28 April 2006
Apex wins at The Scottish Hotels of the Year Awards
Apex Hotels recently scooped two prestigious wins at the Scottish Hotels of the Year Awards: Norman Springford, founder and Executive Chairman, won the accolade of Scottish Hotelier of the Year at the biggest annual gathering of Scottish hoteliers, whilst his Dundee property was named The Dundee Hotel of the Year 2006.
More than 400 guests descended on The Radisson SAS in Glasgow for the presentation, organised by Scotland's most-read hotel guide HotelReviewScotland.com and supported by the Scottish Tourism Forum and VisitScotland.com . The awards cover every facet of the hotel hospitality business, including awards for design, housekeeping, dining, innovation and management.
A panel of 16 judges, made up of industry experts and critics, including Marco Truffelli, CEO of VisitScotland.com, Gary McLean, Editor of HotelreviewScotland.com, David Young, former Chief Hotels Inspector of the AA, Wendy Barrie of the Scottish Food Guide and ex CEO of Taste of Scotland, made the final decisions for the winners, the results of which were a closely guarded secret until they were announced on the night.
The top awards were presented by Presiding Officer of Parliament, George Reid, while Phil McHugh, a VisitScotland "Hot Scot", took on the role of MC role for the evening. The Fellowship 2006 was presented to Professor Eddie Friel, until recently the Chief Executive of the Greater Glasgow Tourist Board.
On presenting the award for Scottish Hotelier of the Year to Norman Springford, the Rt Hon Mr Reid Commented “This title recognises the hard work and artful creativity of a man who has, with talented support from his family, over the past years created a hotel brand here in Scotland demonstrably able to be exported. A rare thing! With stylish hotels in Edinburgh and a highly successful one in Dundee, his company's bold new hotel in London opened in the last year. It is becoming something of a Scottish embassy. Hard work and creative thinking, a commitment to good, clean, urbane design, and a distinctive approach to hotel dining at his group combine to make Norman Springford of Apex Hotels very much a popular and timely recipient of the national Hotelier of the Year title for 2006. HotelReviewScotland.com and the Awards Panel of The Scottish Hotels of the Year Awards offer their warm congratulations for his handsome win."
Apex City Quay and Spa in Dundee was voted by the public and the judges as the clear winner of Dundee Hotel of the Year for the 2nd year running - a position enhanced by the development of Alchemy Restaurant and exciting new chef talent Dereck Carter.
The awards, now in their third year, pioneered online voting and with enormous success this year: almost 25,000 votes (up from 11,000 votes in 2005) were received, making this the biggest ever public vote on hotels in the UK.