This months blog finds me knee deep in training notes on our new reservations and conference systems. After 10 days training with the specialist installers who were very patient all the team, we are now live and any mistakes made will have a direct impact on our bookings so as you may imagine I'm losing what hair I have left and the team are working long hours in getting the system working effectively.

Why have we gone down this route, Oh God how many times have I asked myself this question over the past fortnight, but the reality is we had to. The previous system was first installed over 12 years ago which in today's terms is almost prehistoric and the new system will make our reservations system more responsive, flexible and reduce the current manual processes by a historic amount. But in getting there we are spending long hours inputting information and learning processes, Higgins the dog is feeling neglected, frankly he'll have to wait.

The early part of the week saw me in York for a two day Best Western Board meeting, I was anticipating a routine meeting when news began coming through on lunchtime Monday of a big fire in a Best Western hotel in Falmouth, Cornwall. By 3pm it was clear that the fire was serious and when I was finally able to get through to Ryan Ohly the manager some time later, he confirmed the devastating news that the hotel had been almost completely destroyed. He also confirmed that they managed to get all the guests and staff out of the building safely which was some comfort on a truly terrible day. I asked him to convey our sympathies to the owners Mrs Evans and family, to the management and all the staff and offered him all the support we could offer in the difficult months ahead. Richard Lewis,our CEO is flying down to Cornwall to offer support and advice and the reservations team in York have already dealt with in excess of 450 calls from guests who had bookings in the hotel, offering them either alternative locations or refunds where appropriate. BBC Radio Cornwall rang me on Tuesday for an interview to discuss the situation and bring them up to speed with the latest position and it was clear from talking with the presenter Lawrence  Reed that the incident had a major impact not only on the town but the region as a whole.

We all hope that in time a new hotel will emerge and make new memories to replace the old, the old hotel of course will never be forgotten, particularly be me and my family who have been spending part of August there for the best part of 15 years, we look forward to a new era beginning next year.

In line with our new tills we have launched our new bar snacks, meat and dessert menus and we will be launching our new a la carte menu later this month. Additionally we are also launching a new breakfast to go service for our corporate market who often require their breakfast earlier than 7am. In preparation for the new a la carte the chef will be requiring many of the team to try his dishes before we go live, ah well a dirty job but somebody has to do it.   

Until the next time.  

Rhys Roberts