We've complied the key points to consider for an award winning nomination.

When preparing your nomination for the Visit Cheshire Tourism Awards, focus on what makes your business stand out.

Highlight your strengths, including great customer experience, creative marketing and any sustainability efforts. Share recent improvements and the difference they’ve made, along with your plans for future growth.

Use clear examples to show why your business deserves recognition.

This toolkit asks 4 key questions;

1. Your top qualities

2. Your recent improvements

3. Your results

4. Your future plans

Q1. Your top qualities

Make your business stand out by showing excellence in everything you do.
Focus on delivering a high-quality product and outstanding customer experience, supported by strong teamwork, creativity and attention to detail.

What to highlight

- The quality of your core offer and customer experience - Extra touches that delight your customers
- How you support and motivate your team
- Your use of local suppliers
- Creative marketing and promotion
- Accessibility and inclusivity
- Your approach to sustainability
- Innovation, adaptability and resilience

Show what makes you different

Explain why your business stands out from competitors. Use customer feedback to demonstrate your impact. What do people say about you, and what makes their experience memorable?

Think about your whole business

Consider all areas where you excel, including your service, facilities, team culture, sustainability, accessibility and innovation.

Customer experience

Show how you:
- Go the extra mile for customers
- Train and support your team
- Respond to feedback and resolve issues
- Create memorable, high-quality experiences

Marketing and promotion

Share examples of your marketing, including:
- What you did and why
- Any creative or new approaches
- Use of social media or partnerships
- The impact on your business

Accessibility and inclusivity

Demonstrate how you welcome all visitors by:
- Providing clear accessibility information
- Offering inclusive facilities and services
- Training staff to support different needs
- Improving accessibility benefits for everyone; from families to older visitors and how this helps you reach a wider audience.

As in other areas, the initiatives should be across the business and not in silo and your team need to be onboard and well informed - there is loads of free training and guidance available. VisitEngland has a dedicated section on its Business Advice Hub to help businesses be more accessible, including a comprehensive accessible and inclusive tourism toolkit for businesses.

For more examples of best practice, visit the Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses, particularly the Top 20 Tips checklists. Answers to questions are encouraged to include details of: Facilities and welcome for people with a range of accessibility requirements. For example, this may include information provision, adapted customer experiences, accessible facilities for people with a range of impairments and staff disability awareness training. Some more detailed examples below:

1. Information and interpretation available in alternative formats e.g. large print, audio, subtitles, BSL, sensory story, possibly Braille.

a. Clear, easy to read and inclusive signage e.g. ‘accessible toilet’ rather than ‘disabled toilet’
b. Printed information e.g. menus (including allergen labelling & dietary options), leaflets and maps follow clear print guidelines and include key accessibility information and/or signpost to where accessibility information can be found
c. Accommodation: Information on the accessibility of places to eat and visit

2. Facilities and Services; Are there specific facilities provided for customers with accessibility requirements e.g. designated parking spaces, sufficient seating (some with arms and backrest), accessible toilets, Changing Places facilities, permanent/portable ramps, lifts, hearing loops, sensory enhancements, quiet spaces, hand rails, equipment for loan etc.?

a. Are accessible facilities, e.g. accessible bedrooms and toilets, of same quality as other facilities (or better)?

3. Attractions: are there dedicated sessions to engage disabled groups such as touch tours for visually impaired, relaxed sessions for people with autism, dementia friendly sessions?

a. Have the needs of the widest range of people been considered? E.g. families with young children, older people, people with temporary physical impairments (for example, those on crutches), people with specific dietary requirements?
b. Is there good, even lighting and colour contrast on site e.g. wall and floor colours contrast well with one another

4. Staff Disability and Accessibility Awareness; Are staff confident in serving customers with accessibility requirements
a. Are staff aware of, and familiar with, accessible facilities, services and equipment available?
b. Can all customers enjoy the same level of service and experiences?

5. Inclusive recruitment and employment (where relevant)

a. Is there an accessibility champion in the business?
b. Does the business employ anyone with impairments or health conditions?

