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Beyond the Front Desk: How Rosie Radwell Balances Life in a Hotel Empire · Work It Like A Mum

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hey, I'm Elizabeth Willits and I'm obsessed with helping as many women as possible achieve their boldest dreams after kids and helping you to navigate this messy and magical season of life.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I'm a working mum with over 17 years of recruitment experience and I'm the founder of the Investing in Women Job Board and Community.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: In this show, I'm honoured to be chatting with remarkable women redefining our working world across all areas of business.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: They'll share their secrets on how they've achieved extraordinary success after children, set boundaries and balance, the challenges they've faced and how they've overcome them to define their own versions of success.
• 0:43
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• 0:45
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• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Money struggles, growth, loss, boundaries and balance we cover it all.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Think of this as coffee with your mates, mixed with an inspiring TED talk sprinkled with the career advice you wish you'd really had at school.
• 0:58
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• 1:07
  Speaker 1: This is the Work it Like a Mum podcast.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by Investing in Women.
• 1:16
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• 1:28
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• 1:33
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• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Now back to the show.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to this week's Work it Like a Mum podcast episode.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Today I'm delighted to be chatting with hotel owner and managing director, Rosie Radwell.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: We'll be chatting about growing up in a hotel, the ins and outs of running a large business, becoming a step parent and the challenges and joy that brings, and the impact COVID and the cost of living crisis has had on Rosie's business and the hospitality industry.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Rosie, for joining me today.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: It's an absolute pleasure to chat with you and learn more about your experiences and running a hotel.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: So thank you for your time.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Thank you for having me.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: It's an absolute pleasure.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: So you were telling me a little bit about your experiences because you?
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: It's a family-owned business, Is that right?
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Yes, we've.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Our family have been in hotel business in Bournemouth for over 75 years, so it's gone through the generations.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: And, yeah, I took over with my brothers from my mother and my stepfather.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Wow, was there any point where you didn't think you wanted to be in the hotel industry?
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Cell?
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, when I was about 17,.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: I wanted a bit of fashion designer but was too young to go to university.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: So I had to fill in my time with college for a couple of years and I started a business studies course, did that for one year and then had to do something else and ended up going into hospitality.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: So why I trace that?
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I have no idea at the time, but now looking back, wouldn't do anything else.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: So when you first started in hospitality then because obviously it was in your blood, you know, you've come from generations of hotel owners but your first hospitality job was that for a family business one of your family's businesses or were you working for another company?
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I started when I was 14 working in the Martian Court and my first job was polishing cutlery Monday to Friday, nine till one in the summer holidays, and I earned £2 an hour.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: It was interesting stuff, but, yeah, it went from there really.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Brilliant and we were chatting with before.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: We started recording about you, because you grew up in a hotel.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Oh, grew up in the hotel.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I was literally born into it, shared a bedroom with my older brother for the first sort of eight, nine years of my life in a small two bedroom apartment within a hotel.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Luckily I was in my mum's stomach when he decided to set the hotel alight when he was two years old, so I escaped that bit.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: But yeah, we've had an interesting time.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: It's not always all it's cracked up to be, because people think, oh yeah, you've got your own bar, you've got your own restaurant, but you can't walk into the hotel without feeling like you're on duty sometimes.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: So you have to have that step back and be able to departmentalise, I suppose.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean growing up as a baby, being washed in the kitchen sink and baby in one arm I'm feeding me with a bottle, with a telephone and writing a reservation in the other hand.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it has its perks, it has its samples, like anything.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: But no, it's been an interesting life.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Interesting life, so your apartment then, because you obviously grew up in this apartment in a hotel.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Was it just two hotel rooms sort of knocked together, or was it?
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we had two bedrooms put together and a bathroom, which were in the staff area, and it leaded straight out into the main kitchen.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: So back in those days when I was born, my mum used to be literally the reservationist, my dad used to do the bar, my mum did all the cooking as well, and then they had staff to help in the restaurant and housekeeping.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: And I remember, when I was young, the waiting staff dressing me up and parading me as if I was a little prostitute in the cafe shop across the road in front of my dad, who nearly had a heart attack.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, that was life.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: It was life was all about growing up with guests and the staff.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: And, yeah, that's how we lived.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: It was just an extension of the family.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: So yeah, absolutely, and so.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Did you have your own kitchen or were you using the hotel kitchen?
