The Editor's Hospitality Blog

After months of speculation, Sir Michael Lyons, the man heading up the Lyons Inquiry, gave a detailed account of his proposals for local government funding in Whitehall, London this morning.

Well there was much talk in the his 150-page plus report on place shaping, which Sir Michael believes is an important role for local government in the future.

"The role of local government is not just about providing services, but also working with local businesses to promote the overall economic health of local areas."

But what about a bed tax, something that Caterer has campaigned long and hard against for nearly a year.

We've been waiting for this moment for what seems eternity, but I think we can shout from the rooftops now ... yes "We've won" the fight to stop a bed tax being introduced.

While the long awaited Lyon's report into Local Government left the option of a "Bed Tax" hanging in the wind.... the Government has come out with a firm response dismissing any notion of a bed tax.

Ina statement on the Communities and Local Government website it says:

Tourist taxes

"Sir Michael examines the case for a tourist tax. He concludes that there is not a strong evidence base for the introduction of such a tax. While he puts the case for a consultation on this issue, we are not, therefore, inclined to focus on this area. The Government does not intend to introduce a tourism tax

See the response in full at the Communities and Local Government website

Hospitality professionals wishing to purchase a commercial property or compare the value of their property to current market prices now have an invaluable

new tool at their fingertips, thanks to the launch of the Caterersearch property channel.

On our property homepage, you'll find news of all the latest property deals across the industry, including the latest on Claude Bosi's sale of his two Michelin-starred Ludlow restaurant, Hibiscus.

You'll also find our comprehensive, easily searchable database of properties currently on the market. And you'll be able to sign up for our forthcoming property newswire service, which will ensure you are always first to hear of the latest sites to hit the market.

So, whether you are looking for a riverfronting hotel in France, or a characterful village inn in East Essex, make sure you add our property channel to your favourites bar.

This week, more than a hundred of hospitality's biggest names and brains converged on London's Grosvenor House Hotel to participate in the judging of the 2007 Catey awards.

Michelin-starred chefs rubbed shoulders with public sector caterers, hotel chain supremos mingled with country-house hoteliers. All involved left the hotel with lips firmly sealed - but I can assure you that our judging panels have once again produced a set of winners that will sit well in the pantheon of previous recipients.

Cateys night this year falls on July 3rd, and you'll find the results of every category - including the Lifetime Achievement Award, which is given every three years and was last won by Anton Mosimann in 2004 - here on Caterersearch on the night.

O dear. Just when everything was going so well, I had to go and blot my copybook.

This weekend saw the climax of the 2007 Acorn Awards. For the twenty first time, Caterer and Hotelkeeper celebrated the achievements of thirty high achievers under the age of thirty from across hospitality, first with a day of networking, and then with a more formal awards lunch.

The Acorn weekend was played out against the stunning backdrop of Pennyhill Park Hotel and Spa, whose GM, Julian Tomlin and his team left no stone unturned to ensure that our winners were wonderfully welcomed, magnificently lunched, dined and accommodated.

Given such generosity of spirit on the part of all at Pennyhill Park, one might have thought the least the Caterer editor could do would have been to settle his bill on leaving.

Sadly, in the blur of thank yous and goodbyes after the awards lunch, I managed to negotiate myself through the front door of the hotel, into my car and onto the M3 without troubling the front desk staff.

Apologies have, of course, since been made, and accounts settled. Still, guests, eh? Can't live with them, can't live without them.

I haven't met Bill Marriott, but I have a hunch that if I did, I'd rather like him. Bill is the chairman and CEO of Marriott International, and therefore a very busy man.

He is also 75 years old, and therefore unlikely to have his finger on the pulse of internet technologies. Yet Bill found the time and the inclination to launch his own blog, Marriott on the Move, in January of this year. Go Bill!

True, some of his postings are too syrupy for comfort - witness his Mother's Day posting, Remembrances of Mom, which makes The Waltons seem like a gritty docu-drama - and one can't help imagining there's a team of script writers on hand to ensure he'll never get RSI from hammering the keyboard on his PC. Still, you have to applaud his efforts to communicate with staff and customers around the globe through the medium of web.