6. General; Are disabled people and/ or accessibility professionals engaged, visiting the business and giving insight, feedback and recommendations?

Q2. Your Recent Improvements

Explain your reasons for making the improvements and indicate which parts of the business are impacted:

- Promotional initiatives
- Improving the skills of you and your team
- Expansion, upgrade of facilities, enhancements to your services
- Facilities and welcome for people with accessibility requirements
- Managing and improving environmental, social and economic impacts
- Innovative adaption, diversification and/ or resilience building
- Use of digital technologies
- Approximate date of improvement

The judges (certainly at a national level) will be looking for what's new, in the last two years, particularly if you have had success in the awards in the past. Judges will be looking for examples of improvements from across the business. This question is for you to detail up to five ways in which you have developed your business and/or improved the customer experience over the last two years. One or more of the following example areas may be relevant to address in your answer (it is not mandatory to cover every area):

(Only include examples of improvements undertaken in the last two years.)

- Promotional initiatives e.g. new website, social media comms
- Improving the skills of you and your team
- Expansion, upgrade of facilities, enhancements to your services
- Facilities and welcome for people with a range of accessibility requirements; For example, this may include information provision, adapted customer experiences, accessible facilities for people with a range of impairments, employing disabled staff and staff disability awareness training
- Managing and improving environmental, social and economic impacts; For example, this may include a carbon reduction plan, energy and waste monitoring, green transport, community initiatives and responsible purchasing
- Innovative adaption, diversification and/ or resilience building
- Reasons for making the improvements e.g. driven by customer feedback
- Approximate date of improvement

It is helpful to provide the reasons for making the improvements e.g. driven by customer feedback and the approximate date of improvement. Again, show the full journey of the initiative:

- Why did you decide to do it?
- How did you decide what to do?
- How did you embed sustainability into the plans?
- What targets did you set out to achieve?
- How have you monitored outcomes and outputs?

Q3. Your Results

Are you able to attribute three successes from the last year, directly to any of the improvements that you’ve detailed in Question 2?

Use figures and specific examples such as:

- Increase in occupancy levels/visitor numbers, sales, customer satisfaction and wastage reduction
- Increase in online bookings or repeat business
- Business generated from marketing activity
- Growth of social media following and engagement
- How significant has the impact been on your business?

Q4. Your Future Plans

For this question, advise of three ways you will develop and promote your business over the next year and the reasons why. Judges will be looking for detailed examples of future plans from across the business, with a clear rationale. One or more of the following example areas may be relevant to address in your answer (it is not mandatory to cover every area):

- Demonstrate continued innovation, adaption, diversification and/ or resilience building
- This may include information provision, adapted customer experiences, accessible facilities for people with a range of impairments and staff disability awareness training
- Managing and improving environmental, social and economic impacts. For example, this may include a carbon reduction plan, energy and waste monitoring, green transport, community initiatives and responsible purchasing
- Expansion, upgrade of facilities, enhancements to your services
- Improving the skills of you and your team
- Marketing and PR, including partnerships with other businesses
- Operational efficiency
- Use of digital technologies, such as automated services, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI)

It is helpful to provide evidence of how you have identified the need/opportunity and the impact you are looking for it to have.

Top Tips, Useful Links

- Start preparation early
- Decide on what category you are entering and register this on Openwater to avoid missing communications on the entry deadline
- Highlight why you are different and what your best qualities are
- Don’t over complicate
- Reflect your passion and personality
- Fully answer the question, use prompts to help
- Include initiatives from across the business
- Show how you act on feedback (and mistakes!)
- Don’t forget accessibility and sustainability
- Embrace review sites; they can be invaluable
- Read through the form twice – ask a colleague
- Review and submit on time
- Refer to the relevant criteria
- Make sure you answer the question
- Tailor your answer
- Use facts - do not make ambiguous or inaccurate claims
- Support answers with evidence
- Don’t assume the judges know your business!
- Use the word limit and give detailed answers
- Make every word count - don’t waste word count with duplication
- Ensure all aspects of your business are covered