8 reasons you should enter your business into The Scottish Thistle Awards

With an unprecedented number of entries last year and the entry deadline for this year’s Scottish Thistle Awards looming, here are 8 reasons you should get an entry in for your business:

It’s great promotion for your business

It truly is. You can promote yourself as a regional or national winner all year. We’ll give you the logos to put on your website and in your marketing materials and you can shout about it on Twitter till your heart’s content.

Your mantelpiece is looking bare after you just missed out on that Oscar…

Well maybe not the Oscars but this is the Oscar equivalent for Scottish tourism and your chance to take home some fine silverware! Just look at that trophy above. That could be displayed on your reception desk, till area, mantelpiece, or just on your bedside table to remind you just how much of a winner you are every morning.

It inspires others

Now think of it like this – for other businesses to see their competitors winning awards should inspire them to innovate, try new things and really help push the industry forwards. This in turn brings up standards and helps us make Scotland the must visit, must return destination that we aspire to be.

You have the best breakfast in town/best B&B on the island

Tell us! From categories such as Best Pub or Bar to Best Sporting Event. If we don’t know, we can’t tell anyone else. Becoming a Thistle winner puts your business on the map and gets you recognised. Plus, if you have the best breakfast in town I’ll know where to come for pancakes.

The ceremonies give our industry a chance to give itself a pat on the back

There’s no denying people who work in tourism and hospitality do long and hard shifts all year round to make sure our visitors have a wonderful time. The Thistles is your chance to let us do the work so you and your staff can enjoy an evening of celebration with the cream of the tourism industry.

You can eye up the competition

Know who your top competition is? Well, whoever they are they’ll likely be in your category so you can stare them down and steal their ideas...sorry, politely introduce yourself and see if there’s anything you can collaborate on. Competition makes for a better market and ultimately gives the visitor a better experience. And the visitor is the reason we are all here.

You haven’t been to a good knees up in a while

Everyone loves a party and both the Regional Thistle Awards and the National Final are held in some of Scotland’s finest venues, serving sumptuous Scottish food and drink and giving you the chance to network with other like-minded winners. But as they say, you’ve got to be in it to win it.

It’s our twenty-fifth anniversary!

That’s right, twenty five years of celebrating businesses and people in tourism and hospitality. Get that top-notch entry in and come and celebrate with us in style!