Eriska, Scottish Island

New Website Launched

It now seems like another era when we first launched a website for Eriska nd it makes my seem very old when i admit that the latest edition is actually our 5th generation of the site. Like the prediction that te first website would see the immediate end to paper brochures- clearly still not quite true- the first website was never going to last for ever. We did initially try to edit and evolve it but in reality if we are realistic sometimes a makeover is not sufficient when a complete rebuild is required.

So today we are delighted to announce the launch of the new site on the same address www.eriska-hotel.co.uk. Whist we believe it now encapsulates the feeling of Eriska we have also left a couple of improvements to follow on so that even this will be an evolving project. It does have much better images and allows us to show the best of Dennis Hadley's shots. The otheh essential aspect is that we can now track progress and hopefully it will allow us to not only be more dynamic in responding to the market but will also give us feedback on where enquires are coming from.

The other highlight is to be a revamp of badger bedlam which allows guests to test their skill at spotting badgers so if you have not had a go then please feel free to hone your skills!!

New Website nears completion

In truth although we are luddites with many of the technological advances here at Eriska, we have always tried to adopt new technology. Having stated this and after having completely embarrassed myself with my lack of jargon and understanding with our website designers, they were then equally amazed to hear that we had been "on the net" for almost 20 years and indeed the new website will be our 5th generation site.No sooner have we completed the last site than it is apparantly out of date and requires updating however experience has taught that me that even major refurbishments cost money and often a complete redesign is the best optioon.

Having said that it also then eads us to endless unanswered questions as each new disgner has their ideas and theories and they must combine this with our suggestions. I do sometimes wonder that if we stayed clear of it and did not interfere would we end up with a far more successful online presence or would we simply be just more disgruntled and disappointed with the feel and look of it. This time we are working with a Glasgow firm called Peach Digital who pitched for the business and impressed us with their understanding of both Eriska asnd what we needed.

This has further been supported by the fact that we have had little interfering and have simply sat back and waited for the progress. In truth waiting and watching has all stopped now as we are having to work and now we are on the funal leg of the operation testing and correcting text and images. The next step will be the handover to our new server and launch of the site and we will then and really only then have  chance to crawl through it and make final adjustments. Each time we redesign we add more ideas to it and try to keep what is best about the old system. Therefore the new site- due for launch this week, will retian "badger bedlam" but have increased images and easier to navigate pages. Now we await the great launch and the comments!!

Sorry you've lost me!

This week was a London week for me with a few meetings in the big city but for once I managed to collate them all together and this cut down the traveling although it still left me away from eriska for a couple of nights which is never ideal. This was made especially difficult given the fact that the internet connection to the hotel was severed and not only did that make it difficult to communicate with the hotel, cut off access to data i needed for the meetings and give an added worry it also meant that the guests at the hotel had to manage without access too. Fortunately we were quiet at Eriska and those staying did not value the internet highly on their requirements indeed all seemed to have come on holiday to escape the worries of modern life- the Internet being one of them- a lesson maybe we could all learn from!

Anyway after trying to resolve the problem remotely then talking the team through changes finally we gave in and brought in help from outside.Immediately help arrived we were able to resolve the issue and whilst the most important factor was the reconnected link it also happened to be the only part we could comprehend as after a few minutes of explanation i found myself stopping our internet guru and using the time honored phrase- "Sorry you've lost me there" ironically this was not the first time that day I had heard the phrase and even more worryingly it was on the same topic as one of the meetings in London was discussing the agenda for the General Managers Conference next January and one of the attendees suggested an internet expert to help fathom out the problems we face.

However even the description of the topics seemed to make us glaze over as we were lost in a maze of shortened words, titles and in truth it could all have been a foreign language. It did not take us long to decide that tehb topic had relevance howvrer we were then left with silence as we thought of suggested speakers who could help us understand and in short no one could actually suggest a speaker that would be  able to break down the subject to a level we could all work with and feel comfortable. In earnest maybe the speed of the web and connection times and restraints on connection times are not really the barriers but more the biggest challenge is understanding and basic communication itself?