Who will win the Oliver Barnett Award this year?

Who is the most promising customer-facing person employed in the hospitality, leisure, travel or tourism industries? That question will be answered on Monday 21st May when the Olive Barnett Award winner is announced at the stunning Langham hotel in London, which is the principal sponsor for this yearís competition.

Eight finalists have been chosen and will be facing some tough questioning on the Sunday and Monday prior to the announcement, with the judges looking for real commitment and excellence in the winner, who will receive an enviable prize package to help them continue up the ladder to success. They will receive a 1000 a year grant for the next three years to assist in their career development, plus attend the week long Hospitality Management Summer course at the world famous Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne in Switzerland. The second and third prizewinners will each receive a three-year career development grant of 750 and 500 per year respectively.

The finalists were chosen from a 500-word essay on the question: ëone of the greatest challenges facing hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism is the recruitment and retention of competent customer-facing employees. Discuss the impact that this has on the business and describe the approach you would use to resolve this issueí.

Before the announcement the finalists will attend a training programme with Learnpurple and with Ian Scarth of the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne. Each will then have the opportunity make a presentation to the judges on their career achievements to date and for the next five years.

The Langham, which celebrated its 140th anniversary last year, is proud to be Londonís original grand hotel. It is also the flagship of Langham Hotels International, a dynamic, modern hospitality ownership and management company. LHIís portfolio currently comprises properties in London, Boston, Melbourne, Auckland and two in Hong Kong. The Langham has just opened a new bar, Artesian, designed by Davis Collins Studio, who have also been commissioned to transform the la carte restaurant, which will be unveiled in the autumn.

Duncan Palmer, Managing Director of the Langham said: îAs we reposition The Langham over the next three years, with a multi million pound renovation program throughout the property, as one of the very best hotels in London recruiting, training and retaining employees on the front line is crucial to delivering consistent service to our customers which is on Brand with every service facility in the hotel. We have developed a strong employee service culture program for our front of house operations here at The Langham since 2004 and this program is now being launched throughout our company worldwide. Nonetheless each and every hour, each day, needs total commitment from all our customer facing employees to not only to continually raise the overall standards for our customers but also to build our reputation locally and internationally for the future as a serious Luxury Hotel Operator.î

The Olive Barnett Award 2007 finalists are: Catherine Capati, Assistant Manager Front Desk, the Connaught, London; Roman Griesshaber, Duty Manager, Claridgeís, London; Toby Hartley, General Catering Manager, In House Catering, London; Christina Heindl, Restaurant Manager, Swissotel The Howard, London; Sabrina Hencke, Graduate Trainee Manager, Crowne Plaza London ñ The City; Rachel Holman, Account Manager Corporate Sales, Crowne Plaza London ñ The City; Marta Klehr, Reception Shift Leader, The Berkeley, London; and Lonneke Verhaegh, Duty Manager, Rubens hotel, London.