THE COMMERCIAL arm of a historic Royal College has joined the ranks of fintech firms, EV charging providers and plastic-free shopping ventures as the winners of a prestigious innovation award.
Surgeons Quarter (SQ) has become the first hospitality business to win the Innovation in Business category at the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce’s recent business awards.
The entry highlighted the company’s unique offering of being the only hospitality organisation in the city to provide an events package which includes travel. The package includes the process of booking meeting space and accommodation as well as organising and booking delegate travel and providing event management at one of SQ’s four meeting venues.
The innovative launch of travel agency SQ Travel took place during the pandemic. It was initially set up to streamline travel for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) and in particular for surgeons carrying out examination work on behalf of RCSEd.
It has subsequently supported travel needs for hundreds of delegates and has quickly expanded into providing both business and leisure travel for college members, guests and now the general public.
Scott Mitchell, Managing Director at Surgeons Quarter, said: “While RCSEd continues to lead the way in surgical practice, we apply the same world-class standard of care in hospitality”.
“To be the first hospitality business to bring home the award is an extremely rewarding achievement especially as we pride ourselves on being a pioneering enterprise with the same ambition as our parent organisation.”
In recent years Surgeons Quarter has also established itself as a sector leader for promoting innovative sustainable practice. It has held a Green Business Tourism Gold Award since 2008, removed plastic bottles from all rooms in its Ten Hill Place Hotel saving an estimated 80,000 single-use bottles and £22,000 per annum, installed six EV charging points in the hotel car-park and powered its hotel by wind and hydro technology sourced in Scotland.
Scott added: “Our innovation is enabled by the brilliant team we have, who have weathered recent economic storms and remained positive and open-minded to change and opportunity.”
Surgeons Quarter’s profits go towards the RCSEd’s charitable objectives of improving surgical standards and patient outcomes worldwide.
SQ Travel uses systems provided by Hays Travel Independence Group allowing it to benefit
from the Hays Travel Group’s expertise, buying power, technology, and back-office functions. Its independence is key to impartial advice and the best offers available.
