The Editor's Hospitality Blog

Congratulations to everyone at the British Hospitality Association, which this afternoon marks its centenary year with a celebratory lunch at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.

For our part, we have marked the occasion by inviting BHA Chief Executive, Bob Cotton, to guest-edit Caterer and Hotelkeeper this week. Bob's issue hits the news stand tomorrow, and is as thought-provoking as you would expect from a man known for his stongly-held opinions.

I'm going along to today's lunch, and I'll report back on what goes on later on.

Some 1200 captains of industry turned out at this afternoon's BHA centenary lunch at the Grosvenor House Hotel on London's Park Lane - and I got the first name-check of the event!

Opening the event in front of a packed house, BHA Chief Executive, Bob Cotton said, "now I know how Mark Lewis feels when he opens the Cateys!" Bob went on to point out that the BHA lunch was taking place on the very day that power at No 10 passed from Tony Blair to Gordon Brown, meaning that, for a few hours at least, no one in government was formally responsible for regulating the hospitality industry. (Bob later went on to make a plea to "leave us alone and stop trying to regulate hospitality more and more").

The guest list read like a who's-who of the industry. My table alone boasted such luminaries as One Aldych supremo Gordon Campbell Gray, Jeremy Goring of the Goring Hotel and Regent Inns executive chairman, Bob Ivell. There was a very complimentary name-check for Jeremy Goring's hotel later on in the afternoon, to which Jeremy responded by punching the air and whispering "get in there!" to me.

The afternoon's two guest speakers were Sir Rocco Forte and Sir David Michels - who were introduced as "two young men with promising careers ahead of them". In his speech, Sir Rocco questioned the hotel industry's increasingly short-termist, money-oriented approach. He stressed the value of continuity, dedication, nurturing your staff and treating the customer as king.

My favourite tale of the day? Gordon Campbell Gray's admission that when he was in Antigua overseeing the development and launch of his Carlisle Bay resort, the task was so all-consuming, and at times such an uphill battle, that when Christmas Day came, he holed up in his room alone and ate a whole box of Quality Street.

Finally, well done to the Grosvenor House - it can't be easy catering for such a vast number of hospitality bigwigs, and for the record I thought the food was enjoyable and the service professional.

Tomorrow night is Cateys night, when we celebrate the best chefs, hoteliers and restaurateurs in the land; I'll be off home to practice my opening speech in the mirror after I write this posting.

It's a long, hard road to Cateys night. The judging process alone involves three full days of back to back judging sessions at the Grosvenor House Hotel, at which more than a hundred industry experts help us establish another roster of winners. Then there are meetings with the designers responsible for the look and feel of the night, trips up to the Grosvenor House to discuss table plans, seating and menus, discussions with sponsors about their role on the night, conference calls with guest presenters ...

The 2007 Cateys awards are over, and once again I'm left with a roster of worthy winners, a hatful of memories and a sore head.

If you were there, I hope you had a great time. If you weren't, here, in no particular order, are just a few of my highs and lows from the night.

* I'm always amazed by how many people are involved in pulling together an awards function. As I arrived in the Great Room, mid-afternoon, a swarm of staff and technicians were setting tables, ironing tablecloths, rigging lights, hanging light curtains, even painting walls. The faces of the guys responsible for building the tower of champagne glasses were a picture of concentration.

* Sabrage isn't an easy art to master: just as guests began to drift in for pre-dinner drinks, a hapless Grosvenor House staffer managed to total a whole bottle while trying to lop off its neck with a sword.

* The Grosvenor House Hotel is looking well. I had a suite upstairs, lucky me, and the makeover has resulted in really welcoming guest rooms, and a lobby area that works well.

* Guest presenter, Dara Ó Briain, was great company during the soundcheck in the afternoon. he told me about some of his worst experiences of presenting events, including one bash where every table was festooned with balloons at eye-level - "I felt like I was telling gags to a roomful of ballonheads, and they could only see me from the waist down." During the Cateys, he described the difficulties of presenting in the round (this year's Cateys were conducted on a circular stage in the centre of the Great Room). It's a great format, he said, "because it means half of you get to see my arse at any given moment".

* Radio mikes should be treated with extreme caution. My hands-free headset mike sounded like a good idea, but its tendency to cut out through my opening speech left people comparing me to R2-D2, a Dalek and Norman Collier.

* Great food, as usual, from the team at the Grosvenor House. Marcus Wareing called the veal main course the best he had ever tasted at a Cateys night.

* Cigar-smoking Richard Shepherd doesn't approve of the smoking law, as became abundantly clear in the lively conversation at our table over dinner.

* Congratulations to Yo! Sushi's Robin Rowland for the most vigorous celebration of the night - brandishing his statue in the air, he reminded me of Sir Bobby Moore holding the World Cup aloft in '66.

* The most touching moment? Richard Shepherd's bearhug with Terry Holmes, after Terry had announced he was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement award. Richard's standing ovation from the audience was also a bit special.

* Chef Director at Lexington Catering, Rob Kirby's five o'clock shadow almost took the skin off my face when he gave me a great big kiss at end of the night.

* Best dressed guest? Clearly Simon Woodroffe (check out next week's Caterer for photo).