Most excellent customer service

A talented Cotswold employee has scooped Silver at the prestigious South West Tourism Awards for Outstanding Customer Service.

Twenty-two-year-old Francesca Brennan, Assistant Catering Manager from Farncombe Estate in Broadway wowed the judges with her outstanding contribution to excellence.

Having only worked at the Estate – which offers a wide range of leisure courses and study breaks - for just over a year, Francesca was recognised for going the extra mile for staff and customers.  This included cross-country adventures to find Halal suppliers at the last minute, boosting morale with Christmas-themed snow days and one-to-one training for each of her 19 staff.

Richard Howdle, Operations Manager at Farncombe Estate, said: “We are especially proud of Frankie, who plays a leading role in our catering team.

“She works closely with customers, dealing with their individual needs – and she does it with an infectious smile.

“We are delighted to win such a prestigious award for customer service, especially as these awards cover the whole of the South West, the UK’s prime region for tourism.”

There were 67 different awards distributed to the region’s top achievers last night (6 February) at the event held at the Rivera Conference Centre, Torquay.

The winners were greeted by a star-studded line up, hosted by TV presenter Teresa Driscoll, and presented with their awards by journalist and broadcaster Simon Calder, Senior Travel Editor of the Independent.

“I am overjoyed to have received such an award, it really makes the hard work we do worthwhile,” said award-winning Francesca Brennan.

“It was a wonderful evening and such a great opportunity to be recognised by my industry peers, we’ll be working hard to achieve bigger and better things this year!”

Farncombe Estate has won a number of awards in the past 12 months, including Cotswold Leisure Break of the Year 2011 judged by an independent panel from London and Home Counties Today and a silver Green Tourism Award.