Eriska, Scottish Island

Weather w/c 30th November

As I was out walking the dogs this afternoon a microlight aircraft passed over. It must have had a spectacular view of the hills. To the east ben Cruachan was covered in snow and to the north a blanket of white had immersed the tops, but even more wonderful was the sunlight glistening off the peaks and the stillness of the day without a puff of breeze- then the silence only ruined by the buzzing of the microlight although I bet it was cold up there as the ground was starting to get slippy as the water on the stones began to freeze. So whats ahead for next week?

Sunday: A mainly dry day with bright or sunny spells but with morning mist or fog patches only slowly lifting and some may linger.

Monday: after a cold night with a few wintry showers it looks like it will be remaining rather cold and unsettled with showery outbreaks of rain, sleet or snow, the snow mainly on high ground.

Tuesday: After a rather dull start there will be some bright or sunny intervals too. Windy at times.

Wednesday:It will start cold and frosty with some wintry showers.

Thursday: Outbreaks of rain and strong winds are expected to spread quickly, perhaps turning to snow for a time across the hills 

Friday: Withthe colder weather comes a risk of significant snow for a,  especially for the mountains just perfect for my planned day of walking on Saturday!

Saturday: It may become very windy, especially in the north, where there is a risk of severe gales for a time.

 

Homecoming- What Homecoming!

Last week as part of our ddiscussions at the Pride of Britain Conference I was able to raise my concerns regarding Homecoming 2009. Simply put this is a plan conceived by Visit Scotland and the Scottish Government to celebrate 250 years of the Birth of Robbie Burns and encourage all with links to Scotland to return. In principal a great idea especially for the tourist industry, should it work, and also a good concept for reconnecting families and communities that have been drawn apart in world where travel and communication seems to dissuade us from returning to our roots.

One of the speakers at our conference was the Chairman of Visit Scotland so I had the chance to raise concerns regarding the lack of public attention and see if there were any ways we could help. Then on Thursday I ws attending a meeting of The Whisky Coast, a collection of west coast parties woven together by links to whisky producers and suppliers and we were discussing the planned event next May at Inveraray Castle which will coincide with Homecoming and again we had the chance to talk to another Visit Scotland representative.

So imaging my pride when I got home last night and saw the news listing the item about the launch of Homecoming Scotland- it made me wonder if it simply showed how easy it was to influence the decision makers- especially if after two brief conversations a national campaign had been arranged! Seriously the whole plan I gatehr has got off to a slow start but if it is supported properly by those in the industry I am sure it will start to gather pace and will by next year become a success and may even create a longer term legacy as suggested.

My next project will be to get the government to cut red tape and legislation- wish me luck!!

Perfect Conference timing.

As a member of Pride of Britain Hotels we meet every year in November for an annual conference. Initially when we joined the consortium we were a seasonal hotel and it made a great celebration of the end of the year and gave us the opportunity to hear how others had prgressed through the previous year and gave us ideas and allowed us to benchmank progress of Eriska against others. Now with us still being open through the winter and the fast moving industry it is very much a good opportunity to discuss industry related matters and hear how others are developing.

This year was even more appropriate as half way through the conference, luckily we had a break planned for the afternoon, otherwise we may have had an empty conference room,  our Chancellor announced his changes in the VAT rates. This whilst crreating complete confusion and dissarray eventually allowed us to hear what others had planned and then hopefully we will at least be in step with our collegues. On the other side of the fence we were also joined at the conference by some of our suppliers as their rates will be changing and especially as our wines and spirits suppliers will be altering all their rates also!

The concensus of opinion was that in general most of the industry would pass on the  VAt reduction although some would use the reductiuon to offset the planned increase in rates for 2009. However most round teh room did not see the changes increasing confiodence in the market or optimism unless you were working for Sage accounting or the printing industry who now are assured of a busy run up to Christmas reprogramming computers and reprinting tariffs!

I suppose for luddites like myself it is another sales pitch for the internet where prices and tax rates can be alterd at the touch of a button rather than waiting for a print run and then all the waste of mispriced paper. Fortunately we had not quite yet printed our tariffs for 2009 although we had set our rates so I spend a very interesting afternoon yesterday recomputing all our rates for the next 12 months.At least Fabrice will be saved from having to input all his wine and spirits priuces again as with the duty rasies its all change but no change for him! 

