It was Christmas……. And Once upon a time at the Grand Hotel Torquay there worked an old man and an old woman. One day down in the Grand Bakery, they had a little batch of dough leftover from the days orders, so they thought they should make a gingerbread man. They rolled the dough and they cut it out and they put it in the oven for six minutes….. Just as Jamie Olivers Christmas cookbook had instructed…….. then, it was ready to take out.
As the Old woman prised open the oven door……
“Oh no!” cried the old woman, “the gingerbread man has escaped out the door, and he is heading for the Seafront!”.
Gayley skipping and frolicking…… as do all ginger bread men in good pantomime tales……. The gingerbread man ran past a horse outside the Princess Theatre. It was the interval of the latest performance and the horse was taking a well earned break from entertaining the Christmas crowds. The horse…… suddenly awakening from his slumber by the wonderful smell of freshly baked ginger said, “Wait little fellow! I want to eat you up!”
The gingerbread man…… still frolicking along the promenade, said “Run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man.”
The old nag tried to catch him, but he couldn’t …. he had short legs and was a little worse for wear from his previous nights antics in Play night club. Growing tired and weary he halted his pursuit, and instead enjoyed a cream tea on the harbourside.
The gingerbread man kept on running. He ran a long way….. All the way past Living Coasts infact! Soon he met a pig. The pig was splashing in the mud of Meadfoot beach….. (Its not a muddy Beach… but for the purposes of my story it is……. Incredibly so!)
The pig saw the gingerbread man and said, “Wait! I want to eat you up!”
The gingerbread man…… now jauntily skipping past Kents Cavern, said “Run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man.”
But the gingerbread man kept on running, the pig tried to catch him but he couldn’t catch him so he took a rest at the Red Rock Café and had an icecream instead.
The gingerbread man ran and ran…… Oh how he liked running! He ran through Babbacombe and along the Agatha Christie Mile, he ran and ran until he met a cow.
The cow was sleeping….. infact he had found a nice sunny spot outside of Torre Abbey. The cow woke up from his nap to see the gingerbread man. He said, “Wait! I want to eat you up!”
The gingerbread man replied, “Run, run as fast as you can you can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man.”
So the cow started to chase him….. Udders flying everywhere…… The cow quickly became tired from all the running so he stopped for a rest…… Opting for a quick 9 hole round on Abbey Green.
The gingerbread man ran and ran eventually stopping at the Torquay Harbour Marina, because he knew he couldn’t go in the water.
Taking a moment to pause and gather his breath….. as much breath as Gingermen have….. from the corner of his gumdrop eye, our gingerbreadman caught sight of a fox.
Pulling up his Royal icing belt and prepared for another tour of Torbay the Gingerbread man pronounced, “Run run as fast as you can you can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man”.
“No gingerbread man I do not want to eat you up I am your friend and I want to help you”. Slithered the cunning Mr. Fox.
“How can you help me?”
“I am going to swim you across the sea to Brixham,” said the fox.
“Why would I want to go to Brixham?” was our hero’s initial thought! However… always willing for a little adventure Gingerbread man agreed…… Perhaps a day out at Goodrington Sands would be nice???
So the gingerbread man climbed on the fox’s back. The fox began to swim.
Once reaching The Grand lady at the far end of the Harbour the fox said, “Oh no, we’re getting too deep, so climb on my head”.
The gingerbread man did.
They swam a little farther, and with Paignton Pier in sight the fox said, ”
The water is getting deeper you should jump on my nose.” So the gingerbread man did. Before the gingerbread man knew it the fox gobbled him up. Chocolate Buttons and all.
And the moral of our Christmas Pantonmine story?….. Well firstly, that Torquay should have enough to keep you busy and entertained…….. and secondly should a stranger ever offer to swim you to Brixham……….Its probably not a good idea to accept!

