MANSION HOUSE BLOG – SPRING 2011
Well we opened on Friday 21January 2011 after all the usual annual refurbishments and everything is looking really good. We have had some of the furniture covered in a new leather material and low voltage lighting has been installed in nearly all the rooms; we have also upgraded the dining room. All the staff are looking forward to welcoming our guests.
A reflection on what was happening in Scarborough during the 2010 season, which was a very busy year for the Mansion House and our best year since we opened. The Queen visited Scarborough to formally open the new Open Air Theatre: Jose Carreras and Dame Tiri Te Kanawa also appeared there in an Opera, which was a sell out. There were also a number of concerts at the new theatre, which were all sell outs. I probably should not mention our lamentable performance in the 2010 Soccer World Cup but this was possibly offset by a superb cricket performance in Australia with England winning the Ashes. However, another one of the highlights of the year was when QE2, which looked wonderful, as it cruised close into Scarborough South Bay on its way to its resting berth in Scotland. The local paper took some excellent photographs of the ship close to South Bay.
During late January the staff at the Mansion House attended the annual Scarborough hoteliers dinner held at the Spa. It was a mask ball and here is one of the pictures taken early on in the evening.
Not a great deal has occurred since our last Autumn 2010 blog other than the awful weather during the run up to Christmas which must have affected everybody although we managed to sell out over the New Year as we have done every year. However, during late January and early February the weather has been really nice and the views from the Mansion House are back to their very best. Paul the gardener has done such a super job on the front garden planting some very attractive spring shrubs; we were also lucky enough to win another Silver Award in the Scarborough 2010 garden competition. We also received some really goods news in November last year; we were voted the best Scarborough Guest Accommodation 2010 by Yorkshire Moors & Coast so we were all very pleased as this can be added to our *****5 Star Renewed Rating awarded by Enjoy England in August. Angela, Helen and Jonathan attended the awards ceremony at the Scarborough Rugby Club and the award was well promoted in the Yorkshire Press.
The Mansion House is now getting busier and Angela and Andrew are actively taking a stream of bookings for Easter, Spring and the Bank Holidays, we have already had a number of our regulars who visit early on in the year and enjoy walking in and around Scarborough. Hopefully, the lovely weather will continue into the summer to support the various Conferences and tourist events that are planned. Since last year we have changed the configuration of our rooms at the Mansion House so we can offer family rooms with a separate en-suite room adjoined to the double room instead of all the beds in one room. We have also upgraded the WiFi to a higher speed with greater bandwidth and password protected which now covers every room in the property. We know how tough times are currently so we have re-introduced our special offers for the low season and that is '4 nights for the price of 3 or 3 nights for the price of two'. We will also continue to offer a free glass of wine or fruit juice on arrival to all our guests, although expensive this has always been well received so we will continue. Despite all the price hikes we have decided not to increase the prices again this year, we have kept them unchanged now for nearly 2 years and we have also absorbed the January rise in Vat. We understand that 2011 is going to be very tough year for all our guests and that is why we believe we offer great value for money at the *****5 Star Mansion House, Scarborough.
To give you an update on what the staff have been up to during the latter part of 2010, Jonathan spent October working in Malaysia & Thailand and then all of December working in Singapore before taking a break in Bali. Angela the Business Manager is keeping a professional eye on everything as usual after a very busy travelling year. Andrew the Senior Assistant Manager has been everywhere as usual in search of even more terrifying theme park rides; not satisfied with the UK horrors he spent January in Florida looking for the US equivalent. Marzena our Breakfast Chef and her family drove back to Poland for Christmas & New Year despite the weather being awful in Northern Germany. Helen our Breakfast Manager and her family have spent their usual early sabbatical at Center Parcs. Margaret, Megan, and Jason are all well after a very quiet Christmas. Some very good news, Ashley our Assistant Manager who studies at Scarborough University has been offered the chance of studying for an MA hopefully leading on to a Phd at Scarborough University so many congratulations to Ashley.
So we are all ready and looking forward to a busy summer season at the Mansion House Scarborough and we look forward to welcoming back many familiar faces and also many new guests, so we hope to see you all soon.
Autumn 2010
Here at Mansion House we would all firstly like to begin our end of summer blog by offering a huge thank you to all the lovely people we have had stay with us during the 2010 High Season.
It is always a wonderful pleasure meeting returning guests and it is also fantastic to see some friendly new faces, whom we all hope will visit us again in the near future, in particular the welcomed regulars of Wilks and Embleton, to name just a few.
All staff here form a great team spirit and are all highly professional in the service they offer. We strive to deliver the ultimate service to our guests and from the superb comments people have left us this summer we are thankful that this factor has flourished your stay with us.
Whilst we are sad to see the summer fall away we are very excited to see the return of the starry winter nights and the mesmerising illumination that this time of year brings to Scarborough South Bay.
We say farewell to the summer events in and around the fabulous Peasholm Park and all across the seafront, but we welcome a great variety of traditional Scarborough winter season activities.
Why not stay at Mansion House for these popular events? We have guests returning every year to attend the much loved biking and chess weekends as well as dance festivals and many more interesting ventures and expeditions.
