"We've risen from 3 employees to 44 in 2 years". I was attending the launch of the Melksham Food & Drink Festival on Thursday morning, held in the Dining Room at Beechfield House, a country house hotel on the road between Melksham and Lacock. We had actually looked at Beechfield, very briefly, as an alternative to Well House Manor, and concluded that it was too much for us to take on - that it would move our business into areas that we didn't want to go, that it would leave us competing with good friends at places like The Conigre Farm Hotel and The Spa B & B.

Listening to Chris Whyte talk, and seeing Beechfield on a sample morning, I can't help but feel happily confirmed in our decision to concentrate on providing rooms for delegates on our courses, and to provide accommodation for others that's tuned to the needs of business visitors to the town; not for us the wedding and alcohol licenses (with the noise and children that inevitably follow), nor the posh restaruarant and out-of-town location which leaves guest who want a drink (so cannot drive) a restricted choice of places to eat. And I certainly wouldn't want to be running a team of that size and with what seems a surprising staff to room ratio which implies that the food drink and event aspect of the business must now be paramount.

And so ... what an ideal and logical venue Beechfield House was for the event that launched Melksham's Food and Drink Festival. The event itself will run from Sunday, 3rd May, and what an excellent boost and even it will be for the town. The Town Council is headlining it, and there are a number of sponsors already signed up, or going to be doing so. Rather than me reproduce the details here, have a look at their web site.

Top Table at Breakfast

Everyone came by car

I do look and learn as I'm around - as you'll have seen elsewhere on this blog - at how other hoteliers ply their trade. Very clearly, we're not competing with hotels in St Brivaels or Manchester, Maidenhead or Cambridge, and I feel morally justified in picking up ideas from them, and also thinking "gosh - we must make sure we don't do THAT!". With Beechfield, I feel (or felt) in a bit of a moral dilemma until the Thursday - but in practise, it's not that they're in a different league, but playing a different sport! Chris - if you happen to read this, you carry on doing weddings and we'll carry on with training courses and quiet accommodation. And I'm not stealing any ideas either ... I came back having had a great breakfast, determined to help push the event for the good of the town, and with some things to tell our own staff team that we should avoid in our own customer care roles, even though they are practised at many other places.

"Why not push the boat out - do something really special for the food and drink week at your establishment and bring people in ..." I am quoting from the launch. And I though about that. But then decided that our best approach at Well House Manor is to continue to do what we do best. To provide excellent accommodation for business visitors to the town, good value, plenty of choice of local eaterys, come and go as you please. Late arrivals, early departures, bringing you own food (or phoning for deliveries) NOT a problem ... and we'll continue with that during the Festival week. We'll fully support the festival - but we're not in the business of doing special food that week, encouraging in new local traffic, just to disappoint them when we return to normal on 10th May. I prefer a consistent product for our regulars and don't want to turf them out to some annexe while we host a one off event.
(written 2009-01-24)

 M401 - Well House Manor - Seeing how others do it
  [17] Differing tastes - (2004-08-17)
  [514] Crazy Day-sies - (2005-12-02)
  [619] If its Sunday, it must be the Norland - (2006-02-23)
  [693] The on line booking experience - (2006-04-21)
  [699] Extremes costs of getting on line - (2006-04-25)
  [714] Room for Octopuses - (2006-05-08)
  [736] New Tape Librarian - (2006-05-28)
  [966] CSL, KISS and RTFM - (2006-12-05)
  [1011] Well House Manor and Beechfield House, Hotels, Melksham - (2006-12-29)
  [1026] The Wheatsheaf 2, The Bell 0 - (2007-01-09)
  [1091] The Psyche is all wrong. - (2007-02-24)
  [1205] Arrival and Departure experiences - another hotel - (2007-05-26)
  [1287] Work and play at Well House Manor - Football and Shell Shortcuts - (2007-08-02)
  [1301] Plastic or China - (2007-08-12)
  [1333] Kasteel Elsloo - Michelin rated hotel. - (2007-09-05)
  [1347] Wireless Internet Access at hotels - an update and some pitfalls - (2007-09-12)
  [1354] Match the Bedroom to the Hotel - (2007-09-17)
  [1356] Crystal Ball - How long do I need to be online? - (2007-09-18)
  [1374] Maidenhead Coffee Challenge - (2007-10-02)
  [1406] Away or home - which do I prefer? - (2007-10-25)
  [1413] The little gestures that can really count - (2007-10-27)
  [1454] From Sunday to Monday, from Melksham to the Balkans - (2007-12-03)
  [1458] The wrong way to put up prices - (2007-12-05)
  [1525] Just one thing let the service down - but that is my memory - (2008-01-31)
  [1547] New bathing idea for hotels from Hotelympia - (2008-02-20)
  [1597] Comparing hotels - as a guest and from the proprietors view - (2008-04-01)
  [1672] The Composting Cone Challenge - (2008-06-10)
  [1758] Lindors Hotel, near St. Briavels, Wye Valley - (2008-08-18)
  [1915] Quietly putting prices up - (2008-12-02)
  [2105] Hire Car, from Atlanta Airport - (2009-03-27)
  [2127] Call in the professionals! - (2009-04-12)
  [2308] A new place in pictures - (2009-07-28)
  [2311] Floor to ceiling - (2009-07-30)
  [2413] Sanity checking the price, and selling up to increase income - (2009-09-21)
  [2441] Not your cup of tea? - (2009-10-08)
  [2502] Monday night, Tuesday night - (2009-11-13)
  [2885] Twenty Questions - (2010-07-24)
  [2911] Feeding the Grockles - (2010-08-09)
  [3054] Longhope Hotel - (2010-11-16)
  [3333] Honesty and a friendly welcome goes a long way - (2011-06-25)
  [3368] Well House Manor hotel, Melksham - recommended to you by our customers - (2011-07-23)
  [3754] Eyes Wide Open - (2012-06-06)
  [3776] Some traps it's so easy to fall into in designing your web site - (2012-06-23)
  [3794] Should hotel staff sit on the toilet in the customer bedrooms? - (2012-07-02)
  [3900] The Xxxxx Guest House in Xxxxxxxxxxx - my stay reviewed - (2012-10-20)
  [3963] National TV - Melksham - 9th January 2013, Pre-alert. - (2012-12-27)
  [3970] Comparing four VERY different places to stay - (2013-01-11)
  [3975] Being an amateur hotel inspector helps me run a professional hotel - (2013-01-14)
  [4058] The highs and lows of customer service - Cheltenham - (2013-04-03)
  [4081] Pushing down the advertised price, pushing up the total price charged. - (2013-05-08)
  [4091] A reminder of why we opened Well House Manor for our customers - (2013-05-17)
  [4093] More things to make sure that we do NOT do ... - (2013-05-18)
  [4109] What might you find at a tiny bed and breakfast? - (2013-06-03)
  [4177] Setting and publishing your hours to suit your customer base - (2013-09-18)
  [4245] It always happens to me when I'm in Borehamwood! - (2014-03-06)
  [4255] Making a personal gain from a more expensive business hotel stay - (2014-04-02)
  [4321] Are administration / review charges on hotel guests acceptable? - (2014-11-20)
  [4348] Taking my life in my hands in Swansea - (2014-12-11)
  [4373] A long and disappointing evening - (2014-12-30)
  [4443] Seventh stay away this year - and it's still only February! - (2015-02-25)

