Its been two weeks today and The Halcyon is quietly getting on with its business. After the furore that was the first two weeks, things are much more relaxed and we are all quite accustomed to the steady influx of new arrivals at 2pm every day, the mid afternoon coffee crowd and the early evening gin and tonic takers in the bar.
The staff are great and have years of experience in the hotel industry but as owner this is all quite new. The day to day running is left to the General Manager, Hector and his team of Ann, Jenny, Lucy and Corela - not forgetting the vital role the housekeepers play. I enjoy being at the hotel, as I have said before there is lovely atmosphere created by the friendly staff and guests who are in Bath on a break so in the main are in high spirits equally.
I've chatted to a number of guest from all over and it is real joy to get their feedback. Good or bad it is so helpful to be able to learn what works and what could be approved on. Without chatting to guests and asking them about their experience, how would we have known that the beds were "OMG, just sooo comfy I couldn't get out of bed this morning" (hence the late check out!) or that the floor board in room G3 was squeaking (all fixed now!). I think it is important to talk to our guests from the moment we come in contact, that way we can help get the most out of their visit to Bath - booking restaurants, activities, Bath Spa or just offer them our Halcyon map and MP3 audio tour and let them explore.
We have had some good reviews "The coolest of the hotels in Bath" was how one reviewer put it although he was 12 year old. We have had 5 reviews on Trip Advisor already which I was a little scared about - they have all been great so far which is really fantastic. We will inevitably have a bad one at some stage which I am not looking forward to - I think I will take it quite personally but it will definitely make us stronger and make us strive to do things better. As I said its great to get the feedback.
Five days in and apart from a couple of teething issues we are finding our feet and the hotel in Bath is beginning to take on air of grace and elegance....we have had to battle a little over the past few days but its looking great and the real test is when guests compliment us on the hotel and promise to be back again... all of a sudden the 3 months of hard toil before the opening fades away.
We have had an amazing amount of guests in our opening days - for the first 10 days we are already hitting 81% occupancy which is phenomenal for a new hotel without any photos on the website!...Speaking of photos, we had the photographer in today. He was there all day and took an amazing amount of images which are all stunning and so they should be, his one camera cost £40,000! It means images will be up on the website within a couple of weeks.
So its going well, the staff lead by the GM Hector, are settling in nicely to the routine and systems - as I say there have been a few testing moments like when South West Water carried out work to the pipes in the middle of the road resulting in our water pressure plummeting - a couple of our guests were enjoying an energising shower under the large rain dance style shower heads when the water either stopped or the temperature fell...not helpful South West Water! Its a terrible thing to happen, the guest expects and deserves all these things to be working and it is awful for the staff - they desperately want the guest to have a great stay but in these circumstances there isn't much they can do apart from apologise and find another bathroom for them.
These problems seem to have disappeared - so its all going rather well at The Halcyon...just don't say it too loudly!
The Independent
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Travel Agenda: Bath's Halcyon Hotel;
Today: The Halcyon Hotel is open in Bath. Set in a typical Georgian townhouse it offers a break from the genteel norm – luxurious and chic rooms that start from just £99 per night (www.thehalcyon.com ).
We're open and with the weekend behind us we are catching our breath!...Thursday was hectic, really hectic but I hope none of our guests realised this, they all seemed to enjoy themselves. We had decorators finishing snagging lists an hour before we opened, in fact one guest turned up a few hours early and probably wondered what was going on as designers, decorators, staff and florists ran around putting in the finishing touches.
There were a couple of teething problems - one of our all singing and all dancing card entry locks decided it would be a good idea not to let a guest into their room! just what we needed - fortunately the guests were very understanding and it wasn't long before Hector the GM had reset the lock.
Apart from that, the hotel opening was a real success with many happy guest in the morning checking out having had a lovely breakfast. The staff have been fantastic working in a very stressful environment to get it all ready and have been able to do this with a continual smile.
The Halcyon, the new boutique hotel in Bath is open!
Its nearly midnight and we have just finished laying out the bar for the grand opening tomorrow at The Halcyon - the newest boutique hotel in Bath city centre. The flags have been raised - flags manufactured by the queens flag makers no less!
The coctail bar look fabulous, really inviting and the rooms are truly luxurious. As owner, I am delighted with the look and feel of the place - the colour scheme in each room has been a real success. Each room has its own quirky characteristics, come high Georgian ceiling on the first floor, some all together more cosy on the top floor and everyone seems to have their favourite.
After the last 2 nights of 2am finishes i am exhausted but excited at the prospect of opening at midday tomorrow - I'll be back there at 6am to make sure everything is in place. The newest of all Bath hotels and we hope to be the best!
I'm off to brush off suit and sharpen the scissors to cut the ribbon!
