Business
minke whales, as well as puffins, guillemots, gannets and razorbills. Prices can range from £16,000-£40,000 and 2022 saw 22 sea safaris take place, the highest number of bookings since the activity launched. Further to the strategy of keeping guests on-property for longer, as well as attracting more high-net-worth individuals, has been the opening of the hotel’s Endeavour Suite in May 2021, a 4,500 sq ft, £2m penthouse apart- ment accommodating up to eight guests. The suite can be booked from £4,950 per night and it has four bedrooms, five bathrooms, media room, library, sauna, private kitchen, dining room for up to 16 guests, and private chef and butler service. The suite has been a particularly significant revenue generator over key periods such as Christmas and New Year. “It certainly attracts that high-net-worth cus-
tomer... I know nothing else like it that exists in Scotland,” says Chalmers. The suite and activities have together been “great revenue generators”, she explains, “and a lot of that revenue goes to bottom line”.
Old hotel, new story The F&B offering has also been a consider- ation as part of the continued repositioning. A Victorian glasshouse within the estate’s walled garden was relaunched last year as Azalea. It currently operates as a private din- ing and afternoon tea space, with plans for it to eventually function as a restaurant. Azalea has five individual compartments, one of which is home to 100-year-old grapevines, and two have their own private lounge areas. “Every year we had something new to tell,
a new story, which I think helps, because we got out in the press a lot. We started winning awards as well, which helped. We started get- ting recognition,” says Chalmers – this recog- nition included being shortlisted for the Hotel of the Year – Independent at the 2023 Cateys. According to Chalmers, 2022 was one
of the hotel’s “best years ever”, with annual occupancy of just under 80%. This has fallen slightly this year, offset by a £100 increase in average room rate year-on-year, and Chalm- ers hopes to further boost both metrics over
26 | The Caterer | 15 September 2023
Getting Glenapp on Amazing Hotels
“I’ve been a personal fan of Amazing Hotels over the years... since I joined Glenapp, it was always on my hitlist,” recalls Glenapp Castle’s managing director Jill Chalmers. “Glenapp got to a stage where I thought,
‘we’ve really got a good chance with this’. Over a number of years, we spoke to the BBC off and on about it. I was grilled by various producers a few times. A lot of it was about what we do for our staff. The product itself had to be at a certain level. They asked a lot about the style of the hotel [and] we spoke about our Hebridean Sea Safari. They were looking for what makes this hotel stand out and what makes it an amazing hotel.”
She describes the production team as
“wonderful to work with” and “amazingly respectful”. “The presenters were really lovely, really down
to earth, so the team felt very much at ease. They were nervous about it… but they all said it was absolutely fab, Rob [Rinder] and Monica [Galetti] made them feel very comfortable, and they all enjoyed it,” she continues. It was important to communicate effectively to guests about what was happening and ensuring that if any guests did not want to be filmed, even in the background of a shot, they could easily communicate that to the hotel, and the team would in turn pass that onto the crew.
“The majority of guests were excited about it and dead happy to be seen walking in the background or captured on film. There was a great interest in it. Operationally it worked really well,” says Chalmers. Her advice to other hoteliers looking to
welcome in the film crews is to first assess the cost. “You need to analyse the cost against the benefit, because it was quite a significant cost for us to host the BBC and do everything we did with them. But we’re hopeful that the benefits will offset that. That’s the first decision any hotel needs to make,” she explains. “And then just be generous and offer them true hospitality. Do what every five-star hotel does and be generous with your time and your hospitality. Work together as a team – they became colleagues. They would actually attend our 10:30 morning briefing meetings every day to keep us updated.” The process saw presenters Rinder and
Galetti take part in a Hebridean Sea Safari as well as go behind the scenes working with the garden team, housekeeping and the in-house florist. “It was a real variety of things. I don’t
know yet what’s going to be featured,” says Chalmers. “They did tell me they film a lot more than they actually use, so what’s going to be on the cutting room floor? I don’t know yet!”
www.thecaterer.com
▲
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
