While not wishing to bore you, here's a small selection of projects we've had on the on the go over the last wee while!

Brooklands Hotel, Weybridge, Surrey | Starting from scratch.

Strategic Tourism has been appointed to deliver not only the search engine optimisation work for this new luxury four star hotel, but also the social media marketing [twitter, facebook and youtube] and pay per click advertising. It's a great pleasure to be working with a group like Delancey Hotels on this prestigious 120 luxury accommodation project, near to the historic Brooklands racing circuit. Here's hoping that the property proves itself as one of the best luxury Surrey hotels over the next few years.

Working with tourism businesses in Ireland.

Not sure where to start with this one, as there are sooooo many businesses benefitting from our expertise. Here's a selection: Hotels: Stillorgan Park Hotel, Morgan Hotel, Wynns Hotel, Capital Hotels, Herbert Park Hotel, Mount Herbert Hotel & Park Plaza Tyrrelstown. Youth Hostels: Avalon House & An Oige. Others: Emmaus Retreat & Conference Centre, Dublinia-The Viking World, Irish Landmark Trust, The Buff Day Spa, Aspects of Ireland, Extreme Ireland, Advantage ICO, Wallace Travel Group, Dalkey Castle, Adams & Butler, Cruzzo Restaurant, Dublin Zoo, Sandyhill B&B and Delfin English School. We're working with even more in the New Year. Phew!

North Yorkshire Partnerships: Training on eMarketing

North Yorkshire Partnerships refers to the Yorkshire Dales & Harrogate Tourism Partnership and the Yorkshire Moors & Coast Tourism Partnership. Between them, they're trying to raise the skills level of their local hospitality businesses and have asked Strategic Tourism Ltd to step in and help. The contract is for a series of training sessions to improve the marketing knowledge of hotels, B&B and guest house owners in the North Yorkshire area. There's an entry level course, then a more advanced course looking at SEO, social media marketing, email marketing and website design.

West Country Cheese: Buy Cheese online

Debbie Priestley took a major career change and bought a cheese shop in Barnstaple in North Devon. She redeveloped it and is now incredibly successful at taking cheese to customers, via markets and food festivals. She wanted to take it further and Strategic Tourism have been helping to steer her online strategy to reach a brand new market; those people who are happy to order cheese online!  The site www.westcountrycheese.co.uk is now live and kicking and a programme of SEO is now underway.

Failte Ireland [Ireland Tourist Board]: Staff training on marketing

Via TEAM, STL was contracted to deliver a series of workshops to staff from varying departments of Failte Ireland. The idea was to bring them up to speed with new ways of marketing so they could use these skills/tools and also advise tourism businesses across Ireland. In particular, the workshops covered CRM [Customer relationship management], use of databases, direct mail, email & SMS marketing. We even went so far as to look at implementing online research, so businesses can more easily get real-time customer feedback; very important in difficult times.

Fenton Hill Farm: Attractive Northumberland Cottage

Wooler, in Northumberland is a fantastic place, particularly if you're look to escape the crowds and take in the stunning Northumbria scenery. From Fenton Hill Farm, you can head out to the Northumberland coast and explore castles, follies and outstanding walking. The trouble is, no-one know they're there, apart from their loyal customers who try to keep Fenton Hill a secret! So, step in STL to advise them on marketing more effectively, particularly online and via email.

Rothay Garden Hotel: One of the finest Grasmere hotels

Rothay Garden in Grasmere in the central Lake District is near to many Ambleside Hotels and Windermere Hotels, but is surely now one of the finest Luxury Lake District Hotels. From a Boutique Hotel perspective, it has had millions spent from a design perspective and now Strategic Tourism is helping to ensure the visitors are there to take the 'Rothay' experience. Chris Carrs has invested blood, sweat and tears [as well as cash] to make this 4 star hotel a reality and has realised that getting specialist advice on making the most of the Internet is crucial to its ongoing success.

