Sponsors

NFU Mutual Clifton & Wrington

Our network of specialist local Agents work extensively with the hospitality and retail industries - everything from local coffee shops to a chain of restaurants or food stores and urban chic hotels.

We understand that your business could be impacted by a number of issues - cyber attacks, damage to your property, the loss of a major supplier or customer, the loss of a key person through illness, or an outbreak of food poisoning. But you’re not alone. Your NFU Mutual Agent can help you plan for the unexpected and get you back on your feet should things go wrong.

The right insurance starts with the right conversation. Contact our local Agent today by visiting  nfumutual/branches.

Clockwork Marketing

Specialists in the tourism industry, Clockwork Marketing works with independent hotels, restaurants and tourism businesses. They have an impressive portfolio of national and international clients; each is unique, but they all have one thing in common: they want to grow. With 25 years’ experience, the team understand the industry intricately, and apply a common sense approach to marketing, strategy and technology.

Clockwork help hospitality businesses save costs and achieve growth by ensuring that their marketing is effective and their strategy is geared for success. Many of the businesses they work with get in touch because they’ve found themselves:

Playing ‘Marketing Roulette’: Taking chances, unsure what works and to what extent; Suffering ‘Marketing Paralysis’: Not doing any meaningful marketing because they don’t know where to start; or Lacking something: They want to be market leaders and need a strategy to stand out. Over the years, Clockwork Marketing has grown considerably; today, they are a talented team of 22 marketers, strategists, designers and developers. Their services include responsive website design, SEO, social media management, email marketing, marketing management, branding, design services, OTA strategy, direct mail, copywriting, content management, online gift voucher software and business transformation consultancy – all under one roof!

Visit Exmoor

Visit Exmoor works on behalf of businesses and partners to promote the Greater Exmoor area to visitors. It is the guardian of the Exmoor brand and works to promote an area including the Quantock Hills, West Somerset and Exmoor National Park. As the largest tourism industry body in the area, Visit Exmoor believes passionately in the delivery of high quality visitor experiences, and so is thrilled to be a sponsor. Visit Exmoor is a key player in helping to shape the work of the Hinkley Tourism Action Partnership and ensuring that the area benefits from the development of Hinkley Point C.

Pear Communications

Pear is the leading tourism, arts & events print distributor across the South West of England. Years of hard work, dedication and investment have resulted in their unrivalled networks to ensure their clients leaflets, brochures and posters reach their target markets.

As a result of Pear’s dedication, they work in close partnership with both Visit Bristol and Visit Somerset among other DMOs in the South West.

Pear have invested heavily in key gateway sites, including major Motorway Services which house both their new Digital Screen and Print Stands. In an ever-changing industry, Pear continually evolve to support the market.

Age UK Somerset

Age UK Somerset is the largest charity working with and for older people in Somerset and North Somerset.  We are an independent local charity responsible for raising all our own funds which are only spent in the area.   With our local population increasing in age (in our area - Somerset and North Somerset -  1 in 4 of the population will be 65+ within 3 years. Nationally this doesn’t happen for another 20 years), our role to promote the wellbeing and independence of older people and add value to later life, is more important now than ever.

With the wide variety of services we offer (including information & advice, 100s of exercise sessions, a befriending service to reduce loneliness, toe nail cutting, benefit claims assistance, projects to get and keep people out of hospital), we put the needs of older people at the heart of what we do.  We are delighted to sponsor this award to find tourism businesses that are taking the same approach.

Visit Somerset

Visit Somerset is the official destination management organisation for the county. We work on behalf of members and partners to support the development of tourism and promote the traditional county of Somerset to domestic and international visitors. We are delighted to be a sponsor for these awards which reward and focus on quality since this is crucial in attracting and retaining customers. As sponsors we are representing the Hinkley Tourism Action Partnership; a public/private partnership working to ensure that the tourism industry is in the best shape to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the development of Hinkley Point C.

Visit Bath

Visit Bath is the destination marketing organisation responsible for promoting the UNESCO designated World Heritage site of the city of Bath, as well as the surrounding areas, towns and villages to domestic and international visitors. VisitBath works closely with the public and private sectors to deliver an annual programme of consumer focussed marketing and campaigns, together with activity focussed on developing routes to market through the travel trade. The company also manages the city’s Visitor Information Centre and runs events including the renowned Bath Christmas Market.

