We're number 1 (of 15) of Bed and Breakfasts in Melksham, according to Trip Advisor. 100% of guests say they would return, and our overall rating score is 96% - that compares to 92% who would return and overall 95.7% rating for the establishemnt at No. 2, and 41% returning / 61% overall rating at the bottom of the list - to be fair to that establishment's current management, recent reviews are nuch better and they're now light years ahead of where they used to be.
It's not exactly that we want to be best - just that we want to be the hotel / B&B that everyone enjoys and wants to return to. Not only does it make us feel good if we're getting high marks, but it mean our customers are feeling good too - and they become our ambassadors.
Calculations - overall rating. I've scored "excellent" as 100%, "very good" at 80%, "average" at 60%, "poor" at 40% and "terrible" at 20%. And simply averaged out our 40 scores.
Different hotels and B&Bs offer different facilities. If you're looking for a late bar and a swimming pool on site, we're not the place for you. And indeed when I get phone calls that say "we've tried Xxxx and Yyyy but they're full, do you have a room?" I'm very careful to welcome people for whom we can offer what they want, but to turn away people for whom we're not well suited. A degree of compromise here - if someone knows what we can and can't offer and concludes "not exactly what I was looking for, but I'll take it" that's fair enough, and the initial honesty without overselling provides a positive start to the stay!
As well as 15 B&Bs, four hotels are listed in the Melksham Area, and we can compare with them too; they range down from 87% to 76% who would return, and from 89.8% down to 81.3%. No names quoted, and a note that for some people the other places will be more suitable than Well House Manor - after all, we have just five rooms and we don't try to be all things to all people.
(written 2014-09-19)
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
M100 - Introduction to Well House Manor [512] Exciting futures - the Well House Manor project - (2005-11-30)
[571] Well House Manor - (2006-01-21)
[677] Sympathetic development - (2006-04-09)
[756] Seeing the bricks for the trees - (2006-06-11)
[793] The Wilts and Berks Canal - (2006-07-05)
[891] Well House Manor Hotel, Melksham, Wiltshire - (2006-10-10)
[902] Brand new hotel and training centre, Melksham - (2006-10-22)
[940] Winter at Well House Manor - Open Houses - (2006-11-23)
[978] Wellhouse Manor, Hotel, Melksham - (2006-12-10)
[1002] Meet the neighbours - (2006-12-20)
[1018] Open Source Courses and Business Hotel - products and prices for 2007 - (2007-01-01)
[1069] Rail trouble forced me to buy hotel - (2007-02-07)
[1072] Well House Manor in the Snow - (2007-02-09)
[1112] Bank Holiday country breaks in Melksham, Wiltshire - (2007-03-17)
[1132] Well House Manor, Melksham, Art Gallery - (2007-04-02)
[1211] A lot has happened in a year - (2007-05-31)
[1261] High summer at Well House Manor - (2007-07-08)
[1332] Melksham Hotel - Five Star Kitchen! - (2007-09-04)
[1371] Hotel in Melksham at Christmas - (2007-09-29)
[1384] An email update for past guests and delegates - (2007-10-08)
[1388] Well House Manor - a year on - (2007-10-12)
[1492] Well House Consultants Training and Hotel - 2008 news - (2008-01-01)
[1706] The Story of Well House Manor - (2008-07-12)
[1866] What a difference a day made - (2008-11-02)
[1968] Review of 2008 - (2008-12-31)
[1975] Well House Manor Hotel - on plan for 2009 business guests - (2009-01-03)
[2076] A New Advert for Well House Manor - (2009-03-11)
[2119] Make your business a DESTINATION business - (2009-04-05)
[2125] We have lost a regular business guest - (2009-04-10)
[2425] Weekend and Christmas Promotion - Well House Manor Hotel, Melksham - (2009-09-26)
[2923] Fresh air and beautiful places in Wiltshire - (2010-08-15)
[2941] Wedding season in Melksham - somewhere good to stay - (2010-08-31)
[2978] Christmas 2010 - Well House Manor, Melksham, Hotel - (2010-10-01)
[3014] Well House Manor - the next six years - (2010-10-24)
[3115] Perl, Python, PHP, Lua, Linux, and more - and business hotel too. Menu for 2011 - (2010-12-31)
[3202] Telling you something about us in just one line - (2011-03-15)
[3611] A customer thanks Well House Manor - (2012-02-13)
[3765] Christmas in June? Melksham hotel bookings and Santa train - (2012-06-15)
[3800] Fancy a weekend away? Try Well House Manor in Melksham, Wiltshire - (2012-07-09)
[3864] Guest Guide for Well House Manor and Melksham - (2012-09-18)
[3985] Special weekend at Well House Manor - come and see Wiltshire - (2013-01-20)
[4147] A hidden hotel gem in Melksham - (2013-07-31)
[4613] Our best hotel customers help us ... to help them ... be our best customers. - (2016-01-04)
[4715] Well House Manor - Still five out of five! - (2016-10-30)
G103 - Well House Consultants - Where to stay in Melksham [319] Accommodation and landing pages - (2005-05-21)
[475] Where to stay in and near Melksham - (2005-10-24)
[550] 2006 - Making business a pleasure - (2006-01-01)
[555] Hotel novelties - (2006-01-05)
[667] Well House Manor goes ahead - (2006-04-03)
[933] Course Joining package - updated - (2006-11-20)
[1436] A little touring help during a business trip to England - (2007-11-18)
[1929] 2009 - Hotel, Meeting, Training Course prices - (2008-12-07)
[2581] Snow scenes - and how snow effected our business - (2010-01-16)
[2705] Hotel booking in Melksham made easy! - (2010-04-03)
[3865] What makes Well House Manor different? - (2012-09-18)
[4447] Overnight accommodation in Melksham - if Well House Manor is full! - (2015-03-02)
[4506] Peak weekend - where there are still rooms near Melksham - (2015-06-06)
[4570] A warm welcome awaits you at Well House Manor, Melksham - (2015-11-02)
Some other Articles
Libre Office - unable to get past REOPEN WINDOWS? questionSunday is never quiet at Well House ManorPerl - still a very effective language indeed for extracting and reportingPublic courses - Autumn 2014 and 2015The Best Bed and Breakfast in Melksham?Python - an interesting applicationLua courses - an updatePolishing the Perl courses - updated trainingA longer Python ... training courseA bright new gem - updated Ruby training