Described by one journalist as “hotels with substance and wit”, each of our stylish hotels supports our simple but effective philosophy of good quality without all the frills, sensible prices and friendly, knowledgeable service. Founded in 1994 with the first Hotel du Vin in Winchester, the group became an overnight success, attracting critical acclaim in the UK national press and winning numerous awards for its refreshing approach to hospitality.
Over ten years the group has grown to seven hotels in Tunbridge Wells, Bristol, Birmingham, Brighton, Harrogate and most recently Henley-on-Thames. A collection of stylish and unpretentious properties, Hotel du Vin & Bistro strives to be elegant but relaxed, classic yet quirky. Each hotel boasts its own unique location, be it townhouse, brewery, warehouse or renovated hospital, complemented by the unmistakable Hotel du Vin essentials. With a commitment to focus upon what matters most to our guests, and a dedicated team who ensure that quality and friendly, unstuffy service are at the heart of what ever we do.
Hotel du Vin’s success has in the whole been due to the excellence and professionalism of its people, which in turn have been motivated through a strong team spirit, friendly, family working environment and shared passion for their work and the business as a whole. Being part of an award winning group, which has actively promoted from within and encourages individuals to grow within the company, has provided the best kind of incentive to retain and develop its team. Indeed, six out of the current seven General Managers are ‘home-grown’.
Training and coaching programmes, implemented early on in the group’s growth and that have evolved and changed as the business needs dictated, have ensured that the team are given every opportunity to develop their skills. In addition, employees are able to take advantage of the growing number of interesting geographical locations of the group’s hotels, by moving between hotels to further their training and now consider working for our sister group Malmaison Hotels by offering an Exchange Program, Internal vacancy list, placement program and opportunities to go and work at a new opening.
An especially important part of the company’s success when opening a new hotel, is a core team of experienced employees are integrated with new people in order to continue the Hotel du Vin ethos that has become so successful, a strategy that will become increasingly important and challenging with the forthcoming planned expansion of the group.
Future people developments include work we are doing at the time of going to print to improve our pension schemes and flexible benefits packages to suit employees’ needs. Work is underway to maximise our incentive programs so more people benefit from them and we are keen to improve our support services such as chiropody to ensure employees are comfortable and relaxed in their workplace. We are also just launching discount schemes for all with large national high street providers to thank our people for working at Hotel du Vin
We are keen to be an employer of choice, attracting the best candidates and retaining them for a longer period. Consequently, jobs are offered on merit, not length of service or age. Once individuals are employed with us opportunities to progress are based on performance and ability. We are proud to have some of the youngest General Managers in the industry and a high number of Acorn Award winners working for us. We work very hard to build strong relationships between the hotel team and the managers to ensure employees are happy and cared for in their workplace. In October we are introducing a new appraisal process to give people the chance to log & discuss their strengths, successes, development needs and career aspirations with their line manager, we can then capture that and put together tailored plans for each individual to help them grow further .
All this will help us continue to be the best place to work!
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