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July 5th, 2010
This morning as he was checking
out, a (Russian) customer asked me if I was having a profitable year. I
wasn't too sure if he was suggesting that he'd paid too much or if he
was interested in running his own b&b. It is clear though that on
the surface it may seem that b&b prices are "profitable",
but the reality can be very different.
The gross profit from a one night stay, after the direct costs of
providing the service for that customer is reasonable. But when you add
up the Indirect costs and look at the net profit the picture is totally
different. I'll run though some of the costs for those of you who are
interested:
Direct Costs:
Laundry
Refreshment Tray
Toiletries
Breakfast
Labour
Indirect Costs:
Marketing and advertising
Agency Commissions
Water
Gas
Electricity
Fire alarm maintenance (6-monthly)
Printing & stationery costs
Building maintenance
Asset maintenance
Business rates
Alcohol Licence
TV Licence
Performing Right Society Licence
DVD Library Licence
Telephone
Broadband
Website maintenance
Satellite TV
Business & property insurance
Credit card machine rental
Credit card fees
Bank account fees
Gas appliances servicing
Hygiene control
Postage
Payroll costs
Finance charges
Fixed asset depreciation
Accountants
Solicitors (legal expenses)
Window Cleaning
Garden maintenance
I'm sure I've missed something out but you get the general idea. It's
amazing we don't charge more!
If you'd like me to elaborate on any of these please drop me an email.
June 28th, 2010
The hot weather is bringing crowds to the
beach and people are actually swimming in the sea! Not just the children
but adults too. Even Carley, our Executive Maintenance Technician
(Cleaner) said she'd be taking a dip this afternoon. When I asked her
where she spoke about the "devil's armchair" - being local she
knows these places. apparently it's a spot between Broadsands and
Goodrington and it's very good for diving or jumping into the sea.
We have a Russian guest at the moment, whose child is on a homestay in
Paignton and we struggled somewhat with breakfast this morning. So I've
done some research on typical Russian breakfasts and it seems porridge
will do the trick, so that is now on the menu for tomorrow morning. We
do try to accommodate all tastes, however perverse.
June 13th, 2010
You may have noticed that we've changed
our name from The Paignton Cosmopolitan to The P&M Paignton
RESIDENCE.
There are a few reasons for the change but the main one is to do with
the EU's drive towards everything being the same in the EU. They call
this harmonisation. The result of this is that there are now
Community Trade Marks, which are distinct from UK trade marks. The
holder of a community trade mark can assert their exclusive rights over
a trademark throughout the EU. And the German Community Trademark holder
of the word "cosmopolitan", who markets a range of kitchen
units which he calls his "Cosmopolitan" range, decided that he
didn't like us using the word "cosmopolitan". So rather than
fight him in court we've changed our name. And we've decided to get our
own trademark so that we aren't exposed to this type of problem in the
future.
All part of the joy of being in the EU.
Obviously we hope that you'll realise that all we've done is change the
name. Nothing else has changed. In fact the name change has allowed us
to improve a few things: after 4 years the previous signage was starting
to get a little weather-beaten, given our close proximity to the sea.
And our marketing materials had grown a little haphazardly - they are
now properly reflecting our new brand.
The new name of course is The Piers and Miki Paignton Residence (The
P&M Paignton RESIDENCE) because this is where we live. But we'd also
like it to become your residence when you are in Paignton.
