Would you make a great Hotel Inspector?

The Hotel Inspector is an observational documentary television series which airs on British terrestrial television station, Channel 5. It is very interesting following Alex Pollizzi changing the way various hotels throughout the UK operate. I'm always amused by the way most hotels don't want to listen to Alex, never mind the customers.

At the Belmore Court & Motel our vision is to become the leading independent Guest Accommodation in Northern Ireland and we recognise that we can't achieve this goal without satisfying you, the customer.

As part of our commitment to making the customer our number 1 priority we regularly organise for a mystery shopper to ensure our product and service exceeds the customer expectation. We are running a competition to win a 2 night break with dinner so that a customer can be a Hotel inspector.

The competition is being organised through our Facebook Fan Page www.facebook.com/BelmoreCourt. All you have to do is to like the page and then enter the competition providing the answer to the question and your name and contact details. Please share the link with your friends.

The winner will then be chosen at random on Thursday 10th November and I shall be in contact to arrange the 2 night break with dinner (Value up to £250) before 11th December 2011. The winner will also be issued with our Mystery Shopper audit form which needs to be completed before, during and after.

The areas to be scored include Internet, Reservation, Arrival, Bedroom, Local Enquiry, Breakfast &; Check out.

To help celebrate the competition and recent awards success we are also having a Winter Sale Special Offer with rooms from £39.00.

500 rooms are available as part of this Special Offer. Visit our website for more details....

Free WiFi or Not free WiFi?

A device that has WiFi enabled, like a laptop, iPad, smart phone, etc, allows the user to connect to the Internet without wires. This is becoming an integral part of everyday life.

Most hotels have provided a Wifi service which is available for purchase such as BTOpenZone or BitBuzz. At the Belmore Court & Motel seven years ago we started to provide a Wifi service through BTOpenZone and Surf2Go. Voucher could have been bought on a hourly or daily requirement.

After 2 years we found a demand for Free Wifi and so I setup our own network for Free Wifi. This involved installing 12 routers throughout the building o ensure all rooms were covered. We manage this technology ourselves. On the whole this has been very positively recieved - even though we need to reset the routers as and when a customer notices the connection has failed.

We are soon coming to a cross road. If we upgrade to a more relaible & efficient external system there is an initial cost for equipment purchase and almost £200/month including newer SuperFast broadband lines to keep a very reliable connection and an excellent support service. I'm not keen on charging customers to use the Wifi but also with the current economic recession I can't build it into the room rate for all guests. All other costs are increasing dramatically and I can't absorb this extra cost.

There are a couple of options:

1) Stay with the current system; Free but not as reliable as it could be.

2) Install new system and charge £8/hour and/or £12/day. Offers excellent reliability and support service.

3) Install new system and give 1st half hour free and the charge rates as per above. Offer excellent reliability and support service.


I would be interested in hearing your thoughts and/or suggestions.

Thanks.

Terry