Nicole told us “I haven’t got my hands on it yet as i got it sent to my home address but it will be my treat for finishing my degree, but I have no intentions of sharing it! It will probably be finished within a few days as I’m a chocoholic- my mum and my boyfriend’s mum bought me eggs for Easter and they were demolished within 2 days!”

Nichole hasn’t yet visited any of the umi Hotels, with all her studying there’s little time for galavanting! Although, after all the hard work she’s put in at University there is sure to be a well deserved break on the cards, perhaps a Moscow adventure?

Everyone at umi wishes Nicole the best of luck with her Degree- we hope she gets the results she deserves!

The success of the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme (6 million journeys across London in the first year of the scheme) has led to an increased number of hotel guests asking about cycling tours and bike facilities.

PleaseCycle founder Anthony Ganjou said “We noticed 5 of the top 10 London attractions on Tripadvisor.com were cycling tours and yet of the 100 hotel concierges we phoned, less than 2% offered information or advice on cycling.  The hotel cycle hub instantly allows partners to give their guests a free online resource covering everything cycling in London, it will also allow them to get money off tours when they take a Boris Bike and find other cycle friendly activities.”

The mobile and iPad-friendly cycle hub comes completely tailored to our Bayswater location showing safe cycle routes, local Barclays Cycle Hire Stations and the best apps to help visitors get around London on two wheels.  Content on the cycle hub has been created by a selection of leading professional cyclists who know London inside out.  Later in the year, users will even be able to redeem discounts from retailers when they cycle around the city.

Umi Hotels founder Steve Lowy said of the launch “It made a lot of sense to create a branded digital space where our guests could instantly access everything they need to know about cycling in London.”

The umi cycle hub can be found at umi.pleasecycle.com and allows guests to access routes, tours, weather information and in time, discounts for London, from their smart phone.  The hub will be dynamic with new routes, official information and new cycle hotspots continually being updated online.

Other hotels interested in having a cycle hub created for their brand should contact PleaseCycle on +44(0)20 7631 2090.

On hearing the news of her win, Jo wrote: “I am thrilled to have won. My daughter has been hankering after one for a while.”

Jo’s daughter Paige is now the proud owner of said iPod and Jo reliably informs us that it’s already being put to good use: “Paige is listening to all her current favourites on the iPod, including Snow Patrol, Jessie J, Ed Sheeran and Adele.”

Although Jo hasn’t stayed at umi yet, she subscribed to the newsletter after seeing the hotel group mentioned in a press release. As a review blogger, Jo is always on the look out for great ideas and deals she can blog about and umi’s attractive rates have left her in no doubt that she’ll be making a trip to stay at one of the umi locations in the not too distant future.

Another silver lining has been that Nigel has also discovered ‘the existence of what looks like a lovely affordable hotel in London’ which is now at the top of his list the next time he’s down in the Capital on business overnight. Of course, all the team at umi London will be looking forward to providing the warmest of welcomes whenever he comes to stay.

www.umihotellondon.co.uk
www.umihotelbrighton.co.uk
www.petrovkalofthotelmoscow.com

This year’s World Youth and Student Travel Conference (WYSTC), held in Barcelona 20-23 September, played host to the inaugural Global Youth Travel Awards.

The Awards formally recognise outstanding performers in several fields of youth travel and reward those members who contribute so much to the youth travel industry and community.

The Awards are open to members of the World Youth Student and Educational (WYSE) Travel Confederation. Members were invited to submit entries in the months leading up to the event.

Steve Lowy and umi Hotels were delighted to be recognised for Steve’s work in Cambodia:

The ISTC Skills Exchange Award

The ISTC Skills Exchange brings together an existing STAY WYSE member and a hostel in a country with a less-developed youth travel infrastructure, and this award recognises the individual/organisation that contributes time and effort to the business needs of another organisation. The goal is to help hostels in developing areas around the world improve their businesses in areas such as sales, marketing, branding, strategy and operations, and by extension create more opportunities for youth and student travel.

Other winners were:

The WYSE Travel Confederation Extraordinary Experience Award

Winner: Michael Teoh and Smaller Earth

—————————————————————-

The WYSE Travel Confederation Innovation in Marketing Award

Winner: CIEE’s “2 Months, 35 Countries” campaign

————————————————————

The WYSE Volunteer & Travel – Outstanding Volunteer Project Award

Winner: San Juanillo Fisherman’s Association and International Student Volunteers

————————————————————

The WYSTC App Yap Award

Winner: tripwolf

————————————————————-

The WYSE Work Abroad “Expand Your Horizons” Video Contest Award

Winner: Krupali Patel with Volunteering India

————————————————————-

The STAY WYSE Green Initiative Award

Winner: Sydney Harbour YHA

————————————————————-

The STUDY WYSE Outstanding Contribution Award

Winner: Manel Bassols, CETT (Barcelona)

More information on each award category can be found here.

Judged by TV star and entrepreneur Sarah Beeny King of Shaves founder Will King, Bebo founder Michael Birch, PR guru Lynne Franks, Smarta’s Shaa Wasmund and O2’s Simon Devonshire, six special category award winners were chosen along with an overall Smarta 100 winner.  Umi hotels was crowned winner of the ‘People’ category for its work with young people and staff engagement and will receive £1,000 worth of training from RBS Mentor.