March 25th, 2010
Easter is coming so I thought it
opportune to list the Bank Holidays and a few of the events happening in
and around Paignton during 2010:
| Day |
Date |
National/Bank
Holiday |
Event |
| Sunday |
May
16th |
|
Race
For Life, Clennon Valley, Paignton |
| Thursday |
May
20th |
|
Devon
County Show (ends May 22nd) |
| Friday |
May
28th |
|
Power
Boat Racing, Torquay Harbour (ends May 31st) |
| Saturday |
May
29th |
|
Torquay
Continental Market (ends May 31st |
| Saturday |
May
29th |
|
Brixham
Heritage Festival (ends June 5th) |
| Monday |
May
31st |
Bank
Holiday |
Torbay
Geopark Festival (ends June 6th) |
| Tuesday |
June
8th |
|
Plant
& Waste Recycling Show, Paignton (ends June 10th) |
| Monday |
July
26th |
|
Torbay
Carnival Week (ends July 31st) |
| Saturday |
August
7th |
|
Paignton
Regatta (ends August 15th) |
| Tuesday |
August
10th |
|
Paignton
Regatta Fireworks |
| Friday |
August
20th |
|
Torbay
Regatta Week (ends August 25th) |
| Monday |
August
23rd |
|
Torbay
Regatta Fireworks |
| Wednesday |
August
25th |
|
Red
Arrows |
| Friday |
August
27th |
|
Torquay
Continental Market (ends August 30th) |
| Monday |
August
30th |
Bank
Holiday |
|
| Sunday |
September
12th |
|
Agatha
Christie Festival (ends September 19th) |
| Thursday |
October
21st |
|
Torbay
Poetry Festival (ends October 25th) |
| Sunday |
October
31st |
|
British
Summertime ends / Halloween |
| Sunday |
November
21st |
|
Christmas
Carnival Procession |
| Friday |
December
24th |
|
Christmas
Eve |
| Saturday |
December
25th |
|
Christmas
Day |
| Sunday |
December
26th |
|
Boxing
Day |
| Monday |
December
27th |
Bank
Holiday |
|
| Tuesday |
December
28th |
Bank
Holiday |
|
March 23rd, 2010
First there were Crowns, then
Diamonds and now Stars. There may even have been something before
Crowns.
What am I talking about? Hotel grading systems.
It never ceases to amaze me that the powers-that-be (Visit Britain/Enjoy
England) expect you to understand the current system. I'm sure you
don't. And why should you? After all, it requires a 64 page booklet to
explain the hotel grading system and a 55-page booklet to explain the
"Serviced Accommodation" system, and you're not going to
bother reading those before you book your summer hols, are you?
Of course not. So can I explain to you what the main differences are
between an hotel and anything else:
1) Hotels have 24 hour service.
2) Hotels offer evening meals.
3) Hotels have a bar area.
Simple isn't it? So if you want to be
guaranteed any of the above you should book at a hotel.
Except.... . Because not all accommodation establishments (hotels) are
accredited by (members of) Visit Britain/Enjoy England you need to check
with the place you're intending to book with, that they have the
facilities that are important to you. Because some places that call
themselves hotels may not offer 24 hour service or offer evening meals
or have a bar area. Because Visit Britain/Enjoy England's definition of
an hotel has no standing in law and only applies to their own members.
The P&M Paignton RESIDENCE is a Guesthouse or B & B. B & Bs tend to be
quite basic in their service provision, but because we are licenced we
can claim Guesthouse status. We don't have a bar - we can serve drinks
to your room (mostly Champagne and Quality Sparkling Wines) and we don't
offer 24 hour service or evening meals.
So we are not officially an hotel.
We are a very good 4-Star accommodation establishment/B &
B/Guesthouse.
Hope that's made that clearer!
Of course if we stopped being members of VisitBritain/Enjoy England we
could call ourselves an hotel. But then how would you know that we have
really earned those 4-stars?
March 19th, 2010
You can always tell when the
council's end of financial year is coming up because there is a sudden
upsurge of activity. This year they've decided to re-surface Kernou Road
on the 23rd and 24th March. This means that there will be some
disruption to our normal parking arrangements, but not so much as to
spoil someone's day.
We've recently had a number of enquiries regarding hire of our dining
room as a business meeting room, and a number of bookings, and I should
mention that this is available to our resident guests free-of-charge. So
if you're looking to hold a staff meeting, a training session or even a
board meeting at the seaside The P&M Paignton RESIDENCE is the place to
come!