Rawcliffe House Farm: Cottages and B&B near Pickering

There's a wee place called Stape, which is very close to Pickering in the North York Moors. Here, set is a lovely valley is Rawcliffe House Farm, owned and managed by the very hard working Duncan and Jan. There are many Pickering Cottages and the odd Pickering B&B, but this place is a fantastic base for exploring the area. STL have been helping with marketing advice and have now taken on some SEO work which is already starting to propel them up Google for priority search phrases, like Pickering Cottages, Pickering B&B and holiday cottage accommodation. Duncan and Jan have now been firmly pulled kicking and screaming into the new world of marketing and are even considering showing availability online. Who knows - maybe they'll stretch to online booking soon!?

The Worsley Arms hotel, Hovingham, Near York

Being a hotel near York, the North York Moors and the Yorkshire coast has real advantages, but being in the relatively unknown (but gorgeous) village of Hovingham brings it's own problems. Location, location, location as the saying goes, but STL is contracted to help to put Hovingham and the Worsley Arms firmly on the map. It is truly one of the nicest hotels near York and with a revised and more aggressive business plan, we'll get this hotel motoring. The plan is also to increase the wedding and corporate trade.

Old Vicarage, Ambleside: Beyond Bed and Breakfast   

The Old Vicarage, Ambleside is a stunning Victorian B&B with 15 rooms. We're saying 'beyond bed and breakfast' as unlike any other B&Bs in the area, they have a good sized swimming pool, sauna and hot tub, as well as private car parking, WiFi and a beautiful terrace area. STL is helping the business focus on new market segments, which means a rebrand, new photography and a complete overhaul of their approach to marketing. A new website and major SEO work will also help to boost bookings to this Ambleside Bed and Breakfast.

STL helps award-winning Lindeth Fell   

Lindeth Fell Country House Hotel is located just outside of Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District. They've recently won the Good Hotel Guide's 'Country House Hotel of the Year' award for 2009 and have attained a 'gold award' with their 3 star rating, as well as a rosette for their restaurant. So why the help? Well it seems they feel they can always use more expertise and are using STL to help with rebranding, marketing strategy development and to improve their levels of booking achieved through online channels.

The world welcomes ClickTrain!  

ClickTrain is the brainchild of Gary Lowthian and Stephen Whiteley. After recognising that flexible training options for hospitality businesses is paramount, they have pulled together a series of downloadable video clips which businesses can watch at their leisure. So whether you want to learn about how to write a marketing plan, develop a brand, implement an email marketing campaign or get your website working in google, go to www.clicktrain.co.uk now and find out more!

Hillthwaite House Hotel

To prove that we don't just work with huge clients, one of our new businesses in Hillthwaite House Hotel. Based in Bowness-on-Windermere, this 3 star, 35 bedroom hotel has fabulous views over the Lake and across to the fells. STL is helping with marketing strategy development, as well as implementing a modernisation programme with particular reference to IT networking, telephony, reservations system and wireless internet access. Working closely with the operations manager and head of reception, STL will also help to implement the marketing campaigns to boost business in leaner times.

The North East on big productivity push   

One North East and their DMO delivery partners are looking to boost the performance of hospitality businesses across the North East. STL has again been contracted to help with over 20 businesses across Northumberland, Hadrians Wall and even down as far south as Redcar. The focus, as we enter more difficult economic conditions, is to make profitability and growth the major aim. Through STL and HALM, we're hopeful that the results will be swift.

Heads in Beds!   

To celebrate five years of STL, we've launched a new website celebrating all of the tourism and hospitality businesses we've enjoyed working with. Gary Lowthian has chosen those that he feels offer great value to their customers. From camp sites to luxury five star guest accommodation they're all listed at www.headsinbeds.co.uk  - why not have a look and click through to their own websites for further details?