Porter Dodson

Porter Dodson is a Top 200 UK law firm with locations across Somerset and Dorset. We are all about delivering great advice when and where it is most convenient to our clients, whether they are an individual or a company with an international dimension.

The firm has a strategy designed to deliver steady, sustainable but ambitious growth. It focuses on building on two fundamental strengths – our clients and our people.

Our clients say we are getting this right as 96% of clients would recommend us because of our overall service. As a Firm, we were recently awarded the Gold standard by Investors in People – putting us in the top 3% of employers assessed.

At Porter Dodson we work with our clients to understand their needs, support them effectively and deliver the best possible legal outcome. Our strapline is “All about you”, reflecting our focus on clients, employees and professional contacts alike.

Clarks Village

Located in the heart of Somerset, Clarks Village opened in 1993 and was the first shopping outlet centre in the UK. Set within beautiful, award-winning landscaped gardens, this unique shopping experience offers discounts of up to 60% off RRP at over 90 high street and designer brands, including Wonderbra, Hobbs, Joules, Ben Sherman, Osprey London, Molton Brown, Hamleys, Lindt and the largest Clarks Factory Outlet store in Europe.

With impressive green credentials itself, Clarks Village won the Green Apple award for environment and waste management, for its commitment to a programme of consistent environmental improvement. The Village also has more than 100 solar panels installed and a dedicated recycling programme in place, making it one of the greenest shopping centres in the UK.

What's On Somerset

Somerset. We love it. We live in it. We write about it. We entreat people to savour this remarkable county, the land of the summer people.

In our twelfth year, What’s on Somerset is delighted to be associated with the Bristol, Bath and Somerset Tourism Awards. Talent and hard work deserves recognition and accolations.

Bath Ales

Bath Ales is the brewer of a distinctive range of premium, authentic and inventive beers for the discerning drinker. From its west country base, Bath Ales brews a range of consistently superior and well-crafted beers. Founded in 1995, Bath Ales’ new chapter began in July 2016, when it was acquired by St Austell Brewery – one of only 28 independent, family-owned brewers in the country.St Austell Brewery, established in 1851 – and one of Cornwall’s oldest businesses – committed to investing in a new brewery at Bath Ales which opened its doors in May 2018. Fronted by flagship ale Gem, the four-vessel brew house (Hare Brewery) has the capacity to produce more than 50,000 brewers’ barrels of beer –over 14.5 million pints! With 12 new fermenting vessels in place, the south west’s most sophisticated and technologically advanced brewery has doubled the available brewing capacity at Bath Ales. Bath Ales beers are available in supermarkets nationwide and in pubs across the country. An exciting schedule of new beers have launched alongside the brewery opening, including an IPA – Lansdown – and premium English lager, Sulis – both now available in Tesco stores nationwide.

Christie & Co

Christie & Co are the leading advisors in the sale, acquisition and valuation of all categories of hotel and leisure businesses and have provided advice to clients within our specialist sectors for over 80 years. In 2017, the South West team won the coveted EGi Overall Top Agent award in the Hotels and Leisure sector for the region. This industry accolade is awarded to the advisor that sells the most leisure related business and it is the eighth year in a row we have won it in the South West, illustrating our pedigree and knowledge of these markets.

Our coverage extends to 15 offices throughout the UK, 14 mainland European offices and an Asia desk which offers our clients exposure to this huge market and its increasing appetite for the UK leisure sectors.

We offer unrivalled local and national expertise to both private and corporate operators alike. In each of our offices, we employ a team of experts, with both sector-specific experience and local knowledge.

Vickery Holman

As one of the most established and well respected firms of Surveyors, Vickery Holman deliver property consultancy services across the South West. With offices in Truro, Plymouth, Exeter and Bristol they deliver local expertise within the region to their regional and national clients. Regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors their local experts offer a full range of services and specialise within the leisure industry to provide:-

Commercial sales, acquisitions as well as business rates consultancy for hotels, holiday parks and self-catering complexes;
Service charge administration and management for commercial property and holiday parks;
Valuation for secured lending, accounting and tax purposes;
Building surveying services including surveys for purchase, project management and planned maintenance and new developments.

