The QHotels Collection’s mission is to make their guests’ stay as stress-free and enjoyable as possible. Spanning the country, the hotels are nestled in the most picturesque countryside and preside near vibrant towns and cities, but each with its own individual character – ensuring guests enjoy a unique experience, whether staying for business or pleasure.
The QHotels Collection has earned its reputation for its impeccable service and leading spa facilities. It takes pride in offering its guests a combination of opulence, comfort, and tranquillity. Most of the hotels in the collection have a health club and spa, and seven of them have a championship golf course. All venues share a commitment to memorable experiences and exemplary service.
Building on its legacy, starting with just two facilities in 2003, the company is now The QHotels Collection. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength, offering a wide and varied experience to please different customer preferences.
“The QHotels Collection venues live and breathe first-class service,” says Keith Pickard, Director of Golf, Health Club and Spa. “The mix of the facilities and offering, combined with superior service, is what makes us different and what we strive to further improve. The QHotels Collection has invested considerably in recent years to make each guest experience very special.”
“We offer a diverse and sophisticated product to meet the needs of a very wide and varied audience from company teams through to individuals seeking a romantic or relaxing break. We host meetings, conferences, weddings, golf groups as well as leisure breaks, and each and every one of our guests is treated with the utmost care through any area of our business; from reception to food and beverage, from health club to spa and golf.
Best product, best people
Pickard further affirms that this level of service can be achieved only by well trained, committed, and dedicated staff and the company is well aware of the value of its core asset. In the wake of the pandemic, when recruiting and retaining talented staff in the hospitality sector was a challenge, The QHotels Collection based its progress on an employee’ value proposition.
“Investing in people is one of our priorities. The QHotels Collection has recently defined a new human resources strategy that is underpinned by a career development pathway. Creating a welcoming and rewarding working environment is not just about salary, it’s about being valued, it’s about the treatment, the learning and development. We value our people greatly, we offer some attractive staff benefits and investing in our people will remain high on our priority list.”
“Our value proposition is about exceptional customer service, and this intertwines with investing in people – we could have the best product, the best sales strategies, the best marketing campaigns, but if we don’t have the best people, we will struggle to achieve our goals. I’m proud to say that we have great people in our businesses.”
He further affirms that as a responsible company, “The QHotels Collection takes not only its staff wellbeing but also environmental sustainability very seriously. The QHotels Collection is a proud member of the Green Tourism Scheme and environmental considerations impact all activities throughout the business from the use of environmentally friendly cleaning products to expanding electric car charging facilities across all hotels. All lighting has been replaced with low energy equivalents and great care is taken to conserve the hotels green spaces and establish biodiversity projects where appropriate.”
On a growth trajectory
Despite the current market challenges, The QHotels Collection has grown over the last few years and is set to stay on the same course, backed by investment. “We have invested heavily across our portfolio over the last four years – over 3 million pounds have been spent on a complete redevelopment of our health club offering, and another 2 million pounds on developing our spa offering,” says Pickard.
He notes that one of the areas that was not negatively affected by the pandemic – quite the contrary in fact – was golf. Participation levels skyrocketed and golf facilities have increased. The QHotels Collection benefitted from this development and golf course and golf facilities have also been significantly enhanced. “We are investing not only in improving the golf courses, but really tapping into the technology. To this end, we have expanded our partnership with TrackMan, a cutting-edge driving range technology company.”
Last year, the company upgraded practice facilities with a TrackMan range at its Oulton Hall Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort near Leeds and following the resounding success of the pilot venue, has invested in elevating the golf experience at two additional resorts, Belton Woods Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort and Dunston Hall Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort.
“Redeveloping our driving range at Oulton Hall has been a standout success and opened us up to a completely new audience of users – families, groups of young people and corporates. It has also attracted new beginners who can potentially become members at our facilities,” Pickard reflects.
In concluding, he affirms that after a highly successful period over the last four years, The QHotels Collection is set to continue its growth trajectory with an attractive offer of comfort and relaxation, as its hotels are ready and waiting to give a warm welcome to business and leisure visitors alike. “Our primary focus at the moment is optimising our current collection of hotels, to further enhance our clients’ experience. This is where investment will be made in the coming months.”