Take advantage of the 10% SJT tickets for the new, much awaited winter line up that we receive this time of year. A fantastic delectable combination of theatre treats await you.
Besides the sunshine, warmth and hustle and bustle of the summer we are also saying a sad farewell to some members of our close knit team. We were very sorry to see our loyal housekeeper and weekend chef Dawn leave after 3 years of service, but she is now having success in her new career, which all of us at Mansion House are very happy about. We are also very sorry to see our newly recruited summer housekeeper and waiter Luke Carey and Assistant Manager Joe Moir leave us now they have returned to their university degree. We wish them and one of our remaining Managers, Ashley, lots of luck in their final year. We also wish lots of luck to Ashley and Joe with their management of a newly formed theatre company. This recent business adventure seems to be very successful at the moment so we hope this continues to carry on.
We thank all staff for their hard efforts and exceptional service maintained throughout their career with us.
Spring/Summer 2010
This is the first Blog of what I hope will be many giving a diary of events of what is happening at the Mansion House Scarborough and the locality. We will produce a new blog about every 8 – 10 weeks to keep our guests updated with anything knew both at the Mansion House in particular and Scarborough and the Yorkshire Coast in general.
Well after 5 years of hard work the property refurbishment has now been completed however, at times it has been a bit like the painting of the ‘Forth Bridge’. Jonathan purchased the Harcourt Hotel as it was called then 6 years ago and it has taken that long to complete the job.
The reason for the name change was that a large number of telephone enquiries were received from far-away guests asking for the ‘Hard Core Hotel’ so Jonathan changed the name as soon as the season finished. The final task was the fitting of new silk curtains to the front sea view rooms which were beautifully made and fitted by Pat Heritage of Scarborough.
The Mansion House is now getting busier and we have had some lovely weather during the spring hope it remains for the summer ahead. We have had some regular guests who have already been twice this year thank you Mr & Mrs King & The Kelly Family. It is always such a pleasure to open up the curtains in the morning to view the South Bay as it must be one of the best views in the world and certainly beats many overseas resorts.
Paul the gardener has planted all the new summer flowers in the window boxes and garden and we are having dark purple this year and they look very nice. We won a Silver Gilt in the Scarborough 2009 Garden competition so let’s hope we do as well during 2010. Ernie our expert joiner has been busy fitting new units and every other job imaginable, Ernie is absolutely unique and no task is ever too daunting and we would not know what to do without him. Marzena and Helen in the kitchen and dining room have also been busy and are preparing themselves for what we are told will be a busy summer period.
Well the Chess championships have come and gone, as has the dancing competition and a number of other conferences where we have been busy. We were full for the National Student Drama Festival and Ashley and Joe, two of our assistant managers, assisted in the production of this successful festival, during their second year at Scarborough University studying Theatre and Performance. We have had a few air displays over South Bay and the North Sea Yachting race is due to take place. The Queen visited a few weeks ago to formally open the new Open Air Theatre, Jose Carreras and Dame Tiri Te Kanawa will also appear in an Opera in a few weeks time which is a sell out. I should not mention our lamentable performance in the 2010 World Cup
Jonathan has been away again on his travels this time for one month working in the Middle East in his flying job. Dawn and husband Chris have been in New Zealand for three weeks where they used to live for 3 years. Andrew has been everywhere as usual in his quest to experience all the most terrifying theme park rides worldwide. Marzena is preparing to go to Egypt and Karolina her daughter is in Poland now for a short break. The Mansion House sometimes resembles an airport departure terminal or travel agency as there is always somebody either just going or just arrived back. Helen has been away caravanning again and her daughters Harriet and Henrietta are planning a holiday in Bali together. Harriett used to work at the Mansion House whilst she was at university but has now moved to Adelaide, Australia but she stays in touch with everyone on Skype so we all get to talk to her and find out what her next adventure is.
We have had two new staff additions recently, Luke and Joe.
They are colleagues of Ashley and are also about to embark on their third and final year studying the same subject at Scarborough University. They are settling in well and working with Margaret, Zoë, Megan, Lucy and Jason. Angela the Business manager is keeping a professional eye on everything as usual whilst preparing for her annual pilgrimage to Blackpool and Disneylandworld or whatever it is called. We are also expecting the visit of the Hotel Inspector at anytime so having watched the programmes on television we are all a little apprehensive. We were in fact invited to participate in the new series of ‘Three in a Bed’ but thought it better to decline and now just watch it on the TV.
The hotel is filling up nicely, however guests appear to be booking much later this year. We have been nearly full every weekend now but take many last minute bookings. I think a lot of guests are staying in the UK this year and wait until some good weather is predicted and then make their reservations. We have started to send out ‘Special Offers’ by email periodically so it is important we have all guests email addresses, you can also easily unsubscribe from this if you do not wish to receive these emails. It is so nice to open the door on a sunny day to welcome back so many familiar faces and all the staff really enjoy talking to returning guests. So we are all looking forward to a busy summer season at the Mansion House Scarborough and we are all prepared, just hope the weather will be as predicted, or not as the case may be, Michael Fish notwithstanding.