Hotel Perfect

At Hotel Perfect we don’t just sell software, we use our collective experience and extensive knowledge of technology to bring you an all-encompassing hospitality package. Our range of products include a Property Management System (PMS), Direct Online Booking Engine, Channel Management, Hospitality EPoS, Dashboard Reporting, Guest Relationship Management; and an array of APPS and additional products and services to help maximise revenue and increase efficiency.

A well-established company based in the South West providing specialist IT solutions to the hospitality industry throughout the UK.

Beco Energy

Beco are a small company, full of energy and driven by a big commitment to provide high quality renewable and energy efficiency energy services including Solar PV, Wind, LED Lighting and Voltage Optimisation.

We are delighted to be offering, through our partnership with SW Tourism Awards, complementary energy audits. Allow us to analyse your energy needs and we will provide you with fully costed report detailing savings, ROI and carbon reduction.

We will also check your eligibility to join the fast-growing number of new customers who are enjoying free installation of Voltage Optimisation equipment.

All businesses benefit from cutting costs. Challenge Beco to reduce your energy spend and CO2. Now there’s something every MD can smile about!

Simpleview

Simpleview is the worldwide leading provider of CRM, CMS, website design, digital marketing, revenue generation, and mobile technologies for destination marketing organizations (DMOs).

The company employs 325+ staff and works with 900+ travel, tourism and convention marketing customers on six continents, from towns of less than 30,000 to world capitals, including Los Angeles, New York and 14 more of the top 20 U.S. meetings destinations, Dubai, East Sweden, Guadalajara, Melbourne, Prague, Reykjavik and the countries of Malaysia, Norway and Scotland. For more information about Simpleview, visit www.simpleviewinc.com

Forthglade

Forthglade have made natural dog food in the heart of Devon since 1971, using only the finest ingredients sourced from the UK where ever possible. With both complementary and complete foods, each with exceptionally high meat content, the nourishing recipes are hypo allergenic and free from junk and fillers. Forthglade is proud to make wholesome delicious meals for pets that is tail-waggingly good. For further information visit our website

Elavon

Elavon has been a leader in processing payments, leveraging the world’s best technologies for our customers. We provide powerful payment solutions for all payment types and processing environments, ensuring that your business remains well connected.

Aldwick Estate Vineyard

Aldwick Estate is a family run business based in the Yeo Valley; run by five generations of the same family, it consists of 300 acres of working farm, of which 11.5 acres are vineyards. Since 2013, we have been producing award winning wines, which consist of national and international awards.  We offer Vineyard Tours & Tastings between April and October; a fantastic way to learn all about English viticulture and the work that goes into producing our range of wine.

Exmoor Distillery

Crafted in the Countryside and Infused with Passion

Nestled amongst the steep wooded valleys in the idyllic Somerset countryside is Exmoor Distillery, a young distillery run by husband and wife team, John and Nicola. It’s here that the true essence of Exmoor has been captured in a bottle of premium hand-crafted gin. The distillery’s first creation, Northmoor Gin, named after the couple’s home, is a delight for the discerning gin connoisseur.

The Samphire Club

A private members club launched in April 2016 to promote effective networking throughout the South West and London.

Made up of invited members and corporate partners from the private sector, The Samphire Club will be small enough to be exclusive but with the connections and know-how to bring the South West and London closer together.

Our members enjoy great company, great times and make valuable business connections while relishing the finest food and drink the South West has to offer.

Member benefits include:

A club magazine and membership card with privileges
4 free events a year
Business networking events
The satisfaction of helping us raise funds for our nominated charities and attending the annual charity dinner.
The Samphire Club: good for members, good for business and good for London and the South West.

Sunflower Social Media | Social Media Management and Solutions

Sunflower Social media is highly experienced, hugely efficient, plain speaking and good value for money! We offer a flexible, professional social media management service that is tailored specifically to your needs, whether by the hour, day, week or month.

