insideKENT Magazine Issue 40 - July 2015 | Page 14

NEWS

LEEDS CASTLE AWARDED 2015 TRIPADVISOR
CERTIFICATES OF EXCELLENCE
“The loveliest Castle in the world” has been
recognised as top performing in five categories
by reviewers on the 'world’s largest travel site'.
Leeds Castle in Kent, today announced that it
has received a TripAdvisor® Certificate of
Excellence award in five categories. Now in its
fifth year, the award celebrates excellence in
hospitality and is given only to establishments
that consistently achieve great reviews on
TripAdvisor.
Leeds Castle won the awards for delivering a
superior customer experience as a tourist
attraction and for the Stable Courtyard B&B,
Great British Kitchen, Fairfax Restaurant and
Knight’s Glamping.

Photos © Leeds Castle

When selecting Certificate of Excellence winners,
TripAdvisor uses a proprietary algorithm to
determine the honourees that take into account
the quality, quantity and latest reviews and
opinions submitted by travellers on TripAdvisor
over a 12-month period, as well as business’s
tenure and ranking on the Popularity Index on
the site. To qualify, a business must maintain an
overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four
out of five, have a minimum number of reviews,
and must have been listed on TripAdvisor for at
least 12 months.

Chief executive of Leeds Castle, Bill Lash, said:
“Winning the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence
is a true source of pride for the entire team at
Leeds Castle and we would like to thank all of
our past guests who took the time to complete
a review on TripAdvisor. There is no greater seal
of approval than being recognised by our
customers. With the TripAdvisor Certificate of
Excellence based on customer reviews, the
accolade is a remarkable vote of confidence to
our business and our continued commitment to
excellence.”
President of TripAdvisor for business, Marc
Charron, said: "TripAdvisor is pleased to honour
exceptional hospitality businesses that have
received consistent praise and recognition by
travellers on the site. By putting a spotlight on
businesses that are focused on delivering great
service to customers, TripAdvisor not only helps
drive increasing hospitality standards around the
world, it also gives businesses both large and
small the ability to shine and stand out from the
competition.”
Leeds Castle attracts half a million visitors a year
and is located near Maidstone in Kent just off
Junction 8 of the M20, within easy reach of
London. For more information, visit
www.leeds-castle.com.

TOURISM MANAGEMENT STUDENT WINS KENT GUILD
LOGO DESIGN COMPETITION
Kent’s new guild to support careers in tourism
has a new logo, designed by one of the future
stars of the industry.
The Kent Hospitality, Tourism and Transport
Guild (Kent Guild) launched in April – in partnership
with Kent County Council, education providers
and other agencies – is set to encourage more
people to consider a career in tourism and to
support businesses in recruiting young people.
Earlier this year, Visit Kent challenged tourism,
leisure and events students at Canterbury Christ
Church University to design a logo for the Guild.
With the help of their lecturers, 11 students
created a series of designs to meet the needs
of two distinct markets: young people and
business leaders.
The students market-tested six logos at selected
corporate events and with Visit Kent, and a final
shortlist of four logos was drawn up for the Kent
Guild Steering Group to vote on.
After lengthy debate, 24-year-old tourism
management student Kristina Zelinkova was
picked as the winner. She and the other
participants were presented with certificates by
Kent County Council member for economic
development, Mark Dance, this May.

Winner Kristina Zelinkova and Mark Dance with the logo competition finalists © Visit Kent

She said: “This was a really interesting project
that engaged young people and business. I was
so pleased to win; it felt like all the hard work had
really paid off.
“The Guild is a really great project and is a great
opportunity to show that tourism is both an
exciting and rewarding industry to work in.”
Kristina has just finished her final year, and she
has secured a job with Buzzlines.
Mark Dance said: “The standard of all the entries
was extremely high; everyone worked very hard
and it was difficult to choose one outright winner.
But clearly Kristina’s ideas fit in very well with the

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ethos of the Guild, and we are all very pleased
with the result.”
The tourism sector is one of the few industries
to see a growth in jobs over the last few years,
and research shows that the sector needs to
recruit a total of 843,000 staff by 2025 if it is
going to achieve its full potential. Further research
by Visit Kent has