A hotel employee has notched up a century of customer and colleague testimonials for going the extra mile in her work.

Ilse Bujok, the reception manager at The Wild Boar near Windermere, is the first person from English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues to reach the milestone as part of the hotel group’s +1 initiative.

The customer service led programme is designed to raise standards and encourage creativity and innovation amongst team members.

The +1 initiative is all about recognising the small acts of extra care, service and kindness occurring each day across its venues. Perhaps a bit like a player of the match award in sport, it seeks to recognise the efforts of staff to go over and above normal service for guests and colleagues.

Every month team members are nominated for activities or performance that exceeds guest or colleague expectations. Ilse is the very first member of staff to attain 100 +1 award nominations and the first recipient of English Lakes Hotels Platinum award for reaching that milestone. She has also been rewarded with £250 worth of English Lakes Gift Vouchers to mark her customer service excellence achievement.

Highlights along the way have included Ilse finding a guest’s lost wallet which they had left at Windermere golf club, and rescuing a stray dog which ran into The Wild Boar on its own. Giving the stray a bowl of water, Ilse’s first thought was to ring around the local farmers and sure enough, she managed to find the owner.

English Lakes Hotels managing director Ben Berry explains:

“We all know how good it feels when someone highlights a good piece of work you have done. Now imagine that happening 100 times. It’s quite an achievement and a real feather in the cap for Ilse and the team at The Wild Boar.”

“The +1 award scheme is a great source of motivation for me,” adds Ilse. “It’s nice to hear from colleagues or guests that they think I’m doing a good job.”

The hotel group also awards silver, gold and champions awards to team members who achieve over 10, 25 and 50 +1 nominations respectively.