty tourism businesses will benefit from a comprehensive business support programme including benchmarking, best practice workshops and visits and one-to-one ‘in the business’ support from tourism sector specialists. The programme will disseminate best practice among tourism employers and is focused on improving productivity and profitability. This ‘Profit Through Productivity’ programme, which is backed by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), the North West Tourist Boards, the British Hospitality Association and the European Regional Development Fund, was launched in June 2006 and form the key strand of the NWDA ‘Beacon Business’ programme.

Budget: £718,000

Yorkshire Forward and Business Link York and North Yorkshire

Excellence Through People

Yorkshire Forward, with Business Link York and North Yorkshire (BLYNY), and supported by Yorkshire Tourist Board, has recently contracted with HALM to manage the delivery of a third successive business support programme in the region. In the programme, during 2004 – 2005, some 63 North Yorkshire tourism and hospitality businesses were recruited by HALM from an original target of 50, and the activities with businesses included:  benchmarking workshops; action planning; business coaching and sales, marketing and skills development workshops.  An independent project evaluation carried out for Yorkshire Forward / Business Link by QED Consultants in September 2005 stated:  “Business Link York and North Yorkshire (BLYNY) is extremely pleased with the project and its achievements … BLYNY was also complimentary about the overall project management … the ability of HALM to effectively manage this project ... has its foundation in sound and robust systems and processes.”

Budget: £160,000

The Department of Trade and Industry

Performance Improvement Partnerships

HALM with further backing from the DTI has helped employers and employees work together to improve skills in problem solving, team working and innovation. In one such partnership programme with 618 employees in 54 hotels, five performance targets set for the partnership were all achieved bettered within 10 months – well ahead of the 18 month deadline.  Customer satisfaction was up 255, productivity increased by 7%, spend per head rose by 6% and staff turnover and absenteeism fell in participating hotels by 13%.  This work for the Best Practice Forum by HALM was recognised in 2004 by a National Training Award.

Budget: £250,000