M400 - Well House Manor - The Hospitality Business
  [774] Bed and Breakfast, or Hotel? - (2006-06-22)
  [884] Drive time - (2006-10-02)
  [922] Staying at your own hotel - (2006-11-12)
  [988] You should think you're first in a hotel room - (2006-12-15)
  [1002] Meet the neighbours - (2006-12-20)
  [1046] Bounce, bounce, bounce - (2007-01-20)
  [1048] Getting rid of people - hotel techniques - (2007-01-21)
  [1084] Writing terms and conditions for conferences and other events - (2007-02-17)
  [1108] Express service - (2007-03-14)
  [1122] Hotel - online feedback forms compared - (2007-03-30)
  [1161] A contrast in room rates and facilities - (2007-04-25)
  [1180] Conjugation - (2007-05-08)
  [1248] How NOT to oversell a hotel - (2007-06-27)
  [1284] An update on the West Wilts show ... - (2007-07-30)
  [1421] Castle Lodge Hotel, Ely, Cambridgeshire - (2007-11-04)
  [1422] Wiltshire - speaker / after dinner talker offer - (2007-11-05)
  [1445] Looking after you Christmas Customer Crowds - (2007-11-26)
  [1548] Hotelympia - show report - the lighter side - (2008-02-21)
  [1622] An extra step - victory from defeat - (2008-04-25)
  [1792] All the pieces fall into place - hotel and courses - (2008-09-10)
  [1877] Guests doing a bunk? - (2008-11-09)
  [2283] Everyone is in the customer relations business - (2009-07-12)
  [2303] Turning potential customers away - (2009-07-24)
  [2593] Food and drink launch - (2010-01-21)
  [2724] Escapee Grandparents welcome - Henfield and Melksham - (2010-04-15)
  [2879] Night Porter and reception - 24 hours a day? - (2010-07-20)
  [2936] The service that customers should receive - (2010-08-27)
  [3147] Hotel star ratings - towards a better system of review - (2011-01-25)
  [3164] Brown - or Mrs Sally Brown, accountant from Whitstable? - (2011-02-10)
  [3309] Tipping Policy - Well House Manor - (2011-05-29)
  [3660] A Pivotal Incident - learning how to welcome your guests - (2012-03-18)
  [3743] Sunday - no longer a day of rest - (2012-05-28)
  [3832] A busy day at Well House Manor - so come in and make it even busier! - (2012-08-10)
  [3838] Guest review - Well House Manor, Melksham - (2012-08-14)
  [3909] Every Customer Counts - (2012-11-01)
  [3988] Three cheers for the staff at Well House Manor - (2013-01-24)
  [4033] Official Star ratings for hotels - still worth having? - (2013-03-07)
  [4051] On reading a new hotel review - (2013-03-24)
  [4202] Excellent Railfuture conference, but some setup lessons - (2013-11-03)
  [4232] Not wanted here - hotel guests who will not be happy - (2013-12-30)
  [4521] Should we get an AA or Visit Wiltshire hotel assessment? - (2015-10-09)
  [4543] Saturday morning at Well House Manor - (2015-10-17)
  [4603] Happy New Year. Our customers are our ambassadors - (2016-01-01)
  [4613] Our best hotel customers help us ... to help them ... be our best customers. - (2016-01-04)

Back to Contrast

Previous and next or Horse's mouth home

Forward to The Month Ahead - What is happening in Melksham

Conversion of OSI grid references to Eastings and Northings
How long should a training module be?
The Royal Mail Receipt
The Month Ahead - What is happening in Melksham
Launch of Melksham Food and Drink Festival
Contrast
Variables and pointers and references - C and C++
Variable Scope in C++
Discount Training Courses - PHP, Perl, Python
New C Examples - pointers, realloc, structs and more