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York tourism business wins towering award for excellent staff training

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A Yorkshire business has put the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower in the shade by winning an award for its excellent staff training and customer service from the World Federation of Great Towers (WFGT) based on the positive visitor experience at the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth.

York-based Continuum operates six visitor attractions across the UK, including the Spinnaker Tower and York’s Chocolate Story, in York, and has invested significantly in creating an award-winning Guest Service Charter, which is supported by an extensive induction process and on-going training using WorldHost Training for all staff, customer-facing or not.

Other recent award wins that demonstrate Continuum’s commitment to delivering excellent customer service are:

  • York’s Chocolate Story won the BETA British Youth Travel Award for the Best Leisure Destination, December 2013;
  • Spinnaker Tower won a Silver for Best Attraction at the Tourism South East’s Beautiful South Awards, November 2013;
  • The Real Mary King’s Close is a finalist in the Hotel/Leisure and Travel CIM Marketing Excellence Awards for their Imagine… campaign, November 2013;
  • Kent Life’s Tony Ward was highly commended in Tourism South East’s Beautiful South Awards, for his dedication to providing visitors with outstanding customer service, November 2013

“Excellent customer service is one of the foundations of our 30-year success and a platform for our growth. It underpins our expertise as operators and enables us to work with different partners with our team enabling the best in guest experience,” says Kevin Smith, Continuum’s operations director. “We developed our Guest Service Charter to embed the company’s visions, values and excellence into guest service. Since its implementation the Charter has proved its worth in greater levels of understanding and confidence in providing great service measured by employee surveys, guest feedback and mystery shopper scores. We have an amazing team and it’s fantastic that they are totally focussed on and committed to meeting the needs of our visitors at all times.”

According to Juliana Delaney, chief executive of the Continuum Group, customer service has never been so important and people can learn a lot from tourism businesses which operate at the sharp end of customer service and can’t hide behind anonymous phone lines: “Society has changed a lot in the last few years, the reality of consumers today is that they expect more – sometimes far more than it is ever possible to give – and do not hold back if their unrealistic expectations have not been fulfilled, damning the source of their dissatisfaction with just a few casual words and a click of the mouse or a tweet. It’s time to sharpen up your customer service skills.”  

Juliana’s view was echoed by Lord Young who opened the Visit England Visitor Economy Conference (on 5 December 2013) by saying how important our welcome and customer service is as a country to the growth of tourism in the UK.

ENDS

For more media information please contact:

Ralph Hewitt, Group PR Officer at Continuum, St Edmund's House, Margaret Street, York, YO10 4UX. Tel: 01904 527 700. Email: rhewitt@continuum-group.com. www.continuum-group.com

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Continuum Leading Attractions Group

Set up in 1984, Continuum owns and operates six UK visitor attractions which collectively welcome nearly one million visitors a year. These include The Real Mary King’s Close in Edinburgh, The Canterbury Tales in Canterbury, Kent Life in Maidstone, Oxford Castle Unlocked in Oxford, York’s CHOCOLATE Story in York and the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth.

Continuum employs more than 200 people, with 20 based in the York head office.

The World Federation of Great Towers

The World Federation of Great Towers is an international association of great monuments which includes some of the most famous buildings in the world. It was founded in 1989 and now has over 40 members, including the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower and the Burj Khalifa.

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Continuum Leading Attractions Group

Set up in 1984, Continuum owns and operates six UK visitor attractions which collectively welcome nearly one million visitors a year.  These include The Real Mary King’s Close in Edinburgh, The Canterbury Tales in Canterbury, Kent Life in Maidstone, Oxford Castle Unlocked in Oxford, York’s CHOCOLATE Story in York and the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth.

Continuum employs more than 200 people, with 20 based in the York head office.

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