The Wyboston Lakes Resort team has come back from Texas with the highly prestigious International Association of Conference Centres (IACC) Americas Innovation Award while chef Lena Cybulska was a very close runner-up in the Global Copper Skillet competition.
The Resort beat strong international competition to win the award which recognises the successful implementation of new ideas and practices.
Operations Director Simon McMahon was presented with the trophy at the IACC Americas Knowledge Exchange Conference at the Texas A&M Hotel and Conference Center.
The team won for its Room2Give scheme, its latest Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiative that not only reduces energy consumption but also enables the Resort and its guests to support local community organisations.
Guests staying at the venue’s Woodlands Event Centre or Willows Training Centre for more than one night are able to choose which of three local charities to support by opting out of room cleaning. Every time a guest opts out, a donation is made to the Room2Give fund. Guests actively choose which charity their contribution supports by hanging the corresponding door hanger.
Steve Jones, CEO of Wyboston Lakes Resort who attended the conference said; “To win another major international award for our sustainability initiatives is remarkable and puts the continually innovative efforts of our team into a new global perspective. I’m very proud of what the team has achieved. Room2Give made such a strong impression that several property managers asked us for further information about how it works!”
This is the second time that Wyboston Lakes Resort has won this global award, having taken the prize in 2023 for Room2Grow, the predecessor of Room2Give. As a consequence of its success, after just 30 months, the Resort team is in the process of planting more than 60,000 trees around its 380-acre estate.
Copper Skillet
Lena Cybulska, a 24-year-old chef at the Resort came very close to winning the highly coveted Global Copper Skillet competition in Texas. The chefs had just 30 minutes to devise a menu and cook it in front of the audience and judges.
Steve Jones said “Lena did exceptionally well to produce a great menu under such pressure. I’m very impressed with how well she did – she should be very proud of herself.”