You may remember previous blogs that I have written “A day in the life of the Sales Manager, Happy New year, Christmas Countdown, and the classic Joleen, Joleen White water queen!” So it’s quite nice for me to say hello to you all once again and tell you what ‘s going on!
Well, my role is now Assistant Manager, working closely with 3 others, all of which are male, now some might say I’m lucky, but really it’s like having too many older brothers picking and teasing me whenever we are working together. However, it keeps me smiling and certainly on my toes – anything they can do, I can do better!
My days no longer run 9-5pm Monday to Friday, but every day and every hour. I meet guests enquire about their stay and make sure they are happy. This is the part of the job I love, getting to know regular guests so when they return we talk about the family and what’s been going on – there aren’t many hotels that I have come across where this is encouraged. Each time we receive a comment or a complaint, a form is completed and passed on to the relevant departments and General Manager to ensure changes are made where possible.
My favourite shift is the early, starting at 7am to watch the sun rise over the sea and across the Bay, people arrive refreshed for breakfast and the day appears to unwind. It’s a great feeling people checking out happy with everything we have done for them.
I hope to have more news next time, but have just come back from a short break to Cornwall and so am quite refreshed and short of tales to tell.
I would like to thank Ash though (‘older’ brother number 1) for standing over my shoulder reading this blog and altering it!

Having just returned to work after a two-week cruise of the Mediterranean, and experienced life as a “guest”, I’m all fired up with enthusiasm and ideas to make a stay here at the Grand as pleasurable as mine on the ocean waves. Of course, we cannot match the weather, nor the daily changing view, but we can at least match the service and friendliness with our fantastic staff.

Two weeks of Guest Questionnaires sit on my desk with Jason’s replies. I told many people on board the boat that they should complete their questionnaires and explained that, as General Manager, Jason reads and replied to every questionnaire that is handed in. Today its great to see that most of the comments are positive and its obvious our new Head Chef, Richard Hunt, is making his mark and people are again enjoying our food offerings. The continuous training programmes are also paying off. Oh no – here’s one where a guest is complaining that “the toast is bland”! Well, if that’s all they can find fault with we’re doing well.

Before I know it its off to the morning meeting where we do over the previous day and highlight any problems and special requirements for the forthcoming days. Back to the office, collecting the day’s post on the way (and a pot of tea for everyone), and type up and circulate the Minutes from the meeting.

I grab a quick bite for lunch and then I need to check that all the Christmas ordering is done – Christmas cards – check, Christmas gifts – check, crackers, nats, poppers, streamers, balloons – check. Decorations were chosen in May and will be put up at the beginning of December. I know exactly how many weeks to Christmas as my first grandchild is due on Christmas Day!

More letters land on my desk, a charity request, a lovely thank you letter from a couple who spent their 40th Wedding Anniversary with us recently, an invite to a local tourism event. I get the letters typed and ready for Jason’s signature and, before I know it, its 5.30pm and time to go home.

As I walk into the hotel past the friendly receptionist who never fails to say hello I already know what the day has in store for me. With a large wedding, 2 function rooms in use plus dinner for around 90 people I know it will be a challenge, that’s not mentioning the 2 really tight turn arounds we have in the Gainsborough.
I walk in to the restaurant and am delighted to see that my team have already got stuck in and started the transformation of clearing the room after breakfast and getting the room looking glorious for the wedding party which are due to arrive in and hour and a half. I take a small moment to appreciate the dazzling view of the sun over the bay and can’t help but feel a bit privileged to see it every day. The team are in high spirits after just having won department of the quarter and everyone is feeling positive about the day ahead……and then it begins!!!
The phantom head ache which appears from no where, the request for holiday at a time when 5 other members of staff are already off, the joyous news that my team leader was and hour and a half late for work and one team member did not bother to show up at all. Then there was a booking for 15 which taken in a full restaurant at the same time the function was due to start and the crack in the restaurant door which appeared over night.
After fielding the constant calls of ‘please miss can i….’ I get to the task in hand, chair covers and sashes, favours, table confetti, flowers and the magnificent wedding cake which should be protected from damage by an invisible force field as the staff stand and gawp open mouthed at the confectionary sculpture. The room looks amazing and with 5 minutes to spare we have a team briefing to explain in detail the function ahead and every individuals duties for the rest off the day.
As the congregation file through the room is filled with congratulations and drink induced humour and there is an air of anticipation as 120 starving guests take their seats for dinner, after a round of applause for the beautiful bride and the handsome groom the show is on and we are away.
Service runs without a hitch and with murmurings of approval from staff and guests the bride and groom have been given a day to remember. As the party trickles out to the bar it’s another race against the clock to change all the tables and chairs around for dinner. The evening commences and the first of the residents arrive for their dining experience. The kitchen team are in high spirits with our resident cabaret chef singing hey there Delilah and they get down to the task in hand.
Once again another successful day draws to a close and as my team leave the hotel dragging their feet from exhaustion but still smiling, I know they are dreading the thought of being back in a 6.30 the following day but I can’t help thinking they’re not a bad bunch really.

