Marks of distinction

This part of the Devon coast is absolutely wonderful, and the first thing I do most mornings is to take the two Jack Russells for a run on one of the beaches. They love it.

I'm up by 6.30am, don't bother with breakfast and go to the hotel by 8.30am. It's only two miles away.

I bought the hotel last April for £1m, a big contrast to the £7,000 cash which a Mrs Sinclair paid for it in the early 1960s. It was while she and her husband were running it that the Monty Python crew stayed here. Mr Sinclair was a short, ex-Navy man, straitlaced and with a bit of a temper. He didn't like the way the Python team were holding their cutlery or how they were behaving, so he chucked them all out. He was like that. An alarm was going off in someone's suitcase once and he threw the whole thing over a cliff. John Cleese was so fascinated by him that he and his then-wife, Connie Booth, returned to the hotel. Based on their experiences here, they wrote the series Fawlty Towers.

Mrs Sinclair is still alive and in her 80s. But she's a wonderful, amazing woman who looks 25 years younger than her age and drives a Mercedes convertible. She is definitely not a Sybil Fawlty.

I've never had any really bad hotel experiences but my wife was once dining at a hotel restaurant in London when its owner and the chef came tumbling out of the kitchen, fighting and throwing things at each other. She was dumb-founded.

After checking the mail and current bookings, I have a meeting with my chef and general manager about the day's menu. We get a lot of lunchtime business from local, wealthy residents. The hotel has a repeat guest rate exceeding 80%. The profile is middle-aged and elderly, and I make it clear that the hotel is not suitable for children under 14. It's easier and more clear-cut that way, and our guests find it a strong plus point.

I've pushed up occupancy by 15% compared with this time last year. We've done a lot of refurbishments since taking over but, otherwise, the increase is down to advertising. I use outlets such as Teletext, the Mail on Sunday, the M&S magazine and now the Internet, which is starting to yield a few bookings.

At noon, we serve lunch and, after wandering the kitchen and restaurant, I oversee ongoing projects such as the building of our function room and the purchasing of a second hotel here in Torquay. That's a 30-bedroom, coaching hotel. I'm also looking at buying a third. This region is a wonderful place for families and for older people, and is growing very fast.

At 2.30pm, I head home for lunch and a rest and then return to the hotel by 5pm. During the evening, I always go off for what I call a "mooch" around the bay's hotels. I see who's staying, how buzzy it is and what the competition is doing to bring in business.

Cleanliness and warmth of hospitality are what I consider to be the most important aspects of hotelkeeping. We maintain those here and our young staff and older clientele find that it is a mix that works well.

One of our big selling points is our in-house cabaret entertainment, which we do 365 days in the year. Its costs us £45,000 a year to stage but it's what brings in a lot of guests.

During my career I've run hotels and pubs but in the 1960s and 1970s I worked in the entertainment business, including a stint at London's Playboy Club. I was also personal assistant for three years to the actor Peter Sellers, who was my cousin.

Our cabaret performers are mostly singers and dancers and we hire them on word-of-mouth and through cabaret showcases.

I head home by 11pm. I don't need to switch off from the job because I don't want to. It's marvellous.