Moto Hospitality

Moto Hospitality

Type	Private
Industry	Hospitality
Predecessor	Granada
Founded	Toddington (7 February 2001 (7 February 2001))
Headquarters	Toddington, Bedfordshire, UK
Area served	United Kingdom
Key people	Tim Moss, CEO Robert Prynn, CFO Brian Lotts, Chief Operating Officer Sir Gerry Robinson, Chairman
Owner(s)	Private Investors
Website	MOTO
References: Former chain of Granada service stations

Moto services on the A1(M) at Wetherby, West Yorkshire.

Moto Hospitality is a company which operates 58 motorway service stations across the UK.

Moto is owned by a consortium of shareholders including Australian Pension Funds and European and New Zealand Infrastructure Funds and is asset managed by Macquarie Investment Bank. Macquarie Bank has managed Moto since Compass Group sold off SSP in April 2006 for £1,822m.^[1]

History

Granada, who owned the chain of Granada motorway service stations, merged with Compass in July 2000, to form Granada Compass plc. The plan was to combine the hospitality interests of the two businesses and hive off the media division, which was done by demerging the new group into Compass plc and Granada Media in 2001. Granada had previously acquired Forte plc in a £3.3bn hostile takeover on 24 January 1996. It sold its French Cote France service stations to Italy's Autogrill in December 1997. The food and hospitality division of Granada was retained by Compass, which became its Select Service Partner UK division, but ownership of the Granada brand and trademark passed to the new media company. The Granada name was retained on the service stations until 23 May 2001, when the 47 sites were rebranded as Moto. In 2006, Moto separated from Compass Group and SSP following successful acquisition by a consortium of investors and underwent a period of intensive expansion through investment in new brands and offers.

Facilities

The facilities available at Moto service areas varies from each site, with most sites open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Typically, each service area comprises a cafe or restaurant, a retail outlet, a hotel and a petrol station. All sites have WHSmith, Burger King, Eat and Drink Co. restaurant, Costa Coffee and a Petrol station which is either Esso or BP.

Travelodge

The majority of hotels at Moto service areas are Travelodge Hotels, at 56 sites.

Days Inn

Moto have recently experimented with Days Inn, with 2 sites at Winchester services and Wetherby Services. Although the Days Inn motel at Winchester services was opened by Moto, but operated by Welcome Break.

Fone Bitz

Fone Bitz operate at quite a few selected Moto sites, Fone Bitz sell a range of Mobile Phone, iPad, iPod, Laptop, electronic and car accessories in general.

Ladbrokes

Ladbrokes was introduced long before Moto's reign, and was introduced by Granada in 1995, Granada thought betting arcades would be a useful facility at Motorway Services.

Moto Meetings

Moto Meetings is a buisness centre which is soon to be rolled out to most Moto service areas. It offers facilities other than buisness, such as the free Wi-Fi, Food & Drink, Telephones, eMail, and Fax at most Moto service areas and a seating area. Meeting Rooms are booked on-site.

Lucky Coin

Lucky Coin are Moto's own branded betting arcades, they were founded and introduced in 2006. They are a common sight at Moto services and even appear at services that provide a Ladbrokes too.

Barber Shop

The branch at Toddington Services has since closed. Leaving just 2 shops, one at Lymm and the other at Leigh Delamere. The branch at Leigh Delamere is branded as 'Mr.Bee's Barbershop'.

Full Hou$e

Full House is another one of Moto's self branded arcades. Unlike Lucky Coin, Full House is relatively new and isn't at many sites for the time being.

WHSmith

It was recently announced that WHSmith will open outlets in all Moto service stations.

M&S Simply Food

Marks & Spencer operate Simply Food outlets across many services the first one opened at Toddington in 2003 and has been rolled out at many of Moto's sites

Costa Coffee

In 2008 Costa Coffee agreed a new deal with Moto and started to open branches at all sites and it also replaced Caffè Ritazza outlets or opened in new space that was available, by 2009 all the remaining Ritazza outlets were eventually removed and replaced.

Eat & Drink Co

Moto's self branded restaurant introduced in 2008. Replacing the old Fresh Express Restaurants.

Burger King

Burger King have franchises at all Moto Sites.

