CROW WOOD LEISURE
AS THE CROW FLIES
CRO W WO O D HOTEL & SPA RESORT
CROW WOOD LEISURE
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CROW WOOD LEISURE
WE LEARN HOW CROW WOOD LEISURE MAINTAINS EXCELLENT CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS WHILE CONTINUALLY EXPANDING AND RENEWING ITS SITE OFFERING.
AS THE CROW FLIES PROJECT MANAGED BY: LUCY PULLING
It is almost a cliché – holiday makers looking forward to their wellearned trip to a luxury resort, only to find, horror of horrors, that there is a building site next to their hotel room! But while it might be the archetypal holiday horror story, the fact is that sometimes holiday resorts need to upgrade and expand their facilities, and it is simply not possible to shut down the entire business until that work is complete.
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Oliver Brown, Managing Director, Crow Wood Leisure.
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his was the challenge Crow Wood Leisure has faced as it spent the last 18 months making a major investment in its Woodland Spa, expanding it to become one of the largest spas in the UK. “When we expanded the spa, we were knitting together an existing facility with a building site, which is disruptive,” explains Oliver Brown, Managing Director of Crow Wood Leisure. “You are asking staff and customers to buy into that investment journey throughout that process. When we first established the hotel, 7 years ago, we were creating a new build on a virgin piece of land. That is far easier than adapting an existing building and knitting it together with an already trading business.”
But while it might seem like the set-up for a holiday nightmare, the actual outcome was altogether different. “We rose to that challenge well, and came out of it with a lot of goodwill from the customer base,” Brown tells us.
CLARITY OF PURPOSE
The secret was the element of surprise – specifically, removing it. “You have to set clear expectations up front,” Brown says. “We were really transparent with everyone, through prebooking communications, social media and our website. When we gave booking confirmations, we were super clear about what was being disrupted and when, especially when it came to alerting treatment clients about the noise disruption they would experience.”
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A PARTNERSHIP DELIVERING GROWTH & OPPORTUNITY
Strong partnerships are built on shared values, mutual trust and a commitment to long-term success. We believe the relationship between Young’s Beers, Wines & Spirits and multi-national Carlsberg Britvic is a perfect example of what can be achieved when two businesses, regardless of scale, work closely together. Young’s Beers, Wines & Spirits are a family-owned drinks wholesaler supplying the on-trade hospitality sector across the NorthWest. We specialise in the distribution of beers, wines, spirits, soft drinks & snacks to pubs, bars, clubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues. Being a genuine local wholesaler, we offer delivery and collection services 7 days per week. Our company motto is “Focused on Customer Service”. The hospitality industry is a huge challenge in itself; that’s why we strive to make our order process, deliveries etc. as smooth as possible. Over the past year, our partnership with Carlsberg Britvic has continued to strengthen, delivering tangible benefits for customers and consumers. By combining our local market expertise, service excellence and distribution capability with Carlsberg Britvic’s market-leading portfolio of beers, lagers, ciders and soft drinks, we have created a platform for sustainable growth across the hospitality sector. One of the most exciting developments has been our work together at Crow Wood Leisure, our first draught installation in the lounge bar marks the beginning of what we hope is a highly promising journey. We are delighted to be a supplier partner to Crow Wood Leisure, and it reinforces our commitment to work with the best and be the best.
