Hotels and Travel

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Former Labour spin doctor to address ITM conference

Former Labour Party spin doctor Alastair Campbell will be a prime speaker at the Institute of Travel Management conference in Dublin being held on April 16-18.

He will join Ian Pearson as the two keynote speakers at ITM's 34th annual conference, which is taking place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Northwood, near Dublin Airport.

More than 300 delegates have already registered for the event, which will also see a significant increase in the number of sessions taking place over the two days, according to the ITM.

Best Front of House Award for Simon Girling at the Ritz Restaurant

Simon Girling, the Restaurant Manager at The Ritz London, has been announced Best Front of House award winner at the 7th annual TATLER Restaurant Awards, which was held in London recently. The award was one of ten presented by Jeremy Wayne, Tatler's Restaurant Editor and Michel Janneau, Executive Vice President of Champagne Louis Roederer.

Following formal training in the hotel and catering industry, Simon Girling was a UK Young Waiter of the Year finalist in 1992 and a Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine Acorn Award winner in 1998. He was appointed Restaurant Manager at The Ritz in 2002 - Simon's career shows 16 years experience in some of the country's top restaurants including City Rhodes, The Greenhouse and The Castle Hotel in Taunton.

On receiving his TATLER award Simon said "I am honoured and delighted to have received this award. While there are many opportunities for the Chef to shine in the culinary arena, there are very few associations that recognize the importance of the front of house manager in a restaurant which makes this acknowledgement even more rewarding."

Cardiff Hotel Bookings affected by New Wembley

Robert Barnard, PKF's partner for Hotel Consultancy Services, said: "Cardiff did not have such a good month and the opening of the new Wembley stadium earlier in the year is likely to be the biggest factor affecting the city's numbers.

"However, overall for the year Cardiff, and the regions as a whole, have recorded healthy growth – Cardiff achieved a 3.4% rise in rooms yield for the whole of 2007, while the regions as whole achieved a 3.7% rise in rooms yield."

view Cardiff Hotels online here

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