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: then we used the hotel kitchen back in those days didn't have a separate kitchen, so what about lounge then?
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Where did you go in the evening?
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: or no lounge.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: We didn't have a lounge.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: We use the hotel lounge in the winter because for five months every year the hotel got closed, but that was the only time we had a lounge.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: I mean before that it was our bedrooms and that's.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: We could use the public areas when we weren't, when there was no guests around.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: But yeah, you were confined to the two bedrooms.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Apart from that, really Brilliant.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: And obviously this podcast is aimed at working moms and a lot of moms.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Some moms, some moms feel guilty when they're working, they worry that you know they're not spending time, enough time with their kids and vice versa.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: There's quite a big you know, I felt it quite a big push pull between work and family.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: So someone that had, you know, a working woman, you say there's a, there's pictures of you with her feeding you one arm and then taking reservations in the other.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: What was it?
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously you didn't really know any different.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: What you know, what was your perception growing up with a working mom?
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: You know, from a child's perspective?
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Did you feel that you had enough time with her?
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Did you enjoy seeing her working?
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Well, as I said, I mean, my first official job was when I was 14, but I used to still help all the waiters and waitresses.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: But back in those days the guests it was almost like they were another extension of your family as well, because you'd have the regulars that came every year and for some of them we used to go down to the beach in the summer with their families when mum was busy working at the A&L, because that's, they just used to take you out.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: It wasn't I don't know, it's not as protected as it was this year these days of who you're going out with, but back in those days, yeah it was.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: They were like an extension of your family.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so you had.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: It sounds like you had a lovely childhood.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: You know, there was always lots of people around.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's certain things you miss out on because you you sort of you can't.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Parents couldn't drop what they were doing to take you to sports day or stuff like this.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: So they always made the effort wherever they could to get things covered and to spend those time.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: But quality time was more in the winter, when the hotel was shut for five months, and that's when mum had planned all her kids.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: So she had one in January, one in the February and one in the March, so our birthdays were always when the hotel was closed.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: She had time to be able to, to plan things, you know.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, do good.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: I bet you had amazing birthday parties in the hotel, even you know when it.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we were.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: the hotel was always shut so we always had big places to have the party, with separate kitchen, restaurant, bar area.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: It was great fun.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, brilliant.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: And you live now, don't you?
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Just in the Martian Court.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: You still there, you live on the grounds.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I have a four bedroom house at the back of the car park so I have a very long commute to work in the morning.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: But no, it's easy.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: You still feel like you've left the hotel in the evening, so you're not constantly on duty.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: But yeah, you're far enough away that you've still got your family life at home.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you sound like you've got sort of best of both worlds, suppose having a separate property.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: I guess when you were younger and you sort of said you, you know, and more and more people now work from home.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: You know, it's not everyone runs the hotel, but people are working from home, and somebody that works from home as well is quite hard sometimes to not feel the pull of work when you are at home.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: How have you set those boundaries and made sure that you protected your time out of the workplace when you're not working?
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Well, I think I've learned from it.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: So, a long time ago I used to get literally phone call after phone call after phone call in the evening.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: You've got to be able to be in a position where you train your staff to think for themselves.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, we have about 90 staff here at the moment at the hotel, so we're very well catered for.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: But you've got to give them the opportunity to also learn from their mistakes, as long as they're not so costly.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: They have to learn from their experiences, but you've got to give them the information and sort of test them every now and again.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: What would you do in different scenarios so that they're not calling you all the time, so that when you go home and you have your family time, that is your time where you I mean we make a point of sitting down for dinner every night together.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: So, even if it's just half an hour, what have you done today?
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: What are you expecting to do?
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: How's college going?
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: What happened?
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: Just so you have that, that family element.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: So it's not all about work.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: I guess.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Do you feel like you can't?
