A SPEYSIDE HOTEL has struck a blow for the growing tourism industry in the region by attaining WorldHost recognised destination status.

The Station Hotel in Rothes achieve the grading thanks to 22 of its staff completing a course that concentrates on customer service.

Staff at all levels in the Hotel – from General Manager Neil Slessor to part-time school age staff – were involved in the course that featured a raft of examples of both good and bad practice.

The purpose of the course is to encourage staff to make guests feel valued and welcome – and serves as both an introduction for those new to the industry and a refresher for those who have been in the industry a long time.

Neil said “We pride ourselves on our excellent customer service at the Station Hotel where for all staff, the customer comes first. We pay attention to detail and take note of feedback at all levels from the housekeepers to the waiting staff. It’s a source of great pride for all us who took part that our service has been recognised with this certificate.

“I hope that our achievement will spur on other relevant businesses in the town to sign up to the course and get the town of Rothes recognised as a Worldhost destination – and then of course Speyside.”

WorldHost is an internationally recognised programme that brings about a new industry benchmark which businesses and their operators can use to ensure high quality customer service standards are integral to their operation.

It has already been used to train more than 10% of Scotland’s tourism workforce and represents an investment of over £2million since it was launched in Scotland.

The roll-out of the WorldHost initiative across Moray, aimed at achieving WorldHost Regional Destination status, is being led by the Moray Economic Partnership through its Tourism and Culture Group.

Attending the course was Bar Person Louise McNaire, who said: ““I found the course very helpful and quite fun and the time passed really quickly. Despite having been in the industry for around 30 years I was reassured that what I do is good practice and I did pick up some useful new tips particularly in problem solving. I’d certainly recommend it.”

The next WorldHost course for the Speyside area will be held at the Station Hotel on Monday, March 20 – for more information and prices contact vickyworldhost@hotmail.com.