Domino's Pizza

Domino's Pizza is set to open at 43 sites across Moto's portfolio, with the first at Leigh Delamare on the M4 and Cherwell Valley on the M40 and will run the full Domino’s menu.

Greggs

Greggs are currently be trialled at Lymm services on the M56, and if successful to the public they will be opened at 30 Moto sites.

West Cornwall Pasty Company

The West Cornwall Pasty Company was introduced to Reading West Services on the M4 in early 2011 as part of a trial to replace Upper Crust.

Upper Crust

Upper Crust used to be at many sites but were all closed down expect for a couple of sites at Reading & Wetherby Services. A branch surprisingly re-opened at Cherwell Valley Services, replacing the Ladbrokes that should have opened instead.

Krispy Kreme

Krispy Kreme Kiosks were recently introduced to Moto, selling doughnuts and coffee at some of their busiest services.

Harry Ramsdens

Harry Ramsdens fish and chip shops used to be at 30 of Moto sites, but as the company has slowly shrunk all the service station units closed. It still has a branch at Exeter Services.

Awards

Moto have won awards for the high standards of cleanliness in their public toilets, winning the 'Loo of the Year Award' in 2006 (for the fourth year running).^[2] Moto's Operations Director Brian Larkin was quoted as saying: “To be declared as having the best loos in Britain is quite an achievement in an industry like ours where around 100 million people a year use our toilets. They are open around the clock, every single day of the year so keeping them clean is a mammoth task. But hygienically spotless, fresh smelling toilets are a vital part of our customer care package and the people who look after them do a first-rate job. This accolade – and all the individual awards we’ve been given – is a glowing tribute to the hard work put in by our cleaning teams. We are delighted with the results.”^[3]

The competition judges visited more than 1,000 public toilets all over Britain, scrutinising cleanliness, overall management, signage, accessibility, décor and the standard of fixtures and fittings.^[4]

Parking policy

Moto are the only major UK motorway service station operator to strictly enforce the two-hour free parking rule, and regularly issue £50 invoices for parking charges (often confused with a fine (penalty), that can only be issued by a court of law) to customers, even if they have stayed with their vehicles for the duration of their stay. (This information has no citation however is confirmed by a Moto-Way Employee).

Innovations

Moto have recently opened Britain's first carbon neutral service station on the A1(M) at Kirk Deighton near Wetherby,^[5] lying across the border line between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire, they have also purchased Winchester Services from Roadchef for conversion to carbon neutral operation. The upgrade will include recharging points for hybrid cars, a wind turbine, energy saving measures within the station itself and several innovative solutions that will be employed on a trial basis. These include a methane capturing system in the septic tank that will be allow gas to be recycled into the food production areas, and a commitment towards the reuse of energy currently wasted in the disposal systems of the station.

Other Moto stations shall soon feature play areas designed in collaboration with Tate Prize nominie Kolya Alyar who is famous for his work in bringing attention to the plight of the Mountain Jews of Dagestan, themed around various biblical chapters, including but not limited to Exodus and Leviticus.

See also

• Rest area
• RoadChef
• Welcome Break
• Extra

References

1. ^ "Travel catering giant SSP and Moto sold to EQT and Macquarie Bank for £1,822 million – 09/04/06". TheMoodieReport.com. http://www.moodiereport.com/document.php?c_id=1178&doc_id=10255. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
2. ^ "Loo of the Year Awards 2007: National Award Winners". Loo.co.uk. http://www.loo.co.uk/winners/2006/national.php4. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
3. ^ Forepoint Limited. "Motorway Services | Moto - the UKs largest motorway services provider > News". Moto-way.com. http://www.moto-way.com/page.cfm?Section=7.0&NewsID=40. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
4. ^ "LOY 2007 results brochure" (PDF). http://www.loo.co.uk/externals/downloads/LOY_2007_Results_brochure.pdf. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
5. ^ "New Moto Station to hold open day in Wetherby - Wetherby Today". Wetherbynews.co.uk. http://www.wetherbynews.co.uk/wetherby/New-Moto-Station-to-hold.4030915.jp. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 

External links

• Moto-Way (official website)
• Select Service Partner UK
• Moto - Motorway Services Online
• Reviews at Ciao!