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, you're the owner, you're the manager and director.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: You've got night to people working for you.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: You know it's a successful hotel.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: It's obviously busy in the summer.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Do you feel you can switch off completely, or is it something that's always sort of there in the back of your mind?
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: I suppose it's always in the back of my mind.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: I have learnt that and I suppose KV, if I want to talk, you know, to really make you evaluate what's important in life.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Family is important and you have to have that time where you switch off from work, because if you don't switch off you just run yourself into the ground, which is pretty much what happened over the Covid era, because everyone got furloughed.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: I was literally on duty seven days a week trying to deal with everything and I did get ill through it.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: So I luckily have never had Covid, but I got ill in other ways because of the stress that it created.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: And it's still.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: You've still got to separate that and during those times George ended up being, when he went to visit his mum, got actually stranded over there.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: So we didn't see him for months.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: On him.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: It was a big thing.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: I suppose it was the best for him at the time, but for me it was sort of like all of a sudden George isn't around the house.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: And he's your stepson, isn't he?
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: George is my stepson and not having him there was a big strain as well, because you're used to having that family time.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: so yeah, so George came to you, dene, did he come to live with you after you married his dad?
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: No, I was with Rob for about 11 months before George came to live with us and then, yeah, so we were together 11 months.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: George came to live with us.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: He's been with us ever since, absolutely adore him.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: It was.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: For me, it's the best of both worlds, because I was looking at adopting and I did look into that with my husband, rob, about maybe getting a little sister as up at the restrictions and then expecting me to take six months off work.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Some of the restrictions around it were just too confining and with the business, the business puts a roof over our heads.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: So what's most important and Rob was very much into, I will adopt, but I don't want to foster, because the thought of giving kids back all the time was just didn't sit right for him and he didn't feel was right for George at the time.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: So, but when George ended up being with us for so long, it we realised that George was enough for both of us.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, it was, yeah, been a difficult few years, but it's also been a big learning curve as well.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: So yes, what was your relationship like with George when he first came to live with you?
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: So I suppose I've had it really quite lucky.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: I suppose.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: George, in the whole time he's lived with us I've only ever thrown three paddies, major paddies, where you sort of sit there and think, oh my god, what have I done?
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: What's going on?
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: How do I deal with this?
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: For me, I suppose I still missed out on having those young years with him which I would have loved to have had.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: But George and I have got a really good relationship and I've always made sure that I'm not trying to replace his mum and I have a very good relationship with his mum and we had in the past family dinners.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: We've gone over to where she lives and we have dinners with her family.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: So Rob still sees his ex-mother-in-law and the brother-in-law and all of that.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: So we still have a very good relationship with everyone.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: And George knows, or has always known, you can't play one off against the other because we all talk.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: So that's not going to work here.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: You know, we're all quite happy to sit down because George is the main priority when it comes to that.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so because obviously there is, you know, you know, disney films.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: They've done quite a disservice, haven't they, to step parents and they've not been particularly kind.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: But it sounds like you've had a really good you know a good experience of being a step parent and George has, and it's worked really well for the wider family.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I had a few issues with my family.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: Obviously where my parents got divorced it wasn't the most amicableist and obviously when my mum and dad first bought the hotel in 87, it didn't it.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: There was a few years of some unsettlement and I didn't want George to be brought up in a situation where it was we don't talk about that person in this building and I wanted to make sure that we were always open with him and we could talk about anything.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: So I suppose I pushed my husband Robin to probably being a little bit uncomfortable at the beginning having family meals with the xy, because it's not normal to have those sort of things.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: But it's changed and she's happily married.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: She's got another son now and George goes over to see her in the holidays and it works really well for what we have.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: So it's probably not so easy at the beginning but it's been worth it.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I think that's really good advice actually.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: And you know, I'm thinking my, my nanny and granddad got divorced.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: And do you know what?
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: I didn't realise they were my grandparents.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: So they're not my parents, my grandparents and I hadn't realised they were divorced until I was 10 and I remember talking to one of my dad about oh son says, parents have got divorced and I don't know anyone that's divorced.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: And my mum looked at me and she said nanny and granddad are divorced.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: And you know what?
