Entry Details

Please click on the online entry form to complete your entry (NB: the online form must be completed in one sitting). Remember, you must include the waiver form with your entry (see below). Entries must be submitted via the official entry forms. Entries submitted in a different format, such as on hotel or restaurant headed paper, will not be accepted. Please type your responses in the answer boxes provided. Handwritten entry forms will not be accepted.

There is no limit of categories you may enter for one Property. The price is 1-5 for €100, 5-10 for €200 etc .

Each property should be entered and billed individually.

If you have a Hotel group or multiple properties to enter please contact our Events team 01 6401777 for group deals.

Our full Privacy Policy detailing how we handle your data can be viewed here .

If you have any concerns please contact events@ashvillemediagroup.com

Waiver Form

In light of the significant rise in judging costs due to the increased number of businesses applying for the Awards in recent years, entrants will be asked to waive the cost of the visit for the judge and their partner. (Judges travel in pairs to get a comprehensive view of your operation.)

For hotels, this will include the cost of:

  • One room, for one night only (two guests)
  • Breakfast for two
  • Lunch or dinner in your restaurant (three courses if applicable, one bottle of wine, tea/coffee x 2).
  • Two drinks (one round) in your bar.

For restaurants, this will include the cost of:

  • Lunch or dinner in your restaurant (three courses if applicable, one bottle of wine, tea/coffee x 2).

If you have entered the Spa category, you will be asked to waive the cost of:

  • Two treatments for the judges (one treatment each). NB: Judges will book standard treatments such as a facial or a massage and will not book extensive signature treatments.

For Ireland’s Family Friendly Hotel entrants,

  • 2 adults and 2 children must be accommodated for under the inspection cost waiver form.
  • * Any additional costs (extra drinks, extra night etc.) will be settled by the judge on checkout or at the time of ordering.

Please fill out the release form agreeing to waive the cost of adjudicating your operation and email it back to us with the signed approval of the owner/general manager and upload to the entry form. This form will be presented to your reception/waiting staff on checkout/departure who will be asked to deduct the cost of the judge’s inspection from the bill. Please communicate this process with your team. Site visits for the hotel and restaurant categories will still be conducted anonymously with judges only identifying themselves on departure/checkout.

While at all times the judges will endeavour not to visit during peak periods, due to the volume of entries to be judged we cannot guarantee that judges will not visit on a Friday or Saturday night. If you anticipate that you will be booked out for a peak event, such as a local festival like the Galway Races, please note the festival/event dates on your entry form. Remember however, judges’ visits are unannounced in order to enable us to assess your business incognito. Hotel, restaurant and spa entrants may not request a specific time for a visit.

Should it be impossible for members of the judging panel to inspect a premises unannounced, the property will be judged during a pre-arranged site visit. Judges will be in contact with entrants directly to arrange a suitable date and time for the visit.

Categories

Hotels in the Republic of Ireland must be registered with Fáilte Ireland. Hotels in Northern Ireland must be registered with the Northern Irish Tourist Board. Hotels must be registered under the category they are entering. You may enter up to five categories. For instance, if you are a hotel with a restaurant, a quality wine offering, good spa and a great team of staff, you may enter a hotel category, restaurant category, plus the Spa, Wine Experience and Guest Experience award categories. If you operate more than one restaurant on site, please note that judges will only eat in your establishment once (excluding hotel breakfasts). Therefore, if you are a hotel with a fine dining restaurant and a separate bistro or casual dining offering you must choose one outlet for inspection by the judge. Please state clearly on your form which outlet you wish us to judge. Judges will only visit your premises once. Please note on your entry form your hours of opening, for instance if your restaurant or spa is closed on a Monday.  Entrants for the Ireland’s Event Caterer category are required to submit three client testimonials. If shortlisted for site inspection, the judge will be required to attend an event held by the caterer between July 2023 and October 2023. Judges will also need access to food preparation areas. Entrants to the restaurant, catering and wine categories must attach copies of their menus/wine lists with their entries. Spas must include their brochures/treatment list. The Site Contract Catering Award is open to caterers operating a year-round, full-service to clients in business and industry. Event caterers are not eligible to enter this award. The Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Awards Jury reserves the right to re-categorise your entry if members of the Jury feel you will achieve more success in another category, for example, if you have entered your restaurant under Fine Dining but we feel you are better suited to the Best Wine Experience category.

