Brend Hotels, one of the leading hotel groups in Devon and Cornwall and a member of the BHA, has won the 2005-06 RAC Hotel Group of the Year Award.

The group, also celebrating 50 years in the hotel business, was judged by the RAC to have given its guests the most consistent quality of service and customer care out of all the eligible small hotel groups in the UK.

The award – introduced in 2002 – is presented annually to the hotel group which, through sheer hard work and determination, has set the standard for others to aspire to.

Previous winners of the award include Millennium Copthorne Hotels in 2002-03, Jury's Doyle Hotels in 2003-04 and Shire Hotels in 2004-05.

Linda Astbury, the RAC's hotel services business manager, said, "The judges felt that Brend Hotels epitomised the essence of the award as they have done so much work behind the scenes to further enhance the customer experience.

"The group implemented several key health and safety training initiatives which resulted in an overall improvement in the quality of every guests stay.

"A consistency of approach is a must for the winning group as it leads to customers being able to expect the same high quality of service no matter which of their hotels they choose to visit.

"The award is all about groups that put their customers first and deliver what is wanted every day and night."

John Brend, a director of the group, said: "It is a great honour to win this award.

“It is testimony to the high standards we have set ourselves, but not least to the efforts of our staff who work so hard day in and day out to live up to them.

“There are a lot of hotel groups within the UK so for us this is a very prestigious award.

Fellow director Peter Brend added: "Although we have won awards before we consider this to be the best award the company has ever received."

Long-serving members of the BHA, the Brend Group holds a portfolio of 11 luxury hotels – including five 3-star and six 4 -star hotels – operates more than six hundred rooms and employs over 1,100 staff.