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: They lived in different houses and it had never occurred to me that they'd got divorced because they actually had such a good relationship.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: And I think, you know, I hope I don't get divorced, but if I ever do, they are a really good example of how to keep things sort of friendly and together for the rest of the family.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because the last thing you want is for people to fall over, fall out of who's house are you going to go over to at Christmas?
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: Who are you going to do this?
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: I don't do any of that.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: For me, christmas is about the guests.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: So if George goes over to his mum, sometimes he stays with us for Christmas, but then he'll go over there for New Year and we play it very relaxed.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: It's not you have to do this.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: He's now at an age, he's 17.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: He can think for himself.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: You know, if he doesn't want to go for all six weeks of the summer to see his mum, he won't do.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: But he might go out for a couple of weeks, come home for a couple of weeks and go back out for another week.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: It's got to be his decision and what's right for him.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: But yeah, he still wants to see everyone, which is great, because most 17 year olds can't wait to get away from him.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Do you think he'll come into the hotel?
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Does he want to work in the hotel or does he want to do something?
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: No, he's very much into YouTube and he has a channel and wants to do that.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: He is doing some work for us purely because I said you've got to do a job, you've got to get you know, you've got to start with the income and stuff of that.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: So he's helping us Understand some of the social media aspects.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: That's probably.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: Some of us are probably sitting there going oh god, it's something else new to learn and there's young kids that understand it probably a bit better than we do.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: So he's working alongside my business development director, jane, doing some stuff.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: So he's not directly working for me, he's working for her and that for me, takes out the whole family aspect of it.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: But working as a waiter or waitress in the hotel, he doesn't want to do it and I wouldn't inflict that on my management team.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: Got to keep it separate.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and does Rob work in the hotel?
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: he has done so.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: He worked for us full-time for about a year and a half.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: He had finished at his job after Covid, just wasn't enjoying it anymore, didn't really know what he wanted to do and he did run a pub years ago.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: So he came into the business for a while, over a time where we had staff shortages, which were really prevalent in our industry, and struggling because after Brexit as well and Every industry is suffering from it.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: But he came in to help us.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: That ended up being full-time for a year and a half.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: But I Can't even though he's family, I can't have a manager that doesn't work evenings and weekends like the rest of my team.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: So he did that for a year and a half and then went right, I'm ready to go on now.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: You've got enough staff.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: I'm ready to go back to work in my Monday to Friday so I can have more time with you and George in the evenings and weekends.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: So yeah, absolutely so.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: What was Covid like then for the hope, you know, for somebody that lived through it under in an industry that really felt the impact of Covid.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Talk us through you know the Covid experience working in a hotel well, god, soul-destroying is a word, that word that comes to mind.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: So Having to close the hotel, having to make some very difficult decisions, we had, literally the day before furlough was announced for the first time, we had literally had staff meetings and I'd basically told 50 people that we had no choice but to make them redundant because if they were going to close our business we had their money coming in and we didn't know what was happening.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: And I'm always I like to be prepared for things and there is no way of preparing you Emotionally to sit down and have that conversation with people that you actually Treat as extended family.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: I mean some people.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: The longest person working here at the moment has been with us for 28 years.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, what do you do?
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: Because their whole family have known us, their kids have grown up with us being in their parents life.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: It's a very difficult ball game, but I mean it.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: Covid pretty much decimated our business.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: We very much focus on group business here dance holidays, bridge holidays, whist holidays Even after the summer that had gone.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: I mean there was no winter business there.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: Everything had been fooled because with the community that we sort of cater for the, the vulnerability they can't go out, they're gonna have to shield themselves.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: It wiped out our business for the winter too.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: So even during the first lockdown I had made the decision in the June that we were closing in the September for the whole of the winter, because it Wiped out our business even before furlough for the second time, lexi furlough the anything.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: Before any of that had come about, we were already making decisions four months before because our business had been wiped out for the winter.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: So we had already got refurbishment programs had been planned for them, because we plan them 18 months in advance.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: So in some respects it worked out well for us because we plowed on with those things.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: But we still made.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: Come the September we made 50 people redundant, which was heartbreaking, but I also, because we'd made that early enough, we had found every single one member of staff a job to go to and we'd help them find that.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: So they were going to other businesses because some hotels were still open, some hotels still had staff shortages and they were planning to be open.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: But for us, our group business had been decimated.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: And I remember a conversation Making that decision and telling my fellow directors what I had planned to do, and Jane was like do you not think that you've jumped to that conclusion a bit too early?
