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| Hospitality Today | Christmas 2016 / January 2017
Today as a privately-owned business , Amadeus is growing at pace . In 2015 / 16 Amadeus has celebrated another year of significant growth by delivering a 7 % increase in revenue and a growth of 26 % in profit . Amadeus also delivered strong new business growth in the previous financial year including securing £ 20m worth of revenue over two contracts , Belfast Waterfront and Ulster Hall and Delapre Abbey in Northamptonshire , adding to the total of £ 25m of new business secured between 2011 / 12 and 2015 / 16 .
As part of his speech Watson described a few refreshing practices that got the nod of approval from the majority of the audience . “ Walk and talk Fridays ” encourage colleagues to physically talk to each other rather than sending internal emails ; the senior managers do a total ‘ back to the floor ’ shift in every venue ; and , when on holiday , an out of office reply politely informs that a person is away and therefore their inbox will not accept emails , thus removing the daunting number of postholiday emails most people dread .
Amadeus also ‘ auditions ’ as part of the recruitment process in a bid to find the very best talent possible - looking for people who make eye contact , and can sell . As far as recruitment is concerned , culinary skills are a short to medium concern .
Watson said his management style is based on “ the three Fs : firm , friendly and fair ”. “ There is no such thing as a bad mistake - as long as you only make it once .” Despite the growth , mystery shopper scores have also risen from 81 % to 91 %, and team engagement has risen from just 27 % to well over half . Revenue per head has gone from £ 3.55 to £ 6.63 .
Some new revenue streams have been developed , such as Christmas parties ,