THE human element plays a vital role in the success of one of York’s iconic buildings, according to its bid for glory in The Press Business Awards.

The Royal York Hotel, which has entered the Retail, Tourism and Leisure Business of the Year and the Achievement Through People categories, takes pride in guests being “the foundation of the business and colleagues are key to offering them sensational service which surprise and delights them.

“Our success lies in our customer coming back to our hotel and venues time and time again. Delivering a memorable stay, from start to finish, is essential; therefore we recognise the importance that our colleagues play in delivering quality customer service.

“This service can be from making a potential inquiry to the departure of a guest. A smile, sincerity, interest shown, attention to detail and the upmost professionalism will all ensure our guests’ stay is memorable,” it said.

The Royal York, which recently had a multi-million-pound refurbishment, had developed an ethos of ‘service excellence’ and focused on the five values of being distinctive, intuitive, warm, generous and local at heart.

The Royal York added: “Creating a memorable stay/visit for our guests starts with our people and we wholeheartedly believe that without them the investment in our product would be in vain.”

Colleague development ranged from ‘bite size’ on-the-job training, coaching and mentoring to external training in relation to skills or professional development. Learning and development programmes were offered across all departments and there was a culture of continuous improvement.