Weather w/c 23rd November

Well, I suppose it is only 4 weeks to Christmas and with the nights closing in and the dawn dissappeaing into the day, then we should expect it to be a wee bit cooler, although i bet the SRU didn't expect to have to shove, snow off the pitch on Saturday before the testmatch with Canada! It now even feels a bit festive with roaring log fires and clouds of mist as you breathe outside but i bet before we have got used to it normal rainy service will resume!

So what really is ahead.

Today:Bright or sunny intervals and occasional rain showers, with a thaw of any lying snow settingin. Fresh to strong northwesterly winds keeping it cool.

Monday: Sunshine and isolated showers, turning wintry on hills.

Tuesday: Windy but Dry and sunny so a much more pleasant day.

Wednesday:  Mild and windy with the possibility of  patchy light rain.

Thursday: Probably after a cloudystart with a  mild soft mist on the hills the rain will start spreading steadily south 

Friday: Following a reasonably dry Thursday the rather cold and unsettled spell follows.

Saturday: There may gales later in the day but at least the stronger winds should keep the rain at bay!

 

Muddled Seasons

This weekend is the annual conference of Pride of Britain Hotels and as it will be my last conference as Chairman I opted to bring the meeting north to Scotland. This seemed a good idea until Friday afternoon when we started to receive panicky calls from collegues worried that if they tried to make it north they would either be stuck in a snow drift on Shap or marooned in Scotland until the icebreakers arrived in the Spring.

Its amazing how the television and internet whilst it can be a great tool can also be a source of panic with everybody now believing they are experts and when in days gone by a simple check on the forecast was part of daily life now we see a full bodied serach of both forecasts and road conditions analysed and rechecked before we even step out of the door. Anyway it all seemd imaterial as I gazed out of the office window, and noticed that one of the cherrry trees looks bare as normal for this time of year and the other, clearly confused, is full of blossom!

I suppose if nature can be misled then its not surprising that a few hotelier can be driven astray. Now however having spouted forth about the wonderful Scottish weather and the gulf stream, I will have to make both certain I get to the conference and more importantly when I am there I must carry on as normal with no mention of the weather and impending gloom, at least it keeps our minds off the economy!

Internet Marketing Instruction

About two months ago an invitation to attend a marketing meeting and discussion in Edinburgh came across my desk. the event was organized by Best loved Hotels, a publication we have worked with over the years and normally such meetings are held in March or April, a time I have found it difficult to escape the hotel so a November date on the face of it seemed more suitable. I then accepted the invitation but as usual the date crept closer and the diary filled up so it was a quick dash there and back.

Whilst we have been with Best Loved for a number of years their emphasis, from a publisher of paper print, whilst not abandoned has shifted to different startegies on the internet and emarketing. Whilst this is a subject which 10 years ago we had to know little about nowadays a hotelmanager is expected to be able to see the wood from the trees when proposals to spend the marketing budget are made a little bit of knowledge should go a long way, or if you work with me , be a very dangerous tool!! Although when we hear of the payoff the head of Yahoo will gain when he steps down today, maybe we have gone into the wrong business!!

Anyway although the day was mostly a one way conversation with them presenting details and concepts it also offered the opportunity for us to both ask them questions and also ask each other questions. It seemed to interest most although I could see a few glazed faces by the end with internet overload. It is however so far from our normal tasks of serving the guests in the hotel and insuring that their stay is as faultless as we can manage, however without the initial contact then we would have no guests to look after.

So it is now back to the drawing board to see what ideas we can put in place at Eriska and also what suggestions are impractical and then monitor the results we get. Surprisingly November seems the perfect time for this sort of instruction as we now have the winter to fine tune our plans and what better time to try new methods than when the recession is upon us! We will just have to wait and see!

Weather w/c 16th November

After a damp and dreary week it was a pleasant surprise to open the curtaisn and see such a nioce csunrise and hopefully tahtw ill eb a sign of things topcome over the next 7 days. Some of the guests staying with us last week seemed to have a continual pile of clothes in the drying room and even the most waterproof outfits were in need of a good dry. But it is the middlemof Nobvemebr so I suppose you cna be lucky or not but at least expectations are not as high as one might expect.

So whats really ahead?

Today: Not too bad a day with bright or sunny spells. It should feel pleasant enough, especially in the sunshine and where sheltered from the light or moderate west or northwesterly breeze.

Monday after a  frosty night we will awaken to patchy mist and fog then cloudy with outbreaks of rain and drizzle and moderate or fresh south or southwest winds.

Tuesday: Rain and drizzle, more so across the north and west.

Wednesday: Drier and perhaps brighter, at times but windy, more particularly across the hills.

