Fighting the frustrations

It has been a year of floods, fuel strikes and foot-and-mouth at the Devonshire Fell, yet the hotel has survived and is now ready to move forward. One year on from her last visit, Sara Guild went to hear all about it.

The second year of trading at the Devonshire Fell has been frustrating, says managing director Jeremy Rata. "It has been tough - fuel crisis, floods, frost, foot-and-mouth - I'm expecting famine next as everything else seems to start with F."

After ups and downs in its first year, the Fell stormed through last summer and was on course to record a profit of £55,000 on turnover of £558,000 for the year.

In September the fuel crisis struck. In October there was flooding. A local bridge providing a key access route was closed for a week. By the end of the year profits had fallen to £32,000. Still, it was an admirable achievement for a hotel only 18 months old.

"We had a great year on accommodation sales and hit budget on occupancy. But food and beverage sales were static over the summer, when we were expecting growth," Rata says.

The problems were that although the dining room was beautiful it was too formal, most people preferring the casual atmosphere of the conservatory, and the bar was too long. In addition, the food had been modelled on the Brasserie at sister hotel the Devonshire Arms, and was not quite right for the Fell's market.

The decision was taken to spend the profit the hotel had made and plough it into getting the food and beverage right. The Fell closed for January and February and £34,000 was spent completely redoing the ground floor, creating a more relaxed, informal bar lounge, shrinking the bar and making the area more open plan.

"It was what we should have done originally, but because we opened late, we did not think this through carefully," Rata admits.

The Fell reopened in March, just in time for the foot-and-mouth crisis. "It has been a struggle since March - we will make a profit this year but it will be pennies not pounds," Rata says ruefully.

Taking the food offering slightly upmarket has resulted in a 15% increase in average spend. The four-choice set menu costs £14 for lunch and £24 for dinner and there is a light menu of sandwiches and salads for the bar area. Local trade has reacted favourably, but the crucial leisure guest has been frightened off by the foot-and-mouth crisis.

The figures tell the story. Occupancy for 2000 was 50.3%. For 2001 to August it is 42.3%. And that figure masks growth on the corporate and wedding side of the business - without which Rata estimates occupancy would be in the low 30s.

The average achieved room rate last year was £59.37. It is up for 2001 to £68.28, partly influenced by a £5 increase in room rates, but more crucially by Rata's refusal to discount.

"We have not discounted because of foot-and-mouth. I feel strongly that if you discount you will never get those customers back to paying full rate, so we have toughed it out," he says.

That has cost him a drop in total sales of 14.8% year-to-date. Worst affected is the food and beverage side of the business. Leisure guests are sold a dinner, bed and breakfast package, while corporate guests usually buy room only. This means the loss of the leisure clientele has particularly impacted on the food and beverage side of the business. Rata estimates it is down 20%.

Does he now wish he had banked the £32,000 profit from 2000? "No, it was money well spent and we could afford it. We did it for the right reasons and everything is now in place to move forward," he says.

But it was not all bad news last year. The hotel kept its Bib Gourmand recognition from Michelin, was listed in the Which Hotel Guide and received a 3/10 rating from the Good Food Guide, all of which Rata is immensely proud.

Joanne Smith has replaced Sarah Graham-Harrison as general manager and Devonshire Arms executive chef Steve Williams is in charge of the Fell's kitchen.

The story so far

Devonshire Fell
Burnsall, North Yorkshire
Tel: 01756 729000 The Devonshire Fell opened in July 1999, three months behind schedule with 12 bedrooms, a 40-seat formal dining room and 28-seat conservatory. Owned by the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement, the hotel is sister to the Devonshire Arms at Bolton Abbey, six miles down the road. It was designed by the Marchioness of Hartington in bold, bright colours - a far cry from a typical Dales hotel.