Seasons Greetings

All I want for Christmas.........

A few more guests especially over winter
No more floods in rooms 105/107
Much better and more reliable rail service
Free parking throughout Eastbourne
No more hassle from the tax office
A reduction on VAT for hotels
To be number 5 on TripAdvisor
Another great year for Eastbourne
A happy New Year for all our guests
Free recycling for small businesses

Environmentally unfriendly

Having replaced old baths with new showers to be more environmentally friendly...I now discover that I am not. It now seems that the average shower lasts eight minutes which is much longer than previous studies suggested, using almost as much water and energy as the average bath.

The survey, carried out by Unilever,concluded that an eight-minute shower used 62 litres of hot water, compared with an average bath's 80 litres which probably explains why the leaks from rooms 105 and 107 are doing so much damage to the ceiling in the front lounge!!!

Latest rooms

Thought you might like a look at 4 of our latest rooms which have been opened at the back of the hotel. The doubles are what we call budget doubles because they are small and designed for the budget traveller who is looking for somewhere to sleep. The en-suite rooms include double beds with large TVs and DVDs as standard.

The rooms are situated at the back of the hotel but, what the hell, you can always shut the curtains if you don't much like the view of the backs of the houses opposite. Anyway, I like the rooms especially room 301 which is stuck somewhere up there in the attic but is the quaintest room of all of them. .....even better when the lift is working because it is on the 3rd floor!!!!

Wooden floors

I am not sure what attraction guest have for ruining our carpets but after a short time a lot of them are beginning to look the worse for wear. For example the burgundy coloured carpet in room 207 has seen so much spilt coffee that our Vax has overdosed on caffeine and given up he ghost. Similarly in room 205, one of our guests has kindly left the imprint of an iron in a spot which makes it impossible to disguise with bedroom furniture other than a large sized rug which then presents a trip hazard.

In the circumstances, the carpets had to go and we were left with the expense of two new carpets (and the promise of more possible accidents) or else replacing the carpets with wooden floors – a bit cold on the feet in the morning and a bit noisy for the room below when the guest is pacing back and forth in a pair of high heeled shoes .....stop fantasising now please gentlemen.

Actually, the result is quite pleasing and a big thanks to Steve for ensuring that the original floorboard were well and truly screwed down to minimise the possibility of squeaking floorboard – please note I said minimise not eliminate. In the meantime, we still have carpets (in rooms 105, 106, 107, 108 and 206) should you decide you want to tackle them with a cup of coffee , a glass of wine or the hotel iron.

Guests from hell

We seem to be having a few problems with reviews on Trip Advisor following a visit from the couple from hell and the receiving of two more negative reviews when booking.com took their bookings and didn’t bother telling us. The first thing I have appreciated is that anyone who starts their review with the words "I hate to buck the trend here" most certainly does not.......

Their lack of courtesy, appalling behaviour and rude manners is only compounded by the fact that having received no financial gain from their constant moaning they then take the matter to TripAdvisor. Whilst I am appalled if any of our guests should feel bad about their stay, I am even more appalled to hear stories of what my staff have had to put up with.

To add insult to injury we are then accused of double booking when booking.com send us a couple who they have not even booked into our hotel. Whilst I am sure that I would be aggrieved to find myself without a room on a Friday night, there is no excuse for the rudeness shown to the reception staff who was trying her best to sort out a suitable alternative.

I am not sure where they ended up as I did not see any review of their “more expensive sub-standard accommodation” but I was surprised that TripAdvisor allowed them to rate the quality and cleanliness of the bedroom when they didn’t even stay here!! I am also surprised that TripAdvisor allows them both to submit a review...maybe I should persuade some of my positives to do this as well!!!

Capture the Spirit..............

Just received the artwork for a forthcoming exhibition by photographer Shanon Kretschmer. The art work looks absolutely fantastic and we can't wait to get it on display. Shannon, who is an Australian photographer, says

"Photography is a dream, a passion, and a wonderfully unique communicator. Automatically igniting eccentric emotions and practically taking the viewer on a kaleidoscopic journey."

His exhibition can be seen at the da Vinci Hotel from Friday 24th June and will run until the Autumn. We hope that you will find time to come and look at his wonderful exhibition and support him by buying some of the excellent works for sale.

New website launched

The da Vinci Hotel launched its new website after much work for which I take absolutely no credit ...a big thank you to Frank for all his fantastic work. The launch has been a long time coming but we've been thinking for a while that we needed something new and exciting. We also wanted to celebrate our new rooms and provide better access to our blog, to our facebook account and to our twitter account. We hope you like the new website and we promise to keep you updated on everything that's happening in this little corner of the UK.

Twitter

...and true to our promise/threat, you can now keep in touch with us via the social networking site called twitter. Our address is daVinciArtHotel and you can sign up as one of our 'followers' so we can keep you up to date with all of the mundane goings on in our little corner of the world!!!

Facebook

On the pretext of dragging ourselves into the 21st century, the hotel now has its own facebook page which you can access at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1087777735. We hope you enjoy our entrance into the technological age...before you know it we'll be setting up on Twitter!!!!

Happy Anniversary

Monday 30th May 2011 and today is the third anniversary of the opening of the hotel. Our blog dated 30/05/08 gives a flavour of the preparations on the day........