Thursday:A much milder if generally cloudy start to the day, with rain or showers in places, but some drier spells will develop.

Friday: Back to normal with a trend to much colder conditions

Saturday:Showers turning increasingly to sleet or snow and spreading mainly over the hills. There is a risk of significant snowfall over the higher ground but it should stay clear on Eriska

 

Winter Wine weekend

Today is our winter wine weekend, entitled "New World Wines and Old World Support". It is being hosted by Bruce Nancarrow the Brand Ambassador of the Moet Hennessey Wines and Estates division. We are using a format which is now over 15 years old and offers the opportunity for guests of the hotel to learn and develop their knowledge into different areas of the subject. Over the years we have changed and evolved the concept form taking guests out in boats on the loch, visiiting local farms to teaching them to fillet fish or even simply sitting at a dinner table and tasting our matched wines and food. Whilst no one concept has been more successful we have opted today to split the event in two.

The weekend is concentrating on how some new world wines are now being made using new world techniques fine tuned with old world support both in capital and expertise. The Afternoon session, strategically wedged between rugby inetrnationals and afternoon tea, will explore the blending processes adopted by many of the growing winereies of the new world. They will be looking at the differnt styles of Newtomns the Puzzle and also Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc and then the evening will offer the opportunity to sample the products and compare and contrast them with different elements of Roberts food.

Whilst on one side it benefits the hotel as it helps maintain interest in a quieter time of the year it also offers us the opprtunity to give more to our guests and many have been attending our events for many years and probably know far more about the subject than us, although we try and bluff our way through this fact and its always helpful having experts on hand to return to!

Dining Considerations

When Eriska was refurbished in 1973 by my parents they required to create a room large enough to house all the guests of the hotel at one sitting for meals. They amalgamated three areas together the Morning room, the Business room and the butlers pantry. This involved knocking down several structural walls and replacing them with steel beams however it also meant that the ended up with three different ceiling heights.

This was always portrayed as  benefit by my father firstly as the high ceilings hid the smoke from those awful smokers who puffed through meals, him being one of them, and secondly the lower ceiling insurer that larger parties could be insulated in a separate are of the dining room and it reduced the amount of noise. At the start of the new century we added the conservatory to the room and this again change d the dynamics of the room and now once again we are considering reshaping the room once again.

The difficulty now is that whilstt it would be nice to do and the room would benefit from changes it is also areal gamble to create a ssufficiently updated version of the room without loosing the wonderful atmosphere and feel we already have in the space. At this point I have to keep reminding myself that Eriska is all about evolution and that the use of the space now is hugely different form the initial uses of the spaces for the first century of Eriskas life. Anyway we have started a consultation period with interior designers, members of our team, the AA guide and most importantly guests of the hotel. Currently we simply have a list of what we do not want to do and no real firm ideas so we are hoping that once we have a first attempt by Ward Robinson, the company who are working through the hotel bedrooms we will at least have a starting place from which to go.

Anyway it may remain that the best option is to do nothing but one day this will no longer be an option and I think it may be approaching!

James Bond Martini's

Sometimes ideas and concepts come about as much as a matter of luck as blue sky thinking or careful planning. Yesterday Fabrice mentioned to me that he was rewriting our cocktail list, whilst many of his initial selection have been incredibly popular we still seem to have several non movers and indeed whenever they are selected there is a great deal of confusion and panic to find the recipies and methods and create the cocktails. Whilst I could suggest a couple it was not until later in the day that it dawned on me.

That afternoon I popped out to Oban to see the lates James Bond movie, an interesting experience as we had to share the cinema in Oban with 6 others, obviously James Bond mania has already dropped off, but also it started without sound and although we all looked quizzical we were unsure if it was an artistic choice or intentional until the projectionist obviously woke up and remembered to turn up the volume so what began as a fast action muted car chase suddenly became a roaring screaming entry to the movie. Anyway as I watched the mnovie the thought of a James Bond Martini for the bar raised its head and I retruned home tro investigate further.

Howeerv what had seemed a simple solution of a "martini shaken not stirred" then opened the whole debate of what makes the perfect martini. This is where the internet should come into its own and we have found a first draft, although I am keen to keep it as the first and definitve draft otehrwise I will have no staff wortking behind the bar if the try and perfect it as even James Bond only recommends one before dinner!

James Bond Martini recipe

 3 oz gin
1 oz vodka
1/2 oz Lillet® Blanc wine
Pour the gin, vodka and Lillet blanc into a cocktail shaker half-filled with cracked ice. Shake well, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon, and serve.