The Green Grand

One of my responsibilities at the hotel is the hotel’s green team so I’ve put togther some interesting facts about our green policy for you….
Organisations of all kinds are, increasingly, determined to achieve and demonstrate sound environmental performance by controlling the impact on the environment of their activities, products and services. They do so in the context of growing environmental awareness, increasingly stringent legislation and of course because we should all love and care for our planet. We at the Grand Hotel are concerned about the environment and recognise that good management must be an integral and fundamental part of our corporate business strategy. We aim to do this by conserving energy, water, wood, paper and all other resources. By reducing waste through re-use and recycling. By monitoring relevant discharges and emissions to air, land and water, and by phasing out ozone depleting substances and minimising the release of greenhouse gases. But most importantly by communicating openly with staff; educating, training and motivating our colleagues to encourage them to support our environmental programmes and jointly develop new ideas and initiatives.
Sounds simple doesn’t it…..I promise……. It’s much easier said than done!!! The main issue that seems to be raised time and time again is the attempt to alter peoples mind set. Many good citizens religiously do their recycling, fill their compost, save electricity wherever possible…… however when they come to stay at a hotel and the overheads are no longer theirs it appears to become another matter.
In each room….. without trying to preach, we have tried to outline the ethos of the hotel with regard to what we are doing for the environment and where possible to educate our guests with snipets of information. Its goes a little something like this……
You should find that your television is turned off…. Not just on standby – It is estimated that leaving electric appliances on stand-by uses about 7% of all electricity in UK homes. That is equivalent to the electricity generated from two gas-fired power stations or from more than 1,500 wind turbines. With over 3.5 million tonnes of the principle greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) being wasted by equipment left on standby each year.
For when your room is serviced, towels that have been used and require washing, please place into your bath – A single washing machine cycle uses up to 100 litres of water (22 gallons) – and the average family uses their washing machine five times a week . That’s 26,000 litres (5,720 gallons) in a year.
We hope your room and surroundings are at a comfortable temperature, if it’s not…… Please let us know! – CO2 emissions would be cut by 2 million tonnes (11 million double-decker buses) if everyone in the UK put a jacket on their hot water tank.
The Grand is in the process of upgrading all light bulbs across the Hotel, but when not needed…… please turn lights off – If every household in the UK installed just 3 Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs, it would save enough energy to supply all street lighting in the UK.
Some things we are doing that you may not be aware of….
Our office and administration staff conserve energy daily by switching off all electrical equipment that is not in use, and by recycling all paper materials that we use – Leaving the photocopier on overnight wastes enough energy to make 5,300 A4 copies! Switching off the PC monitor at night saves energy to microwave six dinners! In the UK today, nearly 5 million tonnes of paper is dumped in landfill or incinerated every year. Recycling just one tonne of paper saves 3,700 pounds of lumber and 24,000 gallons of water!
In all ways possible, our waste is recycled…. Paper, Glass Bottles, Aluminium & tin, Cardboard, even our cooking oil – If all the aluminium cans sold in the UK were recycled, we would reduce the number of full dustbins each year by 12million.
We buy and support Local produce – Buy Local – Not only is a Carbon Footprint being reduced, but… Did you know – each £10 spent on local produce bought from local producers puts £25 into the local economy; the same money, spent in a supermarket only adds £14 to the local economy!
We support local charities such as Project 58, by donating our waste produce to those in need – The amount of food waste generated in the waste stream has increased by 1.2 million tons in the last 25 years.