Beside a headshot of a perma-tanned, immaculately coiffured Bill, his latest blog describes his company's commitment to social corporate responsibility. As Bill puts it:

I feel it's our company's duty as a good corporate citizen. But we've also found that doing the right thing adds to the bottom line.

He's right, of course. Encouraging employees to take part in activities aimed at protecting the environment and assisting the disadvantaged is a great means of building a positive brand image and a healthy team spirit. Check out Bill's blog to learn more about Marriott's community projects.

Better still, let us know what your business is doing to salve its moral conscience.

In case you haven't heard, this year Caterer and Hotelkeeper launches a new set of awards, the Hotel Cateys, to recognise and reward the unsung heroes of the hotel industry.
Do you have a housekeeping team that really delivers? Does your conference and banqueting team offer an outstanding level of service? Or is your hotel chef hitting ever higher standards of culinary excellence? If so, we want to hear about them. As with the Cateys, recipients of Hotel Cateys will be nominated, selected and recognised by their industry peers.

Our website, www.hotelcateys.com, will help you to understand more about the Hotel Cateys, and enable you to enter employees across our 15 categories.

The deadline for entries is June 1st, so there's no time to waste.

There's an interesting new posting on Evanomics, the blog written by the BBC's economics editor, Evan Davis.

Evan is on a mission to help the masses "understand the world, using the tool kit of economics". On this occasion, the concept of value engineering comes under his scrutiny.

Summer has arrived in London. A riot of hydrangea colours the Ritz's Piccadilly frontage, and outside Gordon Ramsay's flagship restaurant on Royal Hospital Road, the agapanthus are blooming.

There were more agapanthus on show in Sir Rocco Forte's beautiful central London garden, where I went to a press party yesterday to mark the tenth birthday of Rocco Forte Hotels. Sir Rocco was there, of course, along with Lady Forte - who looked stunning - and his sister, the hotel designer Olga Polizzi.

When journalists get together, the conversation can quickly descend into a game of one-upmanship, and yesterday was no different. There were loads of luxury travel, conference and incentive journos at the bash, and they all proceeded to outdo one another with tales of swanky press trips to New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, the West Indies ... I was able to get my own back, mind you, when the conversation turned to UK restaurants.

Sir Rocco was on top form, and told me all about his training for the forthcoming triathlon world championships. I munched guiltily away on the tasty canapes circulating the garden, as he described his gruelling daily exercise regime. How is it that captains of industry always manage to fit two-hour, pre-dawn gym sessions into their super-hectic schedules?

John Campbell took me on a tour of his impressive kitchen within the Vineyard at Stockcross, the other day. John's cooking, which won him a well-deserved second Michelin star earlier this year, is based squarely upon the sous vide method. It's a method he promotes with an evangelist's zeal.

I love John's boundless energy and infectious passion for food. As we talked, he grabbed a marker pen off a passing chef and began to sketch out his blueprint for preparing perfectly-cooked cuts of meat on a nearby fridge door, like a white-coated Rolf Harris. I only hope the ink wasn't permanent ...

Of course, sous vide is nothing new, but it's the way John has built the hotel's entire food offering around it that is really interesting. John talks about 'de-risking' the business of serving food, and certainly there's a discernable calmness and order to his kitchen. Already, many eminent chefs are sending scouts down to the Vinyard to witness his system, first-hand.

Incidentally, my lunch at the Vineyard was phenomenal, and threw up some interesting taste combinations, such as lemon curd and scallops.

I'm off to the Hospitality Action Question of Sport dinner at Wembley Stadium tonight. The idea is that guests get wined and dined, check out the stadium's makeover and test their knowledge of sporting trivia, while the industry's charity makes pots of cash.

I'll report back tomorrow on what goes on. Meanwhile, to get in the mood, a few of us have racked our brains to contrive a 'top ten' of sportstars with hospitality connections.

