Nominate the rising stars of your hotel
- by James Chase
General Managers are encouraged to get the word out to hospitality management to nominate the shining stars under their supervision for a 2008 Sterling Service Award. Recognizing employees for excellence is more important now than ever. Not only does it set an exemplary measure of performance for other employees, but is also helps with employee retention and saves on HR spending, a rising budget item in today’s labour shortage. What a better way to say, “job well done” than to nominate an outstanding employee. Held in conjunction with the BC Hospitality Industry Conference & Exposition, the Sterling Service Awards recognize the achievements of individuals who go above and beyond the call of duty in their everyday roles. These prestigious awards are credited with finding the future leaders of BC’s hospitality industry. This year’s panel of judges is hoping for a stronger contingent of nominations from the Northern BC, Thompson Okanagan and Cariboo/Chilcotin/Coast regions. Each of BC’s six tourism regions has a chance to win a coveted Sterling Service Award. More nominations are needed in the housekeeping, culinary support, doorman and maintenance categories. Employees need to be nominated by management, fellow staff, customers or guests. Hospitality management can be directed to the Awards web site at: www.sterlingserviceawards.com. The judges will select one winner per region in each of the eight hospitality categories. The six finalists go on to compete for the top Sterling Award in each of the eight categories. The winners are invited to the ritzy awards dinner held during the BC Hospitality Industry Conference & Exposition on November 24th, 2008 at The Fairmont Waterfront Hotel in Vancouver. Encourage your hospitality management and staff to participate in this year’s Sterling Service Awards program. It’s easier than ever. Employees can nominate an outstanding employee online at: www.sterlingserviceawards.com/ssa_nominate.htm Sterling Service Awards Summary Total nominations to date: 340 Nominations via email: 206 Nominations via mail: 134 Nominations per Category Category | Nominations | Housekeeping | 14 | Food & Beverage Server | 156 | Bartender | 30 | Culinary Support | 13 | Culinary Team Leader | 26 | Front Desk | 77 | Doorman | 12 | Maintenance | 12 |
Nominations per Region Region | Nominations | The Islands | 70 | Vancouver Coast and Mountains | 225 | Thompson Okanagan | 12 | BC Rockies | 13 | Cariboo/Chilcotin/Coast | 8 | Northern BC | 12 |
BCHA Natural Gas program - UPDATE The management of the highly successful BCHA Gas program remains fully intact but with a new owner, Energy Savings Group (ESG). ESG recently acquired the assets and employees of the previous supplier CEG Energy. The British Columbia Hotel Association will continue to be provided with the same level of service and wholesale prices from this new commercial division acquired by ESG. The majority of member agreements in place are Terasen unbundling contracts that have been assumed by Energy Savings as approved by the BC Utilities Commission on August 13, 2008. These members will receive a confirmation letter from ESG within 30 days. BCHA members on larger Transport Agreements were required to sign a new Agreement with ESG. The BCHA is anticipating a seamless transition and looks forward to expanding the reach of this program. A new fixed rate offering will be available in early September. For more details or if you have any questions please contact Kirby Morrow at (604) 630-1501. Hotel cable rates increase this month- by James Chase Many Hotels throughout BC have seen their Shaw cable rates increase effective September 1. In some cases, it has been between 3 to 4 % and others it has been significantly more. This situation and the reasons of how it happened date back over five years. In early 2000, Shaw and Rogers exchanged cable regions in Canada. Prior to then, both Shaw and Rogers offered cable packages throughout BC in different areas at different rates. When the swap occurred Shaw acquired all the Rogers contracts in BC and Alberta. By 2002 and 2003, it was becoming increasingly apparent from Shaw's perspective that the hotel industry in BC had no uniform package or rate structure. This was about to change. By early 2003, the BCYHA had received several calls from members reporting that they were getting new contracts from Shaw with significant increases, some as high as 70%. A quick survey determined that over a 100 hotels had contracts expiring that year and that the rates currently being paid were anywhere from $4.95 per room for basic cable to $11.95 per room for basic plus Tier 1, 2 & 3. It did not take long for Shaw to realize that they had a major problem trying to bring everyone up to the same pricing model in the same year. The BCHA intervened and was able to negotiate a very moderate increase for some hotels and no increase for others, depending on their current package. It is important to note that residential rates were about five to seven times higher depending on the package; satellite TV was a possible option and Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) was technically emerging as a potential threat to traditional cable. If your property did not sign a five or three year contract, the rates and increases were significant. Some hotels chose this route. The new rates negotiated by the BCYHA were only available to members, saving many hotel thousands of dollars per year. We knew that the environment would be different in five years. We also pushed hard for an occupancy-based pricing model but Shaw was not interested due the complexity in billing. In anticipation of the large renewals this year, the BCHA has also been focused on alternatives for the hotel industry. We have been working with Telus for over a year on a possible IPTV application for hotels, however the role-out has been slower than anticipated and the price point is not competitive. This may still be an option but it will be years before hotels are addressed, definitely not before the residential market is saturated. We are also exploring Bell ExpressVu, which is a satellite TV option. However, the system is still not as user friendly as many in the hotel industry would like. The challenge of High Definition (HD) channel delivery to hotel rooms is the next major focus. In late 2007, Shaw notified us of their plans for 2008. They did not want our assistance as in 2003 and the objective they had sought in 2003 would now be achieved. Over the last five years, Shaw has acquired several independent cable companies (increasing their BC coverage) and integrating those hotels into their new structure. They have a uniform hotel package and have been slowly introducing it as contracts expire. There are now only two options: a five-year contract with a yearly 3% increase starting at $9.28 (rising to $9.56 on September 1) or month-to-month starting at $13.50. The uniform package is basic plus Tier 1, 2 & 3 and there are no exceptions. The 30 hotels in BC that did not have this package and are coming out of a five-year-fixed-BCYHA contract are seeing the most dramatic increases. With the new pricing structure, the residential rate differential has not moved much. At the current rates, it is consistent to the differential between hotels and residential in 2003. With the new rates in place, the next frontier for the BCHA is to explore HD channel delivery to guestrooms, particularly as flat screens exceed 42 inches. Shaw is an important industry partner now and in the near future. Discussions are already underway on a bulk purchase of digital boxes to enable delivery of the HD. The current obstacle is the in-room movie systems that provide videos on demand. We will continue to work on behalf of the hotel industry as best we can in this ever-changing world of technology. | 
