Congratulations to all of the businesses and individuals that have made it onto the shortlists for the Hotel Cateys, and commiserations to all those that weren't successful on this occasion.
At this point, it's customary to point to the number, and the strength, of the entries we received, and I don't intend to break with tradition. We were thrilled with the industry's response to these, the first Hotel Cateys awards; and thrilled, too, by the high quality of many of the entries. Believe me, there were far more success stories in our mountain of entries, than we had space for on our shortlists.
In case you still aren't clear on the relationship between the Hotel Cateys and the main Catey awards, which celebrate their twenty fifth anniversary in 2008, here's a quick explanation.
The Cateys are our flagship awards, and exist to recognise and applaud excellence at the highest level of all sectors of the hospitality industry. They allow us to showcase, for instance, the best chef, manager and hotel of the year. What they cannot do, however, is reward the individuals and teams whose hard work underpins these chefs, managers and hotels.
That is why we have launched the Hotel Cateys, as a complementary award to the main Cateys. By focussing on the core skills of the hotel industry - front of house, housekeeping, F&B - the Hotel Cateys enable us to reward success at a whole new level of operational expertise.
Look out for news of other sector Cateys in future.