Judging

The Gold Medal Awards are judged on the site visit/inspection and the entry form undertaken by members of the judging panel. The Gold Medal Awards judging panel will commence their inspections in October 2023. Finalists for this year’s Virgin Media Business Gold Medal Awards will be released in December and the Awards will be presented at a ceremony on Tuesday, the 30th of January 2024. No correspondence may be entered into with members of the Judging Panel following their visit to your premises. The judges have been instructed not to comment on their inspection when leaving your premises so please do not press them for information. Entrants may not lobby for an Award. The decision of the Gold Medal Awards Judging Panel is final.

Public Vote

To vote for your favourite property, you may go to the website and follow the instructions given there. You may vote for one property in each category. Once you have made your selections (you must vote in at least one category) you must provide a valid email address and register your details for your votes to count. The result of the vote will be based on the total of all valid votes received via all valid voting methods and by the closing date and time. Please note that votes that have been sent but not yet received or validated by the closing date and time will not be counted.

  • NO PURCHASE OF ANY SORT IS NECESSARY to vote and there is no charge to enter the hotelandcateringreview.ie awards website.
  • The Gold Medal Awards reserves the right to reclassify a product or service that is entered in the wrong category.
  • The Gold Medal Awards reserve the right to amend or remove the awards categories.
  • Only one vote per person per category will be accepted. Multiple votes (block voting) will not be counted.
  • Participating Companies can encourage their customers to vote for their property as long as they do not offer any form of reward and/ or incentive for voting.
  • Voting results announced and published by The Gold Medal Awards are final.
  • Ashville Media Group accept no responsibility for lost or misdirected votes.
  • All entrants must be resident in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland.
  • By submitting your email address you are giving permission to be contacted by The Gold Medal Awards, should it prove necessary.
  • By entering the Competition, you hereby warrant that all information submitted by you is true, current and complete.
  • All voting will be subject to verification and certification by an independent third party auditor. No automatic, programmed, robotic or similar means of voting are permitted. Voters and Participants who do not comply with these Terms and Conditions, or who attempt to interfere with the voting process or the operation of the Web Site in any way will be disqualified and their votes will not be counted. Ashville Media reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend voting should any virus, bug, non-authorized human intervention, fraud or other causes beyond its control corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness or proper conduct of the voting process. All decisions regarding the voting process shall be final and shall not be subject to challenge or appeal.
  • The judges decision is final and correspondence will not be entered in to.
  • Neither Ashville Media Group or its sub-contractors accept any responsibility whatsoever for any technical failure or malfunction or any other problem with any network or line, system, software, server, provider or otherwise which may result in any nomination being lost or not properly registered or recorded.
  • Ashville Media Group reserve the right to disqualify votes if it has reasonable grounds to suspect, having regard to all circumstances and information available to it at the relevant time, that fraudulent voting has occurred, such that it is designed to excessively manipulate the outcome of the vote or otherwise.
  • Ashville Media Group may, at its sole discretion, change the dates of entry into the Competitions and/or the dates on which the Competitions will be promoted and Ashville Media reserves the right to alter, amend or withdraw these terms and conditions and/or the Competitions without prior notice.

Ashville Media Group cannot promise that the service and/or system will be free from errors or omissions nor that it will be available uninterrupted and in a fully operating condition. The service and/or system may be suspended temporarily and without notice in the case of unavailability of the website or other service for one or more days before the closing date, illness, natural disaster, malicious damage, system failure, maintenance or repair or for reasons beyond the reasonable control of Ashville Media Group. Ashville Media Group may suspend, withdraw or re-set this interactive service in its sole discretion at any time. Ashville Media will not be liable to you or to any other person in the event that all or any part of the service and/or system is discontinued, modified or changed in any way.