Can you think of any we've missed?

Gordon Ramsay seemed set for a career-making sign-up to Rangers FC, before a cruciate knee ligament changed his plans. Lucky he could cook a bit ...

Terry Venables Current England assistant coach, El Tel once owned a nightclub called Scribes West on Kensington HIgh Street.

Lee Dixon Former Fat Duck shareholder Lee Dixon still co-owns the Riverside Brasserie on Monkey Island.

Frankie Dettori This year's Derby winner lent his name to the chain of restaurants he launched in partnership with Marco Pierre White.

David Coulthard co-owns Monaco's "chic, affordable and accessible" Columbus Hotel with Malmaison mastermind, Ken McCullough.

Sir Alex Ferguson managed Fergie's pub after his playing career ended. Downstairs bar, the Elbow Room was apparently named in honour of his robust style of play.

Together, Sir Ian Botham and Alan Lamb (AKA Beefy and Lamby), are the face of British meat.

Shoeless Joe's Bars may not have worked out, but Victor Ubogu now runs a corporate hospitality company firm that's got a packed summer and autumn schedule.

Roberto di Matteo followed his Chelsea career by opening two restaurants, Friends and Baraonda, a stone's throw from Stamford Bridge.

(... to sound of barrel being scraped ...) Christian minister and erstwhile heavyweight boxing champion of the world, George Foreman is now making the world a thinner place, thanks to his Lean, Mean, Fat-reducing Grilling Machine.

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.

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).

Other magazines and websites may be content to focus on a single subset of the hospitality industry, but here at the Caterer Group we like to challenge ourselves.

I like to think of us as a great, big bag of Revels with all the toffees removed - lots of different flavours, none of them disappointing. All facets of the industry are covered, from restaurants to hotels and from pubs to corporate dining, and at times this can make for some pretty varied working days for us journalists.

Take today. At lunchtime, Caterer Towers were visited by frozen meal suppliers (and Cateys sponsors) Apetito, who were keen to present their palatable new range of primary school meals. I tried the lasagne and the meatballs and can confirm that neither would have me calling my mum and asking her to pass me a burger through the school gates.

Three hours later, an impeccably attired gentleman in tails was leading me through the corridors of Buckingham Palace and past the famous first floor balcony from where the Royal Family have done some of their best waving, to a teatime reception at which the new City & Guilds Level 2 dimploma for butlers was unveiled.

The palace was, well, palatial. In common with many of London's poshest addreesses, there was Moulton Brown in the loos. And, inevitably, there was a plate of Duchy biscuits on the sideboard.

I'll write more about the course in next week's Caterer. Suffice to say, it sounds fascinating, and a positive step towards improving levels of service in this country. Course modules such as "introduction to wines, spirits and cigars", "maintaining surfaces and antique furnishings" and "country sports" had me tempted to jack in this editing lark and retrain.

Who's your favourite fictional butler? Mine's Batman's butler, Alfred (pictured).

A fire has gutted the Penhallow Hotel in Newquay, killing one person and injuring five more. As I write this post, search teams are looking for four other people still unaccounted for.

Once the remains of the building have been made secure, and all guests and staff have been accounted for, there is likely to be an investigation into the hotel's wooden fire escapes. The chief of Cornwall's Fire Brigade has already pointed to concerns over the "structural integrity" of the escapes.

The Hotel is part of the Holdsworth Hotels chain.

Look out for more news on the blaze here on Caterersearch and in next week's Caterer and Hotelkeeper.

Clearly the season of the hospitality TV show is upon us. Joining Raymond, Jamie, Marco and Nigella this Thursday is Ruth Watson, whose third series of The Hotel Inspector starts on Five, on Thursday evening.

The show sees Ruth attempt to reverse the fortunes of ailing British hotels and B&Bs. In advance of the first episode, Ruth has sent us her ten top tips for improving your hotel. Here are five of her ideas, to whet your appetite for the programme.

