Progress Report Number Eight

Posted by Stuart and Susannah Macpherson - 14:56 on 05 February 2012

Progress Report Dec 2011

Well the winter season of 2010/11 was as anticipated a quiet one, with the weather conspiring to keep many off the roads, financial forecasters full of doom and gloom, things were looking bleak. So we battened down the hatches, tightened our belts, cancelled several projects, delayed hiring seasonal staff and held on tight for the “stormy months” ahead.

As I mentioned in last years letter I finished the year waiting for a quote for a new pressurised water system, well it came in …..60K …I called the plumber and asked if there was a typo “was it supposed to read 6K” I said. Although he saw the funny side, there was no mistake. So it was back to basics and we have now gone ahead and installed power showers (noisy but effective) in about eight of the rooms and intend to install more in the coming year. Next year we intend to renew the water boilers and install a biomass boiler to replace the oil fired boilers we currently run on. What joy..…more technology to come to terms with…

In my infinite wisdom I decided to finally take the plunge and buy a front desk reservation software system with the idea of relegating the old trusted diary to the local museum. I realised, that with more and more guests using the Internet to book their accommodation, this would enable us to streamline our reservations process and free up some of our office admin time. Perhaps it would even let me get in touch with the ever-increasing number of repeat guests throughout the year by creating a database.
For reasons I am now still questioning, I also chose at the same time to install a new phone system and online reservations handler. The idea was that the new phone system would give us total wireless broadband access throughout the hotel and ultimately improve mobile phone reception. Boy oh boy have I had a tough time coming to terms with all the changes, I thought I liked change! However I have been holding on to my old reservations diary like a comfort blanket and feeling quite overwhelmed with the whole process of integrating these new systems… we are still in the middle of it all as I write.

Anyway on a lighter note the local foxes recently took the last of our ducks…. sorry did I say lighter note! Well, Ana our very patient and hard working gardener is delighted, as we have promised not to get any more ducks. There was no love lost there as she watched them ruin her landscaped pond over the last eighteen months. Ana has already planted lots of new flowers and shrubs ready for the spring. Aurora and Liah were quite attached to the ducks, especially enjoying the wee ducklings, however
this year Santa brought the girls a puppy each… perhaps better companions, and hopefully much less destructive to the garden

Although the year started out very slowly when it did eventually gather momentum we ended up having some extremely busy months. There were lots more British visitors this summer, many staying several nights instead of the traditional one or two, a few weddings in the Autumn and early Winter, and a wind- fall of corporate business in September, October and into November, that has helped put our figures back on track. So thank you all for your continued support and for being such fantastic guests.
Here’s to another year. No matter what challenges it brings it is made a lot easier with the support of our right hand man Chris McLeod and, of course, all of our other wonderful staff.

Yours sincerely,

Proud owners
 

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