Mark Donnelly Managing Director, Youngs BWS Unit 18 - 20, Churchill Way Lomeshaye Industrial Estate Nelson, BB9 6RT 01282 617 775 www.youngsbws.co.uk orders@youngsbws.co.uk
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CROW WOOD LEISURE
A PREMIUM DESTINATION
Today Crow Wood Leisure boasts an on-site hotel with 76 bedrooms, and another ten rooms in its onsite farmhouse accommodation. The site is also home to three restaurants, one each for its hotel, health club, and spa. It also accommodates a premium small-sided football venue with pitches suitable for five-a-side and seven-a-side games, owned and operated by Crow Wood. “It’s a bit niche, but it’s proven to be a good part of the business,” Brown tells us. It all combines to make a strong offering, but it’s the site’s continued expansion and improvement that keeps customers coming back. “I think most of our customers would recognise our unique selling point as the continued investment in the site,” Brown says. “We are owner-managed, which means we can take a different perspective when it comes to timescales for capital investments.” This transparency, combined with gifts of restaurant credit where appropriate, and bespoke conflict management training for all therapeutic and front-ofhouse staff, turned a potentially alienating experience into one that guaranteed return business. “Being honest with people was appreciated, and we got a lot of return visits from people who were there during that build programme,” Brown tells us. “People came away saying that we were fair and honest, and the end result is a really nice, expanded facility.” It is a story that exemplifies a philosophy Crow Wood Leisure has followed since 2001 – the resort celebrates its 25th birthday this December. For those 25 years, it has provided a luxury hospitality experience to countless customers,
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winning shelves full of regional and national awards. Over its lifetime, Crow Wood Leisure has been named National Health Club of the Year, Best Spa in the UK, and has even been recognised globally by the World Spa Awards. The resort has received recognition for its standards as a wedding venue, and its restaurants have been recognised with rosettes and awards in their own right. “Each aspect has performed well, and we’re really pleased with what we’ve built,” says Brown. “We have a strong management team, stability, 420 staff on-site, and an excellent track record for bringing younger people into the company to rise through the ranks, receive training and achieve good senior midmanagement positions.”
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CROW WOOD LEISURE
But while the investment is continuous, the site as it stands is one with no weak points. The on-site hotel was opened in 2019, and since then every part of the resort has seen some form of major reinvestment, even during difficult times such as Covid. “Every time customers come here, they see something new,” Brown points out. “That’s something we will try and stay true to in the coming years.” That is an investment in the people, as well as the building, and Crow Wood’s staff receive the benefits of a range of internal training programmes including leadership, management, and “train the trainer” courses that are open to any member of staff, regardless of whether they are already in a leadership position. Those internal training programmes are augmented with third-party training opportunities, such as NVQs for everything from housekeeping, cheffing, and food hygiene.
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While Crow Wood Leisure believes strongly in offering all the training it can to its people, Brown is aware that the nature of the business means that ultimately they are often training someone else’s future employee. “Because we are a single-site business there’s a limitation on progression,” Brown admits. However, to retain talent, Crow Wood can offer employees a great deal of variety – and in return have a staff with a truly holistic perspective on the business. “What we try and do instead is make sure that all our different departments work in conjunction with each other, and give our people the freedom to move around the site. It is a real strength to have someone who started working on reception moving to the restaurants for 12 to 18 months, then taking a position in spa reservations, because it means they have seen and understood so much of the business and the customer journey. That makes them wellequipped to give customers the best experience.”
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CROW WOOD LEISURE
THE WORK CONTINUES
As well as expanding its facilities, Crow Wood Leisure is also expanding its presence in new markets, particularly its suitability for corporate functions such as business award nights or partner away days. “We deliver for Premier League and Championship football clubs, charities, proms, business events, all sorts of different things,” Brown says. “There is more functionality here than we can even get across on the website. There is a lot we can deliver for the corporate market.” While constant improvement and renewal is still the name of the game, for now Crow Wood Leisure is undergoing a period of consolidation. It has taken out debts to fund the latest round of expansion and refurbishment, and is already looking into paying that debt back ahead of schedule. “We have invested in refurbishing the pool hall and the health club with a strip-out and refit that finishes at the end of this month. It has been disruptive, but we will continue to reinvest in the site,” Brown shares. “Not in the next couple of years to the extent that we did with the spa and its £16 million extension, but we are finding ways to refine what we’ve got.”
“EVERY TIME CUSTOMERS COME HERE, THEY SEE SOMETHING NEW.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM
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CROW WOOD LEISURE
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