* Keep all external signs clean and have up-to-date ratings information on them.

What other tips would you add to this list? Let us know.

There's only one thing better than hotel guests who are prepared to come and spend money at your hotel - and that's guests who return to your hotel time after time to spend money.

Two such guests are David and Jean Davidson, who have been living in Travelodge hotels in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire for the past twenty years. Now, the Davidsons are to have a room named after them at the Gonerby Moor Travelodge, in recognition of their two decades of loyalty to the brand.

The Davidsons estimate they have paid out £100,000 in bills, but point out that this has bought utilities, a personal housekeeper and a tidy room with good disabled access (thumbs-up, Travelodge!) since 1987.

Do you have any seriously loyal customers at your hotel? How long have they been with you? And do long-stay guests become part of the hotel, after a while, like the Major at Fawlty Towers? Let us know.

In this week's Caterer and Hotelkeeper, we offer twenty surefire ways to hang on to your most valued hotel, restaurant, bar and contract catering staff. Here are just five of them, to whet your appetite.

Our top twenty was put together with the assistance of such luminaries as Jane Sunley, from learning providers Learnpurple; and Sean Wheeler, group director of people development, Malmaison/Hotel du Vin.

ONE Keep things interesting: vary tasks and responsibilities to avoid staff boredom.

TWO Carry out regular appraisals: formal objectives provide focus and motivation, as well as a valuable communications channel.

THREE Don't be a harsh critic: avoid a blame culture, but let staff to learn from mistakes made.

FOUR Allow people to grow: allow employees the chance to strectch themselves and shine.

FIVE Say thank you: easy to do, just as easily forgotten.

Let me know what tools you use to motivate staff and keep them onboard.

The Coolbrands Council published its annual list of the UK’s coolest brands last week. Hospitality was well represented, with the likes of Malmaison, the Lowry Hotel, 42 The Calls, Smiths of Smithfield and Le Manoir aux Quatr’Saisons all earning a ranking.

Also listed were cool global brand destinations such as Cambodia, Croatia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

With the launch of Winning: A tourism strategy for 2012 and beyond, this week, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport hopes to ensure that Brand UK rates highly on similar lists across the world in the coming decade.

The DCMS forecasts that, by capitalising upon the opportunity the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games provide to showcase all we have to offer as a nation, we could generate £2.1bn from additional tourism between now and 2017.

The strategy provides a blueprint for improving international perceptions of Britain, delivering a first-class welcome to all visitors, improving tourist infrastructure and facilities, boosting the skills of the workforce and driving up accommodation quality by increasing the number of places that are accredited under the national star-grading scheme.

But the document fails to detail exactly how all these improvements will be paid for. Substantial investment will be required to realise an extra £2.1bn increase in tourism revenue; you have to speculate to accumulate.

We will have to wait until the announcement of the Comprehensive Spending Review in October to see if the government is prepared to put its money where its mouth is, by committing an adequate funding strategy to capitalising on the Olympics. Fair words alone will not spark significant growth in in-bound and domestic tourism off the back of the Games.

I found a dusty old book at my parents' house this weekend, which set me thinking about the hospitality industry's continuing problem with public perceptions of its potential to offer a worthy career path.

Called Careers for Boys, the book was published in 1938 and features a range of insights into the various jobs and professions open to young men seven decades ago that are quaintly dated. "It is a mistake to assume that the coming of the motor age has done away with the necessity for veterinary surgeons", begins one chapter; while another states that "Today, as ever, the sea has an irressistible appeal for the manly, adventure-loving type of British youth".

I scanned the contents page for any mention of catering and hotelkeeping, and found none. Finally, under a concluding round-up at the back of the book entitled "Other careers", I found hotel and restaurant work listed among other such marginal pursuits as brewing, the Ministries and plantation work ("Life in distant parts of the Empire always has a strong appeal").

