children and pets

Children: We hear that quite a few small hotels do not take children below 14. How convenient. No mess, no silence breaking shrieks, no damage. It is odd that guests seem to forget or ignore the human hours it requires to tidy up after children and pets. Sofas are jumped on in view of parents benevolent glare, latches rattled and sometimes twisted off, flowers strewn everywhere. Not all kids behave in this manner. Some are truly angelic.

While we do appreciate that older people who visit the island for a break prefer to stay away from screaming kids ( we loose custom every which way), in the same vein the grading body ie Visit Britain http://www.qualityintourism.com/asp/main.asp assess all Guest Accomodation in one category. They grade establishments, irrespective of the fact that some types of Guest Accomodation require more maintenance ( ie family friendlyor pet friendly ones) and therefore need to be assessed within a separate category. There are no allowances made for the extra work involved in cleaning and repair in establishments that take children and pets. We say that this grossly unfair. Is there any way to lobby the government. NO !! I havent found a way yet.

what people dont know- the inside story

I have heard of and have had a few guests who are partciular about every crease in the sheets, every rain drop on the glass etc. While reasonable suggestions are always welcome, some seriously take the m....

First of all, the Manor is a South South East facing building, open to the elements of the channel. There are no obstructions to the sometimes 30 mph winds that hit and rattle the southern part of our building. So, not only do we have salty water droplets to contend with on a daily basis but burnt plants that look pretty grim in the garden. Taking just the water droplets, it would take approximately 3-4 hours "daily" for a window cleaner to clean the windows.

Then, the woodwork, every exposed bit requires at least a coat of water proof paint every year- a task made doubly difficult by our previous owners who had not had any maintenance done whatsoever. The fire escape was so rusty we thought it best to replace them.

Speaking of PREVIOUS OWNER- would you believe that they stored not only bits of bath soaps, left over by guests, in a jar ( about 300) and used toilet brushes ( around 20 of them) in a large bin bag. We hear that they thought it may be of some use in the future. Yeuw !

I hope that this blog informs guests of the hours, money it takes to run and maintain a business such as this and hopefully will provide a better understanding of the costs and therefore tariffs.