March 2013

Wi-Fi is now free in seven of our Holiday Inn Express hotels

We are delighted to announce that guests at seven of our Holiday Inn Express properties can now enjoy free Wi-Fi access throughout the hotel*.

We've extended our free Wi-Fi so that it's now no longer limited to the lounge, and can be used in guestrooms too! One code per bedroom will be issued, allowing access for one device for the length of your stay. Anyone who wished to use multiple devices or needs a greater bandwidth can purchase our Enhanced Access from just £5 for 24 hours.

Guests can now enjoy free Wi-Fi at our Holiday Inn Express hotels in Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Luton Airport, Northampton, Newcastle and Swindon.

*Terms and conditions apply.

Annual Awards ceremony recognises outstanding hotel teams and individuals

For the third consecutive year, Hampton by Hilton Liverpool City Centre played host to over 180 specially-invited guests who were attended the Somerston Hotels Annual Awards at a nearby venue. The event, held on March1st recognised outstanding achievements in all areas of our business, from Training to Food & Beverage and Sales. Each hotels' Employee of the Year was recognised on stage and the overall company Employee of the Year was announced as Charlene Kelly of Holiday Inn Express Edinburgh - Waterfront.

We're delighted to announce the winners as:

Central Support Employee of the Year - Rebecca Kennedy

Health & Safety Hotel of the Year Runner-Up - Holiday Inn Express Taunton

Health & Safety Hotel of the Year - Holiday Inn Express Newport

Contract Housekeeping Team of the Year - Holiday Inn Express Swansea - West

Sales Hotel of the Year - Holiday Inn Express London Greenwich

Training & Development Hotel of the Year - Holiday Inn Express Exeter

Food & Beverage Hotel of the Year - Holiday Inn Express Exeter

Guest Experience Hotel of the Year - Hampton by Hilton Liverpool City Centre

Deputy General Manager of the Year - Kerrie Hurley, Holiday Inn Express Bedford (now General Manager at Holiday Inn Express Cambridge)

Wellbeing Award - Andrew Leonard, Holiday Inn Express Edinburgh - Waterfront

Hotel of the Year - Holiday Inn Express Newport

General Manager of the Year - Derek Ramsay, Holiday Inn Express Bedford & Holiday Inn Express Milton Keynes

Employee of the Year 2nd Runner-Up - Kelsie Clintworth, Hampton by Hilton Liverpool City Centre

Employee of the Year Runner-Up - Diana Tysoe, Holiday Inn Express Bedford

Employee of the Year - Charlene Kelly, Holiday Inn Express Edinburgh - Waterfront

Visit our Annual Awards page on Facebook for even more coverage.

December 2012

Award-winning performance from Somerston's hotels

While attend IHG's European Conference in Dublin, Somerston's hotels and team were recognised with a fantastic five awards. Three hotels, our Holiday Inn Express properties in Swansea, Newport and Droitwich, won prestigious Quality Excellence Award, celebrating the exemplary service they provide to their guests day in, day out. Our Sales Team won the Best Sales Contribution for their best-in-class performance and ongoing collaboration with their colleagues at IHG. Our Holiday Inn Express Lincoln City Centre was shortlisted for the Hotel of the Year. Finally, we were thrilled that our very own Fiona Frawley, won the coveted Holiday Inn Express General Manager of the Year beating competitions from across Europe.

Christmas comes early at Holiday Inn Express Bristol - North

Guests at our Bristol hotel are welcoming in the Festive Season with an even better hotel experience. We've upgraded our televisions and every guestroom is now equipped with a 32-inch LED flatscreen, with Freeview.

November 2012

Holiday Inn Express payment card for SMEs launches

After extensive planning and preparation we are delighted to announce the launch of BusinessAccount - a simple payment system with great benefits for companies and employees. BusinessAccount works just like a payment card, but costs nothing to run. It lets you book and pay for hotel stays using just one card, then pay in one monthly direct debit. It also gives you the convenience of managing your account online.

Benefits of BusinessAccount:

• Easy booking, check-in and payment
• One simple monthly bill
• Keep all your existing relationships and negotiated rates with our hotels
• Get up-to-date statements and management reports online
• Hold a single card centrally or multiple cards with individual credit limits
• Free up time spent verifying expenses
• Use at all participating UK InterContinental Hotel Group properties including all of Somerston's 32 Holiday Inn Express hotels

If you're an existing client, or you are keen to learn more about BusinessAccount and corporate rates at Somerston's hotels, please contact our Corporate Sales team today!

October 2012

Three Quality Excellence Awards for Somerston's Holiday Inn Express hotels

We are delighted to announce that Holiday Inn Express Newport, Holiday Inn Express Droitwich (West Midlands) and Holiday Inn Express Swansea have each won a coveted Quality Excellence Award at the IHG Hotel Star Awards.

A Quality Excellence Award recognises hotels which have demonstrated 12-months of consistently high customer service and quality scores in guest satisfaction surveys and are given to only a small number of hotels across Europe. 

The awards themselves will be presented at a ceremony in Dublin in November.

Somerston shortlisted for three major awards at IHG Hotel Star Awards 2012.

Somerston's team will be waited with baited breath for the announcement of three major awards at the IHG Hotel Star Awards this November. We are honoured to have nominees shortlisted in three separate categories.

Fiona Frawley, General Manager at Holiday Inn Express Birmingham Oldbury, is shortlisted in the Holiday Inn Express General Manager of the Year award and will face competiton from nominees from Italy, Germany and the UK.

Holiday Inn Express Lincoln City Centre is one of three hotels shortlisted for the Holiday Inn Express Hotel of the Year. To be shortlisted in this category is a wonderful achievement as our hotel is competing against every European Holiday Inn Express.

Finally, Somerston's Sales Team continue their fantastic run of success and have been shortlisted for the Best Sales Contribution Award. This is in addition to their nomination in the forthcoming National Sales Awards.

We wish all the nominees the best of luck for the ceremony and congratulate them on their achievement.

Making moves in mobile technology

Lesley-Ann Cardow, Group Marketing Manager at Somerston, was recently invited to speak at the Glasgow For Business Week. Lesley-Ann was invited to give a client-side insight into making mobile websites, having recently moved each of our Holiday Inn Express websites onto a new platform which allows the sites to adapt and change what is displayed on different technology.

To learn more about the session, visit our web developer Alienation Digital's blog.