When I left University in the late Eighties, it never occured to me to enter the world of hospitality. Indeed, when a friend of mine accepted a full-time job managing a restaurant in Bristol after we graduated, I remember thinking her choice a very odd one. In the four years since I joined the Caterer, my views have altered hugely, to the extent that, if I had known 20 years ago what I do now I reckon I would have spurned journalism in favour of a career in hotels.

I can understand why hospitality held such low currency for careers officers seventy years ago. Hotels were far fewer in number than now; and the restaurant and contract catering booms were still decades away. But why does the image problem persist in 2007?

I think we need more role models the general public can relate to. When youngsters think about hospitality, Jamie, Gordon and Marco spring to mind, along with the poor, beleagured drones they bark at. But these public figures are atypical of the industry.

Instead, we need to ensure that the mention of hospitality conjures images of job satisfaction, international travel, creativity, even glamour - for these are all pleasures that a career in hospitality can offer. Do children appreciate that GMs can live in style in exotic locations around the globe? That sommeliers are courted by wine merchants and get to tour vineyards and champagne caves? That hotel reception staff get to speak to a huge range of people, anonymous, famous and infamous? And that all these job functions, carried out well, can create enormous personal fulfilment? Probably not.

How we alter misconceptions, I don't know. But I have a nagging doubt that hospitality is no better at shouting about itself now, than it was in 1938.

Check out this response to a previous posting, in which the writer complains about the practice of overbooking hotel rooms on the assumption that there will be cancellations.

It sounds from the tone of the posting that he or someone he knows has recently been turned away from a Travelodge, despite having booked and pre-paid for a room there:

Are we to conclude that Travelodge is in the business of entering into contracts with its clients, which it knows it cannot fulfill? I am awaiting a response to an emailed request and personal phone call to the manager of the offending Travelodge.

Has this person been unlucky or ill-treated? Or is this standard and fair practice? let us know what you think.

I'm off on holiday for a week, safe in the knowledge that last Friday's judging of Caterer and Hotelkeeper's Best Places to Work in Hospitality 2007 was a resounding success.

Once again, we've managed to identify the hotel, restaurant and leisure companies doing the most to ensure good practice in the recruitment, training, retaining and motivating of their employees. Last year's winners included McDonald's Restaurants, whose commitment to providing a positive working environment led them to start a campaign to get the word "Mcjob" (definition: a low-paying, low-prestige job) taken out of dictionaries. As of last week, the fast-food giant's campaign petition had attracted over 100,000 signatures. Good on them for taking steps to challenge prejudices and boost the self-esteem of their workforce.

I could tell you who our Best Places winners are, but then I'd have to kill you, so you'll just have to wait until we announce them at a ceremony during next year's Hotelympia.

See you in a week, when there'll be plenty to tell you about the announcement of the 2007 Hotelier of the Year.

Calling all hoteliers. The new Hotelier of the Year will be announced at an awards lunch hosted by current incumbent, Richard Ball of Calcot Manor, tomorrow lunchtime.

To mark the occasion, Caterersearch will be simultaneously posting a webcast featuring an interview with the mystery winner at 1pm.

It's traditional for the outgoing Hotelier of the Year to host the following year's award lunch. This year's award was therefore presented to Michael Gray at Calcot Manor, whose Managing Director, Richard Ball, was the 2006 winner.

Welcoming guests to the lunch, Richard emphasised the fear-factor involved in throwing your hotel open to an A-list of pretty much every UK hotelier of note from the past quarter-century. (This year, the lunch drew its usual stellar list of hotelkeepers, among them Robin Hutson, Ramon Pajares, Peter Lederer, Martin Skan, Harry Murray ...)

He described how, as a younger man trying to establish his country house hotel in Gloucestershire, he had read of Hoteliers of the Year in the Caterer and wondered whether perhaps, one day, one of these iconic hoteliers would deign to come and stay with him.

"I never imagined 17 of the buggers would turn up on the same day!" he quipped.

We've had ice hotels, treehouse hotels and underwater hotels. There are even plans afoot for hotels in space. And now Travelodge have unveiled the container hotel.