Easter is coming soon and we're looking forward to the buzz that comes
with being full. We like being busy.
February 27th, 2010
The half-term break has come
and gone. Half-term always seems to mark the end of the winter in
Paignton as visitor numbers increase and the days start getting longer.
Next week we're having the frontage painted so that it will create a
nice clean back-drop for the seagulls to demonstrate their artistic
skills. Only joking! But we do hope that they'll leave our pristine
white paintwork alone for a few months at least. Bookings are starting
to come in at a pace for the coming months, so do call me as soon as you
can if you'd like to reserve particular rooms.
February 1st, 2010
So good news then, the
recession is coming to an end and we can all start getting back to
normal. Except we won't. Not until this recession is a dim and distant
memory.
Have you thought about how the recession has affected the hospitality
industry? And how it directly affects you when you choose to stay in a
hotel or B & B?
When bookings fall off and the amount of money guests spend declines,
the first thing any business is going to do is cut capital expenditure
to protect cash flow. That can mean that rooms that were scheduled for
refurbishment don't get refurbished. It can mean that the frontage
doesn't get painted, it can also mean that essential maintenance gets
put back. Fire alarm upgrades, equipment servicing are all postponed
pending "available" cash flow. In other words the guest
suffers from a decline in standards and comfort, and potentially an
increase in health and safety risk.
At The P&M Paignton RESIDENCE we were not immune from the
recession. Our guest numbers also declined. However, we continued to
spend on the property, upgrading Room 6, adding bath sheets and IPod
docks to the deluxe and superior rooms, putting a quality 4-poster bed
in Room 4 and increasing the size of the LCD TVs in most rooms and lots
more small things, for example re-decorating 7 out of 8 rooms. And the
regular servicing, from the 6-monthly checks on the fire alarm system,
to the boiler being serviced etc. all got done as usual.
And in March 2010 we'll be redecorating the frontage.
In short, in 2009 we re-invested a whopping 20% of turnover in
the property and improving the quality of our service.
We did this to ensure that we achieve our vision of being the best
little hotel/B & B in Paignton.
You can see how we are doing by reading our "Guest Comments"
pages.
January 23rd, 2010
There are no hotels or B &
Bs in Paignton that specifically market themselves as
"Boutique". Even we don't.
That's because we still have 4 standard rooms left. Our deluxe and
superior rooms are lovely and would perhaps deserve the label
"boutique" but until we've knocked rooms 7, 8, and 9 into two
spacious rooms, furnished to the same standards as rooms 1, 2, 4 and 6
then we couldn't say "boutique" with 100% honesty.
However, our deluxe and superior rooms are "boutique" 5* star
standard, with Ipod docks, bath sheets, bath robes, digital radios,
flatscreen tvs, sitting areas in Rooms 2 & 4, 4-poster in room 4,
sauna in room 2, Japanese-style soaking tub in Room 1.
We're inviting visitors to Paignton to drop in and view our rooms for
themselves, even if they're not staying with us - maybe they will choose
us next time they visit Paignton. Maybe you will. Come and have a look
for yourself.
January 10th, 2010
Now that the little snow we had
is but a distant memory our thoughts have turned to the coming season
and how to best market ourselves so that we capture your attention. We
currently advertise on Booking.com and LateRooms.com and through another
on-line agent called Eviivo that has marketing lines with a large number
of on-line travel agents (lastminute.com, Expedia etc.) but increasingly
we find that their commission charges, which you end up paying, are too
much of a burden and have the result of inflating the price you pay by
up to 25%. They also market on price. Cheapest is best as far as they
are concerned because they feel that's what their users want.
We don't market on price, we market on quality, at a reasonable price
that allows us to re-invest in the product so that our standards are
constantly improving.
Of course we have to balance their charges with their marketing clout
but increasingly we find that they are competing in the same online
marketplaces as us and the question has to be " do we need
them?". We'll answer that question soon.
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January 2010 please click
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