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: And I went.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: No, I don't think I have and therefore I'm gonna make you call some of our group organizers and explain what we've decided to do.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: And after about the third phone call she went.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: I had no idea how bad this hasn't just affected us.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: It's affected all our guests as well.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: They're not getting any of the bookings.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: They are worried about losing their deposits.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: So for us, by us closing the hotel, they hadn't lost any deposits.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: They had the option of moving their holiday on a year or having the refund of the deposit, and it made a lot of goodwill between our clients Going forward and reconfirming that business for the future.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: So it was by far the best decision to make.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: But it was so destroying and I suppose the for me, the biggest thing was was knowing that mum had already passed away, that she didn't have to deal with any of that because, having suffered from terminal cancer, and that destroying her slowly, that she wasn't the independent woman She'd always wanted to be and had been in business, that would have probably just really Ruined her at the end, knowing that the hotel was sharp, having to make people redundant and yeah, so Very difficult time you got through.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: And then, how was it then?
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Because obviously there was such a staffing crisis and shortage Then within the hospitality sector, you know, people were having stacations.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: We came and stayed in your lovely hotel last year.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: How was it then?
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: I suppose, restarting the business then and going back and going again.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: So we were lucky because we probably got a space 50% of the staff that we've made redundant to come back.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: We'd kept a small team on during the winter.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: We had decided where all the other hotels were shutting for events.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: We then opened for events but didn't open for accommodation.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: So we did the alternative way in Bournemouth.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Having eight to nine function rooms made sense for us to do that.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: So we had a small team, kept that going and then we got, I suppose, about 50% of the staff back.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: But we started and we looked at our whole staff journey and we reinvented everything.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: So from the time they arrived the training that we do we had updated systems and got new technology in for our bar tills, our front of house tills, all our CRM.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: Everything was redone.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: So the first one probably was the hardest one, because not only did we have new staff, we had to retrain all the new, the old staff on the system and it was like a complete learning curve for everyone.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: But it gave us a blank canvas to change how we wanted things to go for the future and we've got really good staff retention because of the staff training and the planning that we've put in place.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: So it's really has helped us and we have had staff that have left and we've had people that have gone for two weeks and come back going oh my god, I didn't realise how well I had it here.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: So I've come back, I want to come back, and we've just had another guy that went off for six months and has just come back, and because they've missed how we treat our staff like extension of the family is not something else.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: So yeah, and then I mean I suppose you know you are proof that actually that break a lot.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm thinking I went to a lot of attractions and stuff that had been refurbished and I made the most, actually, of that time when they weren't getting customers coming through the door.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: And you know, if they could, they didn't close, they were able to invest and you know up the experience then for customers after.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: So how's the cost of living crisis affecting your business now?
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Well, it's obviously increased all our costings.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: We were lucky enough to have contracted our gas and energy in June last year.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: We've obviously got a price hike, but nowhere near what some of the other hotels are suffering.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: They cost hospitality as high risk, so there's already incurred charges on that, which people don't tend to take into account.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: What TBE?
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: I've not heard of this, so we literally heard about it yesterday in one of my meetings that I run.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: So we had an energy supplier because hospitality is a high risk commodity, as they put it.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: You get a rate and they add a 1.85% charge on top straight away because you're a high risk commodity.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: What high risk and that you won't pay the bill.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's exactly what they do.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: So they charge us more than what people get charged in their home because we're a high risk commodity of maybe not paying.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: Because, especially with the cost of living, the first industries and people that are affected because we use more gas and electricity than most people and you can already see the effects that that's having on local restaurants One of our restaurants that are, one of the guys who work for us left here 10 years ago to go and run a restaurant with his sister.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: They're now having to close in February and he's coming back to work for us.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: It's such a shame.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: He said we got through Covid but the cost of living has just crucified us because people are not going out to restaurants for dinner because they'd rather save up for that big holiday once a year than going out for lots of little dinners and this, that and the other.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: They're all.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: They're doing things at home to make things cheaper, purely because that cost of living, because nobody knows where they're going to be at in a few months time.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of uncertainty, isn't there?