The budget hotel chain's new hotel in Uxbridge, West London, is being constructed entirely of shipping container crates which are stacked and then bolted together. According to a company spokesman, this Womble-like reuse of the everyday things merchant seamen leave behind could cut 10% from the cost of each build. With the average build cost of a 100-bed hotel around £5m, this could translate into a £500k saving per new-build.

This set me searching the web for other weird and wonderful ideas for hotel designs. My quest took me to the niftily-named blog, Construction Projects World, which presents some of the more remarkable buildings - some of them hotels - currently being thrown up around the world.

The link above shows how a new wind-powered, rotating hotel planned for Dubai (where else?) will appear, once completed. As the blog says, the building will bring a new meaning to the phrase, "panoramic views".

Have you ever wanted to know the secret to attracting the very best hospitality workers to your company? Or wondered what other companies do to be selected as one of Caterer's Best Places to Work in Hospitality? Look no further.

Hospitality recruitment specialists, HR on Tap have sent me a list of reasons why some companies fail to find good staff. There's some good stuff here, I think:

Are you looking in the right place? An advert in trade press will hit people in the right industry, but most readers will statistically be outside your region and most will probably not be looking for a new job. Local papers have similar problems – you get the location right, but not the industry or job seekers. Spread your net wider and it’ll be easier to catch the right people.

Are you offering the right package? Too much money is just as bad as not enough! You need to be competitive but without either making applicants suspicious or imagining the job is more senior than it really is.

Are you looking for Mr / Ms Perfect? Be realistic – it’s really rare to find the absolute perfect match of experience, skills and qualities that you imagine the role needs. How much of it is essential and how much can you train? The more open-minded you are, the more candidates you’ll have to choose from.

Are you flexible enough? If you offer flexible working, flaunt it! It’s a major plus for many people to know that they’ll get a decent work/life balance or be able to work around the school run. Be explicit about this in your adverts

Do you have to advertise? You might find that your perfect candidate isn’t actively looking for a job. Do your homework and you might just find that gem hiding away somewhere, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to coax them away.

Are you prepared to train someone? It might not be as painful as you think. How about someone from a completely different industry? Just because they’ve never worked in your industry before, doesn’t mean they can’t. And if they have transferable skills from another industry, you’ll probably find training doesn’t take nearly as long as you’d think.

Are you well known as a good employer? If not, why not? It’s not all about the money. For some people, switching employers is a big deal and they need to know they’re doing the right thing. You don’t have to be a huge corporate to have a strong employer brand! Get known as a great place to work and you’ll soon reach a point where great people approach you, rather than you having to hunt them down.

Think like a marketing expert! If you can get your head around how to attract customers, then attracting staff isn’t so different. Understand your audience, know where to find them, give them what they’re looking for.

Don’t try to change people. If you want to find real star performers, put talent first (the behaviours and actions that come naturally and are hard to teach) and skills, experience and qualifications last. It might take a couple of days longer to train the person in the skills you need, but it’ll be worth it in the long run. Trying to change behaviours might succeed to a degree, but rarely to any great extent.

In the Daily Mail today, news that the Christian owners of a seaside hotel may face prosecution for banning a gay couple from staying in a double bedroom at their hotel.

Peter and Hazelmary Bull, owners of the Chymorvah hotel in Marazion in Cornwall, apparently refused to let the couple, Martyn Hall and his civil partner Steven Preddy, share a bed at the hotel on the basis that they don't allow unmarried couples - heterosexual and gay - from sharing a bed under their roof.

The Bulls, who have the support of the Christian Institute, adopted this policy when they bought the hotel in 1986. In fact, the hotel website states: "We have few rules but please note that out of a deep regard for marriage we prefer to let double accommodation to heterosexual married couples only."

Hall and Preddy have lodged a county court claim for up to £5,000 in damages alleging "direct discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation".

The result of this case will set an interesting precedent, but, in the meantime, Caterersearch would be interested to hear your views.