Steve Lowy has made the effort to work with many academic institutions both in the UK and abroad to help train hospitality students.  Ranging from 1 week GCSE work experience to 6 month language and hospitality placements, over 100 students have worked at umi so far, covering more than 15 different nationalities.

Delighted with the award, Steve said: “Being listed in the Smarta 100 was an honour for us, but winning the People category has made me so so proud!  I truly believe in a service-led environment and this can only happen with a great team that have a genuine passion for their role and for the business.”

He added “my staff always make our interns feel a valued part of the team as most of them remember starting their own careers.  Both the students and our permanent team members bring new ideas to the table which helps us remain innovative”.

Steve’s efforts with young people has earned him board member positions for STAY WYSE and the British Education Travel Association (BETA).  Umi also supports its local communities, works with local suppliers and is now offering franchise opportunities and hotel marketing services.

The Smarta 100 awards are run annually to honour Britain’s brightest small businesses and are supported by RBS, Intuit, NatWest, Viking and Mishcon de Reya.

Voting is now under way to find the overall O2 Smarta 100 Business of the Year, winning £10,000 courtesy of O2 and umi needs your votes at www.smarta.com/100

This year’s Smarta 100 provides a fascinating snapshot of UK small business today: a cross-section of ingenious new ideas, individuals seeking self-employment after redundancy, the innovators of the cloud and crowd and the fast-growth big businesses of tomorrow.

Umi hotels is a “luxury-budget” hotel brand that empowers its people to help keep the business innovative and offers a value product without even a tiny compromise on service.  There are 99 other businesses all battling it out for the title of O2 Smarta 100 Business of the Year.

Commenting on umi’s inclusion in the Smarta 100, Steve Lowy, Founder of umi hotels said: “Being listed in the Smarta 100 really is an honour for us and particularly having a place in the Top 5 for People as I strongly believe in working with young people.  People are an integral part of any service industry and it is great to be acknowledged for our efforts in this area, as well as being an innovative and progressive business.”

Many of this year’s winners have triumphed through adversity such as Camille Johnson, who set up Pink Ribbon Lingerie after her mother’s experiences struggling to find attractive mastectomy lingerie.

Proving the crucial role small businesses have to play in the future recovery of the UK economy, Smarta 100 revenues total over £65,000,000 with an average turnover of £692,000. They’re contributing more to the nation’s coffers than they’re borrowing too, with over half (51%) entirely self-funded.  On average, they are three years and two months old and Smarta 100 businesses tend to be running lean operations with a growing shift towards virtual teams and networks of freelancers.

The Smarta 100 also tells us about the people behind Britain’s brightest small businesses. This year’s winners are 55% male, 45% female, aged between 18 and 52 with an average of 33.

Commenting on this year’s Smarta 100 winners, Dragons’ Den star and Smarta board member Deborah Meaden – who wasn’t part of the judging process – said: “This year’s Smarta 100 has uncovered some superb small businesses, many of which I’ll admit I’d never heard of but have enjoyed discovering and am very much looking forward to meeting.

“What pleases me is that these awards are championing passionate and ambitious people with brilliant ideas who’ve acted on those ideas and turned them into flourishing businesses. These small businesses and individuals are hugely important and deserve our recognition and support.”

Simon Devonshire, General Manager, SMB for O2, said: “The SMBs that have made the final shortlist are testimony to the dynamism and variety of businesses that are operating and flourishing in the UK. O2 supports young companies such as this that are looking to make a name for themselves by offering them flexible communications packages. It will be fascinating to find out which companies win the categories and the O2 Award, which will act as a springboard for future growth.”

Voting for the overall O2 Smarta 100 Business of the Year is now live and umi would like your votes!

The overall winner and special awards winners will be presented with their prizes at The Smarta 100 Awards final on Wednesday 21^st September at London’s IndigO2.  The shortlisted companies are now available to view online.  These awards will be decided by the Smarta 100 judging panel consisting of King of Shaves founder Will King, Bebo founder Michael Birch, PR guru Lynne Franks, TV’s Sarah Beeny, creator of MySingleFriend.com and Tepilo.com, Smarta’s Shaa Wasmund and O2’s Simon Devonshire.

To view the full 2011 Smarta 100 (including the special awards shortlist) and to vote for the O2 Smarta 100 business of the year, visit: www.smarta.com/100

Chloe is a student who has just received fantastic results for her A levels and is excited about going on to University to study English. Chloe has never stayed at an umi hotel before but circumstances bring her to London on a regular basis and she has been searching for the right hotel to stay at. umi hotels is one of her top choices.

Chloe thought that the prize on offer would be useful as she plans to go travelling when she finishes university with the aim to teach English abroad. She is particularly drawn to Eastern Europe and when she saw the competition it just felt right to enter.

Visit umihotels.com/competitions for your chance to win our latest competition.

Founder Steve Lowy accepting the award

The 2011 awards, in association with TravelMole and LeadGenerators, recognise excellence in online travel.  Umi won the “Accommodation over 20 rooms” category for their efforts in providing relevant, fresh and well-presented content to visitors of the website that represents their London budget hotel.  Developed by 2am Media in conjunction with umi marketing, the website has a bespoke booking engine, a blog noting London events and downloadable podcast directions for guests, amongst other attributes.