A fault free day rarely occurs at the Hotel…and with a busy Saturday night, a wedding, birthday dinner, a full restaurant and our own function we had arranged, I had arrived to work somewhat apprehensive!
As I walked through the door, I was greeted with some good news straight away. Our singer for the function we had put together and marketed had got food poisoning, and was unable to come in…..my head drops! We then had to find an alternative act, and inform all the guests that we had had to change the line-up…my shoulders sink!

After getting over the initial disappoint I walk around the hotel to discover the Duty Manager and Restaurant Manager have played a stormer, and all other preparations for the day are all on schedule…a smile creeps on my face!

Next port of call is Chef, to see how his day is, and whether he’s prepped for the festivities that await in the evening. I walk in to his office to see him topping up his caffeine drip (it’s a hard life being a chef!), and ask about the night ahead. I wish I hadn’t. Whilst walking around I had managed to, from the area covering the reception and restaurant, to the kitchen, fill myself with false hope that all was wonderful, and I may even be able to slip in a sly cup of tea at some point…not a chance. Chef begins to go through the bookings for the evening, and the fact that despite us being full the brim, and then some, we had decided to take a table of 10 in the middle of service…I drop to my knees! I have never turned to God before, but now seemed an appropriate time.

Now, whether my little chat worked, or whether all the staff saw me walking around with a face on, is somewhat a mystery. But, the Bride and Groom were really pleased with their day, the Birthday dinner went fantastic, it turned out our alternative entertainment could sing a tune or two, and all the guests were having a good time.

As I left the building, my head held high, and a grin across my tired face, I reflect on a great night at work…and look forward to doing it all again tomorrow…my head drops….!

I arrive bright & early @ 6.45am to start my shift. Mike the Night porter, who’s been here so long he’s part of the furniture, greets me with a big hug & gives me all the details of what has happened that evening. I go to get the tea to wake me up before I need to be on the desk, as a gentleman turns up to check out, this is a sign…. it’s going to be a busy day. And so it begins, the smile is fixed, the hair in place, uniform pristine & for the next 8 ½ hours I will be dealing with every person that enters & leaves the building.

As I’m presenting the guest with a Richardson Passport to Leisure so that they get stamps at each hotel they visit, I hear the dulcet tones of the clock in machine heralding the arrival of my other receptionist.
Having worked the previous night together till 11.30pm it feels like only a few hours since we last spoke. She takes a look at the rotas and I see her face drop, 97 check outs. I assure it’ll all be fine & that we just need to keep on top of everything make sure all requests are listed, phone calls are picked up & early arrivals made a note of, 3.30pm will be here in no time.

Worryingly hardly any other people come to check out & it’s nearly 10am, then the phone starts ringing guests requesting room service breakfast. The wedding must have finished very late last night & there are a few sore heads!

Check outs go smoothly & all guests are happy with their stay. As soon as I think that it has slowed down & we can finish the morning shift plan our check ins start arriving, being a lovely weekend they want to make the best of the weather & so are travelling down early. Although the rooms aren’t quite ready yet, they go through for a complimentary tea/coffee in the Compass Lounge & some even collect towels to tempt the warm outdoor pool.

3pm & the lat shift are here, my receptionist goes home (to have a well earned sleep she tells me) but I head out the back to finish my own work no rest for the wicked another 7 – 5pm and then off to the gym.

What a way to spend your birthday, I’ve been in the office for 10 minutes and already everyone is wishing me a happy birthday and reminding me how old I am…….I would have loved to take today off and spend the day relaxing and maybe go out for a couple drinks with some friends or spend the day with my eight year old son…….back to reality.

Our Sales Manager decided it would be a good idea for me to write the blog on my birthday, not sure what the day will hold but here goes.

For the first time for what seems like an age there are under 200 guests for breakfast and everyone seems quite relaxed, our Restaurant Manager has just returned from a two week break and looks really relaxed so today will be a good day for us to set the new six month strategy for the restaurant in conjunction with our new Head Chef, I really have high hopes for these two departments in the coming weeks and months.