Frank is sanding the kitchen ceiling, Heather is hoovering the carpets, Bob is fitting the front door knob, Micaela is preparing the food, Lesley is looking after the rooms, Mary is still hanging pictures, Trevor is fitting the last few electric points and Lorraine is putting the finishing touches to the curtains. Ady is painting the front and the window cleaners arrive and tell me that their pole isn't long enough.

Strange to think that at the time we were excited at the prospect of opening four rooms when we are now just about to open rooms twenty and twenty one. Also, three years later, we have a lift that works (mostly), two breakfast rooms instead of one and our own facebook page.

Of course, we are still not there just yet. We have plans for a new bar at the front, the garden at the back and decisions to make about the kitchen downstairs and whether to offer evening meals. However, we think that we have achieved quite a lot in three years.

Tonight we shall break open a bottle of champagne and toast everyone (guests and staff) who have made these three years so special. A special thank you to Frank who has done such an excellent job as manager. Thanks also to our housekeepers, receptionists, bar staff and maintenance...also to the artists for showing their work here.

A special thanks to the lift engineer who spends most of his working week with us, the contractor who put our showers in the wrong way around, the council for letting us keep our sign and the guest who asked us to cover all the "naughty bits" on our art work so her child would not be shocked.

Another award for Eastbourne

Eastbourne’s beaches have been commended for their excellent bathing water quality in the latest edition (May 2011) of the Good Beach Guide from the Marine Conservation Society. Eastbourne also managed to beat neighbouring resorts, including Brighton, Hove, Bexhill and Hastings whose beaches only managed to pick up a basic pass. The latest accolade is in addition to the Quality Coast Award which Eastbourne also holds.

Cheaper at the Grand

Under the freedom of information act, Sussex Police tell us that the bill for keeping a suspect in a cell is £359 for the first eight hours and £205 for every eight hours after that.....a suite at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne costs just £350 and that includes full English breakfast, health club membership and VAT at the standard rate!!

What about the da Vinci?

I note that the Lonely Planet Guide has decided to replace the da Vinci Hotel with the Big Sleep in its latest (2011) publication. Describing the Big Sleep as BN21's "coolest kip", it describes the hotel's "gobsmacking rooms with big-print wallpaper, retro furnishings and curtains that look as though they might have been grazing on Beachy Head a few hours prior". Of course, I have to point out that Trip Advisor's reviewers are not entirely in agreement with the sentiments of author David Else but we are all entitled to our opinions.

My opinion is that if you want to buy a copy of the guide then you save yourself a few pennies and buy the 2009 version!!!

Banksey in Polegate

Considerable excitement locally that world famous graffiti artist, Banksey, might have visited Polegate and left a stencil of a young man in a cowboy hat on a road sign at Polegate crossroads. Personally, I am not convinced that Banksey would travel all this way to graffiti a road sign in Polegate but I suppose that it gives the locals something to talk about.

Old Eastbourne

Just found a fascinating website which details the history of Eastbourne complete with interesting photographs. My favourite is the Cavendish hotel before they added that monstrous concrete addition to the right hand side. You can view the website at http://www.eastbournelive.org.uk/6.html.

Environmentally unfriendly

In a desperate attempt to further reduce our own carbon footprint, we have spent considerable sums of money replacing our older style toilets with the new dual flush variety. These latest toilets use a lot less water – 6 litres of water compared with 9 litres of water for the conventional version. Unfortunately Dyno Rod, who have been doing a roaring trade as a result of our decision, tells us that 6 litres is not enough to flush away the waste thus causing blockages throughout the pipes. We have had to adjust all of our new toilets accordingly and resite our waste pipes to overcome the problem. We have even been advised to stop using the more expensive toilet paper because it does nor disintegrate as quickly. Our attempt at being more environmentally friendly has cost us just under £4000 and we are now using as much water as we were before. Worse still our guests are now being denied the luxury of Andrex quilted toilet paper....a bum deal all around!!!

Brighton Rock

Interesting to note that the new film release of Brighton Rock was actually filmed in Eastbourne rather than Brighton. You only have to compare the sea front at Brighton to the sea front at Brighton to appreciate exactly why. Compare our three tier promenade. renowned floral gardens and blue domed bandstand with their tatty shops, NCP car park and burnt down pier to appreciate why more and more visitors are coming to spend their holiday time in Eastbourne.

A trailer for the film featuring many views of Eastbourne can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoGHiBsrJKk

Feedback from customers

Just found an interesting website which compiles comments from various review websites. Information can be found at www.hotelscombined.com. The hotel fares well with positive comments about helpful and polite staff, convenient location, large rooms, comfortable beds and good food. A few negative comments about bathrooms but these have all now been upgraded.

Meanwhile Frank has been doing his own analysis of the feedback statistics and it seems that we get the best ratings from couples and single men. Our worst ratings are invariably from single women....heaven only knows why we are not delivering for this group but it is an interesting statistic and one which we will need to investigate.

It never rains but pours

Just when you think that things couldn’t get worse...they get worse. The hotel is closed over Christmas to refurbish the last rooms when both water tanks flood the new rooms upstairs. The water damage is extensive including ceilings, floors and furniture. The new rooms are put on hold while we return these to their original splendour. Our financial planning goes to the wall and the new rooms will just have to wait. As they say, it never rains but pours....and certainly it pours a lot here.

STOP PRESS Both water tanks are mended and the top rooms are open for business.