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I space.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: The little cafes and the restaurants are getting hit first.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: For the hotels, generally you're not having the extra pickup of last-minute business, so where people might be a bit more frivolous with their money and go, oh, let's just go away for a weekend, they're possibly not thinking about doing that.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: So for us we've got the group business back, which is great because you've got the people that are generally retired or have a bit more time on their hands to do those kind of holidays.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: So they're still booking a year in advance on those kind of things.
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: But the extra pickup of business is not necessarily there for us.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: And is it knocking on to your prices as well?
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, everything's costing you more, so you haven't done pretty much prices.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: Well, the cost of food since Covid has increased exponentially.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: I mean everyone can see that just by the, the prices they have at home, what their shopping is increased by.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: But I mean generally food costs since September went between September and December went up 30% and for a business like mine we're setting our Christmas party rates for dinners in January and having our braces printed in January and February and then by December those food costs have gone up by 30-40%.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: I've literally just changed laundry company.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: After 25 years that's being changed today because they hadn't locked in their prices and even though one year they went up 18%, they came back in this year and said we have to go up another 45% on our laundry cost because because of the energy prices and to pay 22,000 pound more a year, I had to change company.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: I said I can't afford to pay that.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: We've got it.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: Everyone is looking for a bargain on everything at the moment.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: It is really difficult, but for our business we set our prices literally a couple of years in advance.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: Our groups are already booking into 2024 and 2025.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: I have to set those rates so if there is the price increase, it's us that covers that.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: I can't go back to a company and go.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Our food costs have gone up 20%.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: Would you mind paying a bit more once you've contracted something?
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: It doesn't work like that.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: So it is a bit chicken and eggs at the moment to foresee what's going to happen in the future, but you have to take that into consideration.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: It's tough.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: You sound like you've got through COVID.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Hopefully you'll get through this.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: It sounds like you've got bookings a long way into the future.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: But yeah it's a lovely hotel.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: I stayed there last year.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: It was last February, a half-term.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: Actually we're recording this coming up to February, a half-term, so it's been nearly a year, but it was a lovely hotel.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: So where can people find you, connect with you and learn more about you and your hotel?
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: So the best one is by our website, which is wwwmarshamcourthotelcouk, and it has all our features on there.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: We have 95 bedrooms, 15 have CVs, 15 of them have CV and balconies.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: We also have two apartments at the back of the hotel in a separate annex, so it gives the self-catering option as well.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: We have eight conference and banqueting rooms.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: Our main restaurant can take up to 230 for a dinner dance, a few more if you're not having the dancing.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: So we've got lots of different possibilities at the hotel.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: We're also very proud and our website will show all the accessibility and inclusion stuff that we've done so we're the first hotel in the UK to have a changing places.
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: We also have a sensory room.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: We have or will have by the end of this month five bedrooms with ceiling hoists, profiling beds and fully equipped wet rooms.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: We've an ice swim hoist so people can use our outdoor pool in the summer if they need assistance into the pool.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: So we've got lots of features and everything is shown on our website, which is the best place to look, and we love people's feedback, so if they give us feedback wherever possible, we do realise we can't be 100% for everyone, but we will do what we can as long as we can adapt our hotel to do that, so yeah, Well, thank you.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: And you have brilliant family rooms as well, because we stayed in a family room, so they were nice big rooms, so that was good.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Rosie, for your time today.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: It's been an absolute pleasure to chat with you.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: Lovely.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much for having me again.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to another episode of the Work it Like a Mon podcast.
• 34:02
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• 34:08
  Speaker 1: If you're on LinkedIn, please send me a connection request at Elizabeth Willett and let me know your thoughts on this week's episode.
• 34:15
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• 34:21
  Speaker 1: Until next time, keep on chasing your biggest dreams.