This usually involves rushing around on the Saturday afternoon getting a few statistics together to put a quick overview in place and then creating a few ideas and suggestions what we will and won’t be doing in the next month or two.  Today I’ve been trying to do a bit more so I’m further ahead of the game come Tuesday morning!

Amy went to a course as part of her ILM / UCP project on Tuesday and one of the things they looked at there was Ansoff Matrices - dissecting the sales effort into different sectors so you do the right things for the right people.  I thought this would be a good idea to look at ahead of next week’s meeting so did some web research and started putting my matrix together (to be compared with Amy’s later).  As part of this I’ve found some fascinating information on different areas to look at, both to encourage people back and to find new people.  A large part of this was on social networking so Amy will be looking at Twitter and Facebook shortly, I thought I’d have a look at Flickr - the photo sharing site.

I have set up an account for the hotel and have put a few pictures on there, more to follow later - we’ve got loads we can use!  Have a look at the album here and let us know what you think - there’s space for comments!  If you want to add your own pictures please do.

It is really encouraging to see the team contributing to the development of the hotel and really taking a pride in seeing what they can do to make things better here.  Following my visits to The Nare and Carlyon Bay last week with Andrea from The Fowey Hotel I had thought about trying to keep the bar door closed to encourage our guests to use the main glass door into the lounge.  Mel had a meeting with her restaurant team on Sunday morning and part of this was to look at our standards and they discussed this suggestion.

It was a great pleasure for me then to see the bar door closed on Tuesday evening and for Mel to say that Danni was going to try working like that and to see how she got on.  I am very pleased to say that it worked very well.  I did have to explain to one guest last night why the door was shut but he understood and thought it was a very good idea.

When our previous team of contractors was working for us they had redecorated the hall and all the doors.  I wanted to take the “Captain’s Bar” sign off the door so had a little look behind it yesterday morning and was not at all surprised to see that they hadn’t taken it off to paint behind it!  Luckily Ginty found a tin of the same paint so we were able to remove it and paint over the white rectangle as well as touch up the door.

If we think we need to we’ll have a sign made for further down the corridor to show people where the door to the lounge and Cafe Bar is but hopefully we will be able to tell enough people as they come in!

Here’s to more success and well done to the team for taking this challenge on.

I know this sounds extremely early but to be ahead of the game for both our Christmas / New Year programmes and the party season we really need to have everything agreed now and printing organised over the next couple of months.  My daughter was horrified when she heard we’d been planning Christmas menus and ideas last week - she’s only just getting over this Christmas!
My next job is to update the Christmas section on our offers web page now that we know how much we are charging and what we are offering.

will be on Friday 26th February in conjunction with Wadebridge Wines.  At the moment details are limited but it will be a very special evening and limited to just 18 guests.  More information will be forthcoming once Tamsin returns from a buying trip to Italy.  The wines will be Australian and from Barossa Valley with the main theme being Shiraz.  I’m really looking forward to the evening and seeing what dishes we can match with what promises to be some very exciting wines.

If you would like to receive information about this do please e mail us and let us know.  Rooms will be available!

But best not to look at it at the moment - it’s really windy here and up on the roof it is extremely exposed so the camera is wobbling a bit - may leave you with a slight touch of seasickness!

Over Christmas we had a fault on the main router for our web and e mail server which caused us a few issues and the only way around it in the short term was to pinch the router from the web cam.  I decided it was better for us to be able to communicate with the outside world rather than transmit pictures of our glorious view.

With almost all IT solutions these days the trend is to fix things remotely and 99% of the time this is possible.  When it isn’t, I seem to be the one who has to sit by the relevant machine and follow some extremely complex instructions to change settings here there and everywhere.  I must admit it is fascinating but definitley beyond my normal scope.  Here’s to this one lasting a long time!

As I am sure you would expect we all want to make The Metropole a better place and we, along with Andrea at The Fowey, have been tasked with increasing our quality scores from the AA.  Part of our work has been talking to other owners and managers of four star hotels in Cornwall to see what they do and how they run their businesses.

We had our first two visits on Tuesday, we really couldn’t have picked a worse day with the rain lashing down on us.  While the weather was cold the welcome we had from Toby at The Nare and Peter at Carlyon Bay was warm and very helpful.  Some people might think it a little odd for competitors to share information like this but apart from being in different markets, we all want to see the quality of hotels in Cornwall improve as this helps us all. We got a very different perspective from both gentlemen but all was very useful, I hope you will see the results in our hotels over the coming months.
There are now something like 12 four star hotels in the Duchy so we can really go out and sell Cornwall as a high quality destination.  Malcom Bell has taken over the reins at Visit Cornwall and we are expecting great things from him.  We’re also very prepared to work with him to help him deliver his goals of increased visitors and an increase in the value this brings into the county.

We’re all recovering from a very hectic week with around 60 guests in for our Christmas programme and then another 64 in last night for our New Year’s Eve party.  Everyone worked really well and the feedback we’ve received has been excellent with a few people already booking for next year!

Padstow itself is really busy this time of year with yesterday and today being no exceptions:  the queue for the ferry over on the beach at Rock was very visible from the hotel and everyone who came in said how busy it was.  Today we have had lots of people in for lunch - most of them visitors to the town.  The weather is clear, cold and sunny so an ideal day for a walk around town or a stroll on one of the nearby beaches, perfect for blowing the cobwebs away.

Christmas and New Year has been great fun for us all again and we’re looking forward to this year already!

A very merry Christmas to all.  We’re now sitting in beautiful sunshine looking out over the rising tide in the estuary and Christmas Day is looking good!  We always have a bit of fun, both with the guests and also with each other, like in any family there are opportunities to tease and we are blessed with Leigh - she will always say something to make us laugh.  This yerar Gail was keeping track of Santa’s progress on the NORAD web site and Leigh didn’t think before she spoke asking why he hadn’t been to us yet - this was quite early on Christmas Eve!! She suffered!

We do have to think about some of our regulars who weren’t able to make it this year, one cuple’s car broke down just before they were about to leave and no parts to repair it till the new year and no hire cars available either.  Another family were involvedin the crash that closed the M5, thankfully they weren’t badly hurt but the car was so they’ve had to go home.  Hopefully we’ll be able to see them all soon.

Must get back to work now!  Happy Christmas and don’t eat too much turkey.

While driving back from Falmouth yesterday after our staff party the night before I passed a sign saying daffs available next layby.  I managed a quick glance on the way by and sure enough there were bunches of daffodils for sale!  If this isn’t a clear example that there is something up with the climate then I’m not sure what is.

For those of you now looking forward to some details and juicy gossip from the party then sorry - the old rule of “what goes on tour…” applies!  Stiil I will say that everyone enjoyed themselves and Greg and his team looked after us very well.

Never has a harvest festival hymn been more relevant than this year I feel!  The weather the last couple of weeks has not been the best with weather warnings galore and some pretty strong winds around.  Despite being the biggest and most exposed building in Padstow we have escaped and serious damage and once people have arrived at The Met they are greeted by a friendly smiling face in reception and a glowing real fire in the hallway.

This really is an exciting time to come to Cornwall - there is so much less traffic around and it is amazing how many local residents will take time out to go and sit on the cliffs or by the beaches just to sit and watch the waves crash in.  I think there is something special about storm watching from the  security of your car!  In Padstow we are a very safe mile inland so don’t get the big waves coming near us that some of our other hotels do but the views across to Polzeath are great when the surf is lashing the rocks.  Have a look at our web cam for the latest conditions!