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.