The way in which the hospitality industry is represented is important to all of those who work within it in order to make sure any changes made are beneficial and the overall opinion of it is good. Having a collective voice with many aspects of the industry pulling in the same direction will also help to get things done and achieve positive outcomes.
It is interesting then that two organisations within the hospitality sector have decided to rebrand or reshuffle their operations recently. They are the British Hospitality Association (BHA) and English Wine Producers (EWP), which is the marketing board for English wine. These organisations are different in who they market to and what they try to achieve, but they are the representatives of the industry to customers and the government.
The BHA has undertaken a complete overhaul of the way it is structured with the introduction of a board of directors. On this board are 17 people given the task of representing the opinions, grievances and needs of the entire hospitality industry. They do however have rather a lot of experience between them, including managing directors and presidents of companies such as InterContinental and Hilton.
Alan Parker, chairman of the board, said: "The new BHA structure will enhance the association's ability to deliver on its plan and at the same time, better serve its members during these challenging times."
It is important that hospitality gets its image right as it is the fifth biggest industry in the UK and an important factor in bringing tourists to the country. Other sectors rely on it in this respect and therefore its representatives should be listened to and measures put in place to ensure it performs well.
With the English wine trade now reaching production of three million bottles a year it is bigger than it has ever been before and the EWP has rebranded itself to reflect that.
A new logo has been designed with the idea to provide peace of mind to potential purchasers that it is a quality product they are buying.
Julia Trustram Eve, marketing director at EWP, said: "The aim is to create a bold message to use on publicity, marketing and point of sale material, enabling outlets from restaurants to off licences to link their customers with the excitement of the year, and of course with English wines."
Who represents the industry and how it is done can affect the day-to-day workings of establishments in the hospitality sector enormously.