More “happy birthday” messages coming through from friends and colleagues all over the country and the world!!!! Check over the weekend’s business and it appears that we have been busier than we expected. We now need to work out what happened and what we can do to manage this better next time.

The day continues with a meeting with our Maintenance Manager to discuss the draining of our indoor pool and retiling and painting, this is a huge task but is underway with the minimum amount of fuss.

A quick stop for a bite of lunch and a cup of tea and then a quick check around the hotel to see how things are running and were seem to be quite quiet today, it is really amazing how there can be 150 people staying in hotel yet it still seems really quiet.

I spend a steady afternoon at my desk dealing with some general correspondence and then I’m off to a School Governors meeting. I return to the hotel at about 8:30pm and am planning to go out for a quiet drink with some of my Assistant Manager only to find that they have arrange a surprise meal with other friends and hotel staff, when at times you question why you do the job that you do it really is the people you work with that makes it all worthwhile.

Today The Grand Hotel was holding the event of the summer; its ‘Grand Family Day’ and I had been convinced to take up a much specialised job role. Today my purpose was of a very different nature indeed (nature being the operative word), yes, today I was in charge of the animals.
I arrived at the Hotel bright and early for the excursion to our friends at Pennywell Farm to pick a few individuals I had briefly met before. After a four minute crash course in Guinea Pig handling I was ready and raring to go. Today the suit was discarded so I could get stuck in as I loaded the van with straw bales, saw dust and the star attractions’ food. Throughout the journey back I kept glancing in the rear view mirror half expecting one of my furry colleagues to pop their head over the seats, but we all arrived back on the seafront safely.
A short time to set up on the terrace and we were ready for action. Just one more element to be put into place, Roxy the rabbit. Now I’m no rabbit expert but I’m pretty sure they aren’t all this big and that seemed the general consensus, as the typical comment from the mums and dads that day was ‘Come and look at the size of this rabbit!’ Okay it wasn’t eight foot like I had told my taxi driver the night before convincing him to come along, which he reminded me of when he turned up at the event, but Roxy certainly looked the part.
The children loved the attraction and the event itself as they roamed through the function rooms of the hotel with their face painted, a spring in their step from the bouncy castle and the odd bit of straw in their hair. It was just my job to keep the children entertained whilst dad tucked into the barbeque and mum tried her luck at hook-a-duck.

It’s an early start for the reservations office 8am (well I say early we start an hour later than reception so I can’t really complain!) as I approach the office I can hear the phones ringing, which is a sign that it’s going to be a manic day!!
After I’ve settled in, my first phone call of the day is a lovely woman who is booking her Honeymoon!! After much consideration she decides on a Premier suite, complete with celebration pack, well it is a special occasion you only get married once is her statement. It’s nice to help people plan their holidays or honeymoons and to hear them get excited about their stay with us.
Later on I have another call from a woman wanting to cancel her stay with us as her car has broken down, I am thinking how can we get round this, we have a policy at the Grand that we always go that extra mile so what can we do? I suggest maybe the train or coach would be an option, the lady seems pleased I suggested this but as she is at work and shouldn’t be using the phone to call me let alone ringing round to get times and prices for coaches and trains, so I tell her I will check it all out and give her a ring back.
Once I put the phone down I get involved in 20 more calls, just general room bookings, and then I realise this lady is still waiting, I panic as quick as I can type I tap all the information into the website and hey presto all the prices and times are listed. I can’t believe the phones have been so busy, most of our bookings come through the internet these days.
I quickly call the lady back, I apologise profusely about the delay in getting back to her, I can tell from the tone she is not happy, I launch into a babbling conversation explaining I have managed to find a special offer on the 10.03am train, when she stops me, “Thanks for your help but my car is going to cost £1000 so I am going to have to cancel.” Oh I am a little taken back, I was getting quiet excited that I had gone the extra mile, the lady thanks me and tells me she wishes the people she had taken the car to would have be so helpful, they seem to have the attitude that’s the price take it or leave it.
It is amazing how a reservationist gets so involved in things that have nothing to do with them, I guess it is all part of us wanting to go that extra mile.