Stephanie Hall, Group Director of Sales and Marketing at Exclusive Collection gives us her lowdown on the Lockdown.
Hoteliers are adept at planning for the long term whether it’s planning a refurbishment, helping a couple with their wedding planning or gearing up for the Christmas season. But when lockdown became mandatory, we were quick to support the ‘Stay at Home’ moniker.
Like many businesses we have pivoted our offering, where we can, and have taken these weeks to plan for a new era of hospitality; where social distancing is not only a requisite, but will become a qualitative benchmark for business and leisure guests and our members alike.
Behind the scenes we are as busy as we would have been with a full house! The implications of lockdown left us with kitchens full of fresh food, housekeeping cupboards and spa stock with ‘use by’ dates, kitchen gardens reawakening for spring and large-scale client events that have had to be rescheduled, re-planned and reconsidered. The ramifications across the collection have been far and wide, however, our actions and their outcomes have been focused on supporting our local communities.
As sustainability is such a pillar of our business, we’ve kept up each of our kitchen gardens which are now bursting with life and ready for a full late summer harvest. We had a bumper crop of rhubarb at the Manor House thanks to Scott Vivian-Smith and many of the other crops that we couldn’t use were distributed to our local neighbours. Work continues on the golf course at The Manor House and in particular re-configuring the bunker on the 5th.
At South Lodge ‘Big Rhody’ our 120 year old rhododendron hit the headlines with 9-metres height of flaming red flowers giving lockdown horticulturists a virtual breath of fresh air.
This heightened sense of tranquility across the Collection has bought about a new type of visitor with deer, rabbits and squirrels aplenty and the warmer days have put our beehives in to honeycomb overdrive!
We have also donated all the perishable items from our kitchens to local food banks and hospitals and have given innumerable bathroom amenities to hospitals local to our six locations. For example at Pennhyill Park we are working with a community nurse and distributing shower caps for use in NHS hospitals in the Surrey region.
We are taking the opportunity for our maintenance departments to fast-track tasks we’d normally do in January. We’ve reconfigured and refurbished both back of house and public spaces in preparation for a loosening of lockdown and also in anticipation that January and February may be busier than normal. The fantastic weather has also enabled us to tackle outdoor areas that, had we been at full-house, would have been tricky to conclude. We’ve jet-washed and re-pointed: a literal spring clean!
Our senior team has been deep in conversation on how we apply distancing across the Collection: a business that ultimately was borne on bringing people together to share; whether that’s sharing great food, business knowledge, a milestone celebration or a high-impact gym class. Reflecting the World Health Authority advice, as well as UK government guidance, we have made enormous progress in our departmental standards of performance and will continue to review these new and supplementary practices. Our work encompasses the customer journey and also our teams too and looks at safety & well-being, social distancing, service delivery and cleaning throughout our hotels, spas and other public spaces. For now, our SOP’s will continue to be a work in progress and will become more finite when we have a clearer indication of the post-lockdown path ahead.
While it’s well documented the hospitality business has been hit hard, it’s also one of the most resilient and supportive global communities. One initiative that has criss-crossed the counties and continents is the Hospitality for Heroes Challenge. The challenge helps raise funds to feed NHS staff and is bringing some light-hearted fun to our sector. Both Danny and David have already taken part helping raise more than £25,000 for this very pertinent not-for-profit grassroots initiative.
Just as the hospitality sector draws on each other’s strengths, we have been humbled by the feedback we are receiving from our clients and partners. The input we are getting from our online tutorials and home hacks is fantastic. So with a positive pivot on our business; we’ve put together an
on-going plan of content to keep you fit, nourished and feeling as good as you would if you’d visited us.
It goes without saying that we can’t wait to welcome everyone back, but for now ‘Stay at Home’
