Sent to the Tower by Customs and Excise
The film crew of the BBC TV programme Holiday have just paid us a visit. It will be the second time we have been featured on the show. On the first occasion, three years ago, Jill Dando and her production team spent the whole day here. The end result - five minutes of air time. Still, 10.4 million UK viewers were given a glimpse of the resort.
The winter season did not turn out as strong as the island had hoped, the Canadian and German markets were very flat. It's lucky for us that windsurfing is one of our market segments. Last month we were the headquarters hotel for an international windsurfing competition which draws board sailors from all over the world. There was a large press contingent, including writers for GQ and Esquire, which occupied 25 rooms, so we expect some good international media coverage.
We are going to have to change our front office computer system because the present one is not 2000 compliant. We've examined several and it looks like Fidelio is the most user-friendly for our operation. I'm still not sure what's going to happen during the Millennium event. I read in the Sunday Times that 40% of people will be staying at home because they think there will be problems flying.
I've had contract managers from BA Holidays, Hayes and Jarvis, Unijet and Tradewinds in and out of my office, and there are more to come. It's that time of year when we negotiate summer and winter rates. For summer 2000 we are increasing ours by 5%. Sometimes it turns into quite a fight. I once spent four hours battling with Airtours over a $US3 (£3.56) room rate increase.
We have been looking forward to the West Indies-Australia Test cricket series with some trepidation after the debacle against South Africa. It won't be as busy as when England play in the Caribbean, of course.
I also had a visit from a UK Customs and Excise official. Two people who stayed here were arrested at Heathrow Airport trying to smuggle in cocaine. Apparently, using the cover of a holiday to smuggle in drugs is quite common these days. After I had given him the information he required, he said: "I'd like you to fly across to London. You'll be lodged in the Tower and taken across to the Old Bailey."
"The Tower?" I gulped.
"Yes, sir - it's a very fine hotel. We put all our prosecution witnesses there. And you get £80 a day travelling expenses." n
Michael Whittaker is general manager of the Silver Sands resort in Barbados
Next diary from Michael Whittaker: 6 May
