Harrogate’s hospitality and tourism heroes are celebrated at sell-out awards evening

This year was the fourteenth year of the sell-out awards evening, which is organised by the Harrogate Hospitality & Tourism Association (HHTA), and hosts Simon Cotton and David Ritson were joined by the General Managers from the member Harrogate hotels from HHTA and proud award sponsors to present the coveted award categories.

The Harrogate Hospitality and Tourism Awards aim to promote the town’s hospitality offering through celebrating and rewarding those individuals who show the highest levels of commitment and strive towards excellence on the town’s behalf.

During February and March this year, members of the public and visitors to Harrogate were invited to nominate individuals who they thought deserved special recognition.

This year another new award, Housekeeper of the Year was added and helped generate over 1000 nominations before a shortlist was chosen by judges across the thirteen categories.

David Ritson, General Manager of the Old Swan Hotel and co-organiser of the event said: “The awards are a fantastic occasion for the town and beyond.

"They reward not only the winners, but all those who are shortlisted and work in every area of hospitality, recognising the effort and commitment they make on a daily basis.”

“We received so many entries this year and after what our industry has been through recently it was great to see such a large number of the community getting involved.

"We have been able to reward some very worthy winners.

"The nominations we receive outline the amazing feats that this industry can generate and we are extremely lucky to live and work in a town where the community comes together to make it such a great place.”

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What could be described as the most prestigious award of the night, the Harrogate Ambassador of the Year was won by Harry Satloka.

Harry saw an opportunity that Harrogate's tourism scene would benefit from hugely and has brought a fantastic visitor experience to our town.

Through his free walking tours around town, the professionalism and passion that he puts into promoting Harrogate can be seen by a quick look at his impressive TripAdvisor page where almost every one of the near 300 reviews score him a five out of five for the tour.

Having recently expanded his tours to included primary schools and educating the next generation about our great town, he's also recently launched a 'drinks tour' promoting the great pubs and bar venues of Harrogate.

He was also used by Destination Harrogate in their recent Christmas Campaign in London promoting the direct train service whereby Harry greeted guests at Kings Cross and spoke to them on the train in First Class about what Harrogate has to offer during their journey up.

Simon Cotton, Managing Director at the HRH Group and co-organiser of the awards added: “We would like to thank everyone who supported us in the awards; we had a record response to nominations and a record number of people wanting to attend the dinner and awards at the Royal Hall.

"The hospitality sector is so important to this town’s economy and it is wonderful to see the crème de la crème of their category being acclaimed for their efforts; both those shortlisted and those who won deserve their ‘moment in the spotlight’ and it was great to see everyone celebrating."

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The Award winners were:

Waiter/Waitress of the Year – sponsored by Harrogate Spring Water

Happiness Brown – Majestic Hotel

Bar Person of the Year – sponsored by Matthew Clark

Kallum Atkinson – Fat Badger

Chef of the Year – sponsored by Sykes House Farm

Callum Bower – Rudding Park

Team of the Year – sponsored by Platinum

Starling Bar Café Kitchen

Newcomer of the Year – sponsored by Harrogate College

Hopkins @ Horticap

Unsung Hero – sponsored by Bidfood

Louiza Noland - Banyan

Best Achievement of the Year – sponsored by Harrogate BID

Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival

Outstanding Customer Service – sponsored by Slingsby

Domenico Ponziani – Sasso

Restaurant of the Year – sponsored by the World of James Herriot

Drum & Monkey

Bar of the Year – sponsored by Timothy Taylor’s

Tap on Tower Street

Receptionist of the Year – Sponsored by Bookers Wholesale

Sam Ramsden – Rudding Park

Housekeeper of the Year – Sponsored by Beaucare

Elaine Long – Old Swan Hotel

Harrogate Ambassador of the Year sponsored by Harrogate Christmas Market

Harry Satloka

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