Cornish Tea & Coffee

Cornish Tea & Coffee new to the scene 7 years ago have grown to be the fastest growing tea & coffee supplier in the UK and now overseas, they roast and blend here in Cornwall (near Looe), a great local family business that are exceptionally proud to be adding to the skills and employment here in the South West.

Development and research is at the forefront of their business, they have developed new systems for recycling the coffee grinds, developed new offerings that have been integral their customers and they are extremely nice too deal with!

Mendip District Council

Mendip is a largely rural district with five distinctive towns - Frome, Glastonbury, Shepton Mallet, Street and Wells - that has the additional benefit of being close to the economic prosperity of Bristol and Bath. 

Whilst the majority of businesses are small-medium in size, the district is home to established global companies and brands including Clarks, Mulberry, Blackthorns and the Glastonbury Festival.

Clockwork Audio Systems

Based in the South West of England and with over 30 years industry experience, we are able to provide complete production services for any type of event large or small including:

-Awards Ceremonies
-Product Launches
-Conferences

We also offer Commercial installation & sales, a range of Audio and Lighting equipment for sale and hire, Cables, Lamps, Tape, Fog/Haze fluids and Connectors.

Welcome to Excellence

Welcome to Excellence is the the leading provider of customer service skills training in the UK.

Why do you need customer service training? In today’s competitive markets, customer service determines the winners and losers.

As the leading deliverer of customer service training in the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors, Welcome to Excellence is also now seen as the way forward by retail businesses, transport providers, local authorities, universities and many other organisations for which quality customer service is critical.  Options include the highly rated 'Welcome Host Gold', 'Welcome All' and 'Exceeding Visitor Expectations' courses, available in-house or through open courses, plus a range of more sector-specific courses.

If entering the Awards, always refer to these and other courses booked by your staff.

Visit Bristol

Destination Bristol is the destination management partnership for Bristol & South Gloucestershire, a joint venture between Bristol City Council and Business West. The organisation works with over 600 major businesses and strategic partners with the aim of increasing business competitiveness within the city, supporting employment and growth within the visitor economy, and raising the profile of the Bristol city region as a world-class place.

Quality in Tourism

Quality in Tourism has been relaunched as an independent accreditation service, offering grading, mystery shopping and specialist tourism and hospitality expertise.

Our experienced team have worked in various tourism and hospitality roles, giving them a true empathy and understanding of the issues within the industry. From mystery customer visits and website reviews to RevPar and marketing analysis, we work with our members to offer practical help and assistance, with the aim of driving additional sales and increasing profit.

Our assessor team can star rate your property without the prescriptive standards of other schemes, recognising your quality and its appeal to customers, without insisting on outdated physical measures irrelevant to your customers. Our entry level scheme gives assurances to your customers, it is appropriately named Safe Clean & Legal TM. We offer special accolades to help you promote your properties to customers looking for your particular offerings.

Our experience, expertise and insight into the industry allows us to respond to current trends and assist members to deliver what the customer actually wants.

Bristol Airport

The West Country is blessed with fantastic tourist attractions, from beautiful natural landscape to culture, history and entertainment. Bristol Airport provides a convenient gateway for visitors, and the good news is that those flying directly into the region are likely to stay longer and spend more, benefiting the local economy. Creating a positive first impression for visitors is at the heart of our brand and a key consideration in the designs of current terminal developments. The West’s world-class tourism offer is also a key factor in attracting new routes and airlines to Bristol Airport. For all these reasons, we are delighted to sponsor these awards and wish all entrants the best of luck.

Purple Cloud

Purple Cloud Consultancy has considerable experience of delivering high quality training and offers a range of fun, innovative and inspirational training workshops.

• As the South West delivery partner for the highly successful Welcome to Excellence programme we offer a range of flexible customer service workshops that can be tailored to any business, destination or sector
• Providing the biggest opportunity for personal development in the South West through the ‘Art of Being Brilliant’ seminars, we offer the opportunity to boost happiness, performance and business by creating a positive environment
• Working with some of the South West’s top trainers we are able to offer a range of bespoke courses covering topics such as Leadership & Management, Team Building, Communication, Performance Management and Business and Personal Skills Development
• Offering a range of customer research packages to provide valuable insight into how to manage customer expectations, through the use of mystery shopping, staff surveys and customer feedback