Thwaites Hotels & Spas is celebrating after being named the top hotel group in the country. The chain of six hotels was presented with the AA Hotel Group of the Year 2016-17 Award at a prestigious ceremony in London.
The award is presented in recognition of the hotel group that has a proven track record of striving to ensure the very best levels of service, food and accommodation across the range of properties.
It is the second time the Thwaites-owned hotels have won the award, which is a feat only achieved by a small handful of hotel operators.
Chief Executive Officer at Thwaites, Rick Bailey, said, 'I am incredibly proud that our Hotels & Spas have won this award for a second time. It shows that sustained investment and consistently providing great hospitality over a long time is a simple formula for success.
'The reason we remain a popular choice for leisure and business travellers alike is the fantastic warm welcome and hospitality our incredible teams deliver time and again, together with their fanatical attention to detail to create amazing experiences for our guests. Without them this award would not be possible and I would like to thank them all for this outstanding achievement.'
To help decide the winner, judges looked at the attention to detail made by the hotel group along with the commitment and approach to future development.
Stephen Wilkinson, Area Manager, AA Hotel & Hospitality Services, said, 'Thwaites Hotels consistently deliver an enjoyable guest experience across their hotels with staff providing a warm and friendly welcome. This success is down to their belief in investing time and effort into training the team. Investment across the hotels continues which has seen the quality and provision meet the demands of the modern traveller.'
Thwaites have six hotel properties Thorpe Park Hotel & Spa in Leeds; Cottons Hotel & Spa, Knutsford; North Lakes Hotel & Spa, Penrith; Solent Hotel & Spa, near Southampton; Aztec Hotel & Spa, Bristol; and Kettering Park Hotel & Spa, Northamptonshire. They were recently brought under the Thwaites brand, with the company's Inns of Character, after previously being known as Shire Hotels.
Explaining the change to the brand, Rick Bailey explained: 'It was the ideal way for us to bring clarity and simplicity to our brand. Our customers won't notice any difference when they visit our hotels, inns or lodges as we are not changing the guest experience. However we are creating a unified platform to sell our services, with a new website being launched next month.'