The big advantage to small hotels
A friendly smile is always a good welcome for guests, but I never cease to be amazed at the expectations and behaviour of our guests.
They come from all walks of life - the representatives, no longer called "commercial travellers", the tradesmen, the private people attending weddings or visiting friends, and the casual tourists who happen to be passing through and find a small friendly hotel.
We also have a lot of motor sport fanatics who are visiting the Cadwell Park race circuit nearby.
They all have their own requirements of special meals, early morning calls, breakfast in bed, and so on. Most of these requirements we can meet easily, but in a small, family-run hotel that is only RAC-acclaimed we are sometimes limited in what we can offer, but we do try.
A few weeks ago, we had a family who were at a wedding nearby. They could have had a front-door key, and could have stayed out all night if they so wished - but no, they all came trooping in just before 3am and I was asked if the bar was still open! Needless to say, it wasn't.
Another lady booked by telephone and was told our usual rate, which of course is much less than if we were four- or five-star rated. She arrived and was shown into a very nice twin room, for single occupancy, and her first words were: "Is this the best you've got? Money is no object."
We knew that, whatever we did for that guest, she would never be entirely happy, so we offered to find her accommodation (at probably twice the price) in a nearby five-star establishment. She grudgingly stayed with us.
Source of interest
We are very lucky in that we have beautiful gardens of about three acres, with many mature trees and a lake, and a very interesting old mausoleum where the gentleman who built our house in 1818 is buried. This all provides a great source of interest for many of our guests.
Our garden is one of our marketing tools, and we find that guests will sometimes overlook our deficiencies because of the general ambience of the property.
Many of our guests seem very appreciative of the level of personal service that we try to provide, and all respond to a friendly greeting with a smile. Our cat, Gizmo, is another popular feature and, apart from the odd person who is allergic to cats, most people will fuss over him.
We have both advantages and disadvantages with a small hotel. The biggest advantage is that we can offer a level of personal service that other establishments cannot, and either myself or Christine is always about. The biggest disadvantage is the very fact that we are always about, but what an interesting life.
Next diary from Colin Hillyard: 27 August
