09.01.04
Sweet taste of success for Cornwall's HONEY Project

Hotels and guest houses in the Newquay area are being transformed thanks to a £3.7 million Objective One project designed to help them improve the quality of their businesses.

Since its launch last year, the HONEY – Hotels of Newquay Enhance Yourself – project has seen 40 local hotels and guest houses sign up to the three-year business improvement programme, which also offers grants of up to £30,000 to upgrade hotel facilities.

The project is run by private company Newquay for Excellence Training Ltd and Restormel Borough Council, and is being supported with a £1.3 million investment from Objective One.

Hotels that sign up to HONEY are offered one-to-one mentoring to improve all aspects of their business and the customer experience, focusing on five key themes: marketing, guest service, support services, pricing strategy and physical environment.

Members attend regular workshops on each of the five disciplines, and have access to more than 30 specialists offering advice in a wide range of areas, including interior design, accountancy, licensing and legal issues, computer technology, human resources and menus.

HONEY recently launched its own website, www.honeyprogramme.co.uk, including a special section just for members.

Chichester Interest Holidays, a specialist outdoor holiday company run by Sheila Harper and her partner Steve Hebdige, joined HONEY last year and is already seeing the benefits. As well as mentoring and specialist advice, the business also qualified for a small grant to upgrade its IT equipment.

Sheila said: "Through the projects I have been running with HONEY's guidance I am well on the way to achieving my aims, which is basically to increase our income by raising visitor numbers and increasing the quality of what we offer. This first year I have concentrated on better office procedures, marketing and business promotion, and increased computer skills.

"I attended a HONEY computer workshop which made me more confident using the equipment we have, and a one-to-one session with a specialist adviser focusing on getting more out of the web and some basic computer skills was even more useful. There are a lot more benefits from HONEY, including meeting others in the trade. What's more, I have realised that our little business is special, which makes me more confident.”

Ruth Vincent, Director of Newquay for Excellence Training, said: "The response to HONEY is fantastic and the amount of activity and commitment from the businesses taking part has been amazing. What we're finding is that hotels and guest houses come to us with a very clear idea of what they want to do and then as they dig deeper into how the business is run they discover other things that they want to improve.

"We're recruiting new businesses all the time, from the smallest operators to some of Newquay's largest hotels, and expect to have supported well over 100 over the three-year project.”

Carleen Kelemen, Director of the Objective One Partnership, said: "HONEY is a great example of how Objective One investment is being used to create-long term benefits for Cornwall by building better businesses in a sector where quality and customer care are paramount.”

Malcolm Bell, Chief Executive of South West Tourism and chairman of the HONEY Partnership, a group of local organisations that helps guide the project, said: "Newquay is crucial to the success of Cornwall's tourism industry and is raising its game to meet ever increasing visitor expectations. HONEY is helping local businesses do just that and is an exemplar for the rest of the industry to follow.”

Businesses joining HONEY pay a one-off fee of £750, payment of which can be spread, which is equivalent to just 70p per day over the three-year programme. This gives them unlimited access to business mentor Chris Wikeley, former head of quality assurance at South West Tourism, and the wide range of individual skills specialists, all of whom help the businesses work towards identified goals.

The grant element of the scheme, run by fund manager Anthony Vage on behalf of Restormel Borough Council, is linked to business performance and can provide up to £30,000 for physical improvements. So far £120,000 in grant support has been approved or applied for.

Ruth added: "The grant element of the project has been welcomed by HONEY members, but it's not the main reason for joining. All our members have signed up because they see the benefit of having a tailor-made programme of business support that helps them achieve their objectives.

"The other great thing about HONEY is that it is harnessing the existing skills of local people and organisations without creating more bureaucracy.”

In addition to its own services, HONEY is also linking up with complementary projects including the award-winning, Objective One funded actnow broadband project, and the Action Energy programme managed by the Carbon Trust, which can provide grant support for energy audits to help hotels reduce their energy consumption. One HONEY member used a grant to change their heating system to make it more energy efficient.

HONEY also reflects many of the sustainable tourism aspirations outlined in the Government's Tomorrow's Tourism initiative and run by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). DCMS is closely watching the progress of HONEY and believes it could be a model for similar schemes in other parts of the country.

Hoteliers who want to know more about joining HONEY should call 01637 871067, or visit www.honeyprogramme.co.uk.

Editor's notes:

Below are three more testimonials from HONEY members:

Paul and Elaine Redd, Fairbank Hotel, Crantock
"We moved into our hotel in March last year (2003) with no previous industry experience and joined the HONEY programme immediately. Throughout our first season it's been enormously reassuring to have the support of our mentor. He's sparked ideas and focused our attention on the tasks ahead. It's also been exciting and invaluable to be able to access free specialist consultants to provide advice in the development of our future ideas.”

Gill and Sandy Merrell, St Brannocks Hotel
"Yes, we admit it, we were sceptical at the start, but what a mine of help and information has become available to us. Thanks to HONEY the first of our targets has become a reality with the installation of our exciting new IT project, and this is just the beginning.”

Peter Butterly, Sandy Lodge Hotel
"The HONEY programme is like a breath of fresh air with minimum bureaucracy for maximum benefit.”

Objective One
The Objective One Programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly is providing £1.3 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) towards the HONEY project.

ERDF is one of our four funds that make up the Objective One Programme, which is making £337 million of investment available for developing the local economy between 2000 and 2006. ERDF exists to:

For further information contact:

Ruth Vincent
Newquay for Excellence Training
01637 871067
ruth@nfet.co.uk

Sheila Harper
Chichester Interest Holidays
01637 874216
sheila.harper@virgin.net

Jason Clark
Communications Adviser
Objective One Partnership Office
Castle House
Pydar Street
Truro TR1 2UD
Tel: 01872 241379
Fax: 01872 241388
objectiveone@cornwall.gov.uk

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