April 2009

Published on

April 15, 2009

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Estates News

…Bedrooms 33 and 36 have been refurbished at West Lodge Park with beautiful new schemes – both rooms formed part of the Edward Beale extension in 1998 and have end corridor locations making them extra quiet. The new schemes bring these two beautiful executive bedrooms up to date.

…The beautiful Portrait of a Lady has moved location from the King Charles Room to the newly opened Mary Beale restaurant where she hangs in a prominent position over looking the lower bay – this fine portrait is now not believed to be by Mary Beale, but by a Dutch artist and is a very fine work of art now given the prominence she deserves. (pic far right)

…After the garden furniture at both hotels has all been painted, the next projects include bedrooms 29 and 28 at West Lodge Park, and the repair of chipped bedroom furniture at Beales Hotel.

Sales news

…The launch of the Mary Beale restaurant is planned for this Thursday with a superb lunch for 80 VIP guests catered by Executive Chef Wayne Turner and his team.

…The www.bealeshotels.co.uk online shop is now open for business with Beales Hotels vouchers and the West Lodge Park history book for sale – if all is successful in our test runs, we hope to extend the online shop to include tickets for events at Beales Hotel and West Lodge Park, tickets for Christmas party nights, housekeeping goodies for sale such as bathrobes and slippers, and champagne, chocolate and flower packages that friends and family may wish to purchase for guests staying at the hotels. (pic top right)

…Great PR about the Mary Beale restaurant has happened in the past month with the lead story on BBC London News on the 1pm, 6.30pm and 10.30 bulletins, as well as articles in Hertfordshire Countryside and in the Barnet Press. (pics bottom left and centre)

…The first 2009 e-shot (pic bottom right) to our thousands of email database guests is running this week with 4 offers for each hotel – we plan on a monthly e-shot over the whole of this new financial year

And finally…

…as we reach the end of another year at Beales Hotels, it is worth looking back over the events of an extraordinary year for the company, for the country and for the world.

…This time a year ago, I was congratulating the team on an 8.6% rise in sales over the previous 12 months and was about to go into April where sales rose by a staggering 26.9% – it all seems a long time ago now with an economy in freefall and our own sales hit badly in the second half of the year as a result.

…The highlights during the past year for me have been the Coutts Bank family business national award, the visit of Lady Thatcher to West Lodge Park, the long service staff lunch where 37 staff members celebrated 598 years of service between them, the numerous bedroom refurbishments we have finished at West Lodge Park and of course the opening of the Mary Beale restaurant.

…The low moments of the year have been the closure of Safiya beauty rooms at WLP, saying goodbye to Callum and Joede Kennedy at BH, and the relentlessly bad economic news since September with the effect that this has had on our teams and on our business.

…Looking forward, it is difficult to say that we have reached rock bottom, with April and May forecast to be very difficult months – nonetheless we will continue to give our guests excellent service, excellent food, and an excellent standard of comfort in our superb four star hotels.