When you register and vote with Ashville Media Group we collect your name and email address only for authentication purposes and The Gold Medal Awards purposes. We will not provide your details to third-party companies and sponsors.

Event Tickets & Sponsorship T&C’s

ASHVILLE MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – EVENT TERMS AND CONDITIONS

  1. DEFINITIONS

In these terms and conditions the term ‘Sponsor’ means any person, firm, or Company who has made application for and been granted sponsorship at the conference. Table reservations refer to anything other than the Sponsorship Package. The term ‘conference’ means the event detailed on the Booking Form. The term ‘Organisers’, means Ashville Media Group Ltd. or its lawful assigns.

  1. THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Shall be construed in accordance with Irish law and shall be deemed to include all other terms and conditions or rules and regulations issued from time to time by the Organisers in relation to the Conference whether contained in the Organisers’ Conference/Event Information pack, sales literature or otherwise.

  1. APPLICATIONS FOR SPONSORSHIP

Applications for Sponsorship/Table Reservations must be made on the Organisers official Booking Form. The Organisers may at their sole discretion accept applications by purchase order, in writing or facsimile or accept a deposit payment in lieu or written application and on the understanding that these Terms and Conditions shall apply.

  1. SIGNATORIES

The person or persons signing the Booking Form on behalf of the Sponsor/Table Booker shall be deemed to have full authority to do so on behalf of the Sponsor/Table Booker and the Sponsor/Table Booker shall have no right to claim as against the Organisers that such person or persons did not have such authority.

  1. CANCELLATION

In the event of cancellation, any refund is entirely at the Organisers discretion. Claims for a refund will only be entertained where advance notice of a minimum of 7 days is given prior to the event date. Sponsors – Where a Sponsor wishes to cancel, they will forfeit 100% of the agreed sponsorship fee plus VAT.

  1. BANKRUPTCY

In the event of the Sponsor/Table Booker becoming bankrupt, committing any act of bankruptcy, going into liquidation or having a Receiver or Administrator appointed in respect of any of its assets, then the Organisers reserve the right to terminate the contract with the Sponsor/Table Booker and the Terms and Conditions relating to Cancellation shall apply.

  1. LICENSOR AND LICENSEE

Upon acceptance of the Booking Form by the Organisers there shall be a contract between the Organisers and the Sponsor/Table Booker subject to these Terms and Conditions. The Organisers in their discretion may accept the Table Booker’s application for Sponsorship/Reservation orally (including by telephone) by facsimile or by forwarding to the Sponsor/Table Booker written acceptance (which shall include a copy of the relevant Booking Form signed by or on behalf of the Organisers). As regards any sponsorship allotted the relationship of licensor and licensee shall exist between the Organisers and the Sponsor/Table Booker from the date of the Sponsor/Table Booker signing the booking form.

  1. POSTPONEMENT OR ABANDONMENT

The Organiser reserves the right to postpone or cancel the Conference. In event of a decision to postpone or cancel the Organiser will immediately return all sponsorship money to the Sponsor unless the Sponsor has agreed in writing that the Organiser should hold the Sponsorship money against a future event. The Organiser reserves the right to relocate the conference to another venue at any time without changing the terms of sponsorship. The Sponsor does not have the authority to demand cancellation of the event. If the event attracts fewer delegates than anticipated by either the Organiser or the Sponsor, no refund will be given. Similarly, if the event attracts more delegates than anticipated by either the Organiser or the Sponsor, there will be no additional charge incurred by the Sponsor.

In the event that an Exhibitor or Sponsor either wishes to cancel their stand booking after acceptance by the Organiser or fails to meet any of the payment obligations, the Organiser reserves the right (but without being obliged to do so and without prejudice to any other right or remedy available to the Organiser) to apply the cancellation charges details above.

  1. PAYMENT

On receipt of a signed Sponsorship/Table Reservation Confirmation Form, the Organisers may issue an invoice. In the case of Table Sales, all payments must be received within 30 days of receipt of invoice, or at least 7 days prior to the event, whichever is sooner. Payment terms for Sponsorship are as specified in the Event Sponsorship Contract.