East of England gets the STL treatment   

Yet another regional development agency is using the skills at STL, with EEDA [East of England Development Agency] utilising us. They're encouraging their local tourism businesses to get more productive, and with a cafe, ice cream producer and vineyard on the books [among others], it should be an interesting contract to deliver!

One North East contract STL  

North East England's regional development agency, One North East is using Strategic Tourism Ltd to deliver elements of it new 'Profit Through Productivity' programme. The contract covers business coaching and workshop development/delivery with an array of hospitality businesses from self-catering agencies to hotels and restaurants. Initially kicking off in Northumberland, the programme will move to other parts of the region in 2008.

Grants for Yorkshire Dales businesses  

Three businesses in the Yorkshire Dales have benefited from Strategic Tourism's assistance in sourcing grant funding. Askrigg Cottage Holidays, Arkle Moor Riding Centre and The Wheatsheaf Inn at Carperby have all received notification of funding awards from North Yorkshire Country Council.

This aim of the financial assistance varied from business to business, but was targeted mainly at improving branding, eMarketing, reservations and online booking options.

 New work in Lancashire and Blackpool

The North West Regional Development Agency are funding a programme of business support in the North West, assisting tourism businesses in the region. Strategic Tourism have been appointed as one of the Business Coaches, assisting in improving the productivity and profitability of 12 businesses across the region.

The businesses include restaurants, guest houses, hotels and self-catering operators. Funding is via the Objective 2 european funding pot and is being administered by HALM.

 More Cumbrian businesses benefit  

Four tourism businesses in Cumbria are being financially supported by Cumbria Tourism to receive assistance from Strategic Tourism. McMenamins restaurant in Maryport, Seatoller Visitor Information Point, Shepherd's Hotel in Cockermouth and Parkfoot Holiday Park on Ullswater have all signed up to a subsidised programme of assistance which will see new systems developed, improved staff performance and better bottom line profitability.

Support for Lake District Farm Tourism Businesses   

The North West Farm Tourism Initiative have contacted Strategic Tourism to manage business support services for an array of farm tourism businesses in Cumbria and the Lake District. These range from farm attractions and self-catering operators to B&Bs and new diversification projects.

A big part of this work was to come up with new ideas to make the businesses more profitable and attract new market segments. For some businesses, sourcing grant funding was also important to support their future development.

Support for Ramada, Bury St.Edmunds  

Clive Nicholls and his business parter run a small chain of hotels in the Suffolk area. They'd recently taken over the 'Butterfly' hotel on the outskirts of Bury St.Edmunds and rebranded it as a Ramada. Although they have bucket loads of experience in the hospitality sector, they asked STL to have a look at the current performance and carry out some benchmarking. Performance gaps were identified in terms of marketing and HR which are now being addressed. Ever conscious of the need for monitoring customer service levels and negotiation skills of their staff, they are also using STL for a programme of mystery shopping.

  New corporate package for Spa hotel

Clarice House is a chain of 3 spa hotels in the East of England.

Very successful businesses by all accounts, so it's maybe strange why they'd request some consultancy . . . . but maybe having an open mind and being open to new ideas is why they're doing so well!?! To boost occupancy at key times, STL helped the business develop a new 'corporate spa' package to complement their very successful leisure 'bliss breaks' packages. This includes accommodation, free Wi-Fi access, free use of the outstanding leisure facilities and a 15 minute 'de-stress' shoulder massage.

Just the thing for highly strung executives!

eMarketing contract for Derbyshire-The Peak District

Derbyshire County Council realise the benefits that the Internet can bring their destination. Derbyshire-The Peak District is a very well known brand and their website is a key tool in their marketing portfolio. STL was commissioned to initially develop an eMarketing plan to boost visitors to the site, and then to implement the recommendations. This included website optimisation [to make the site easily found in search engines], link building, email marketing and pay per click advertising. Since starting the project we've managed to more than double the number of people accessing the website - that's a lot of potential visitors to the region!!