Two more rooms

Wednesday 13 August sees two more rooms opened at the da Vinci. Room 105 is a superior double room featuring the artist Joan Miro. This is the first room to include a fully refurbished bathroom so we now have a template for the rest of the rooms. Our first guests were most impressed with the decor, the comfortable bed and the tasteful furniture. The view from the window is nice too and you don’t need a pair of binoculars to see the sea.

Room 107 is an executive double/twin room featuring the local artist Elda Abramson - see www.elda-abramson.com. The room includes a comfortable superking size bed (which can also be converted into a twin) as well as a sofa which converts to a sofabed. We persuaded Elda to part with some of her finest paintings which adorn the wall and complement the feature wall which is coloured ‘funky orange’ ....take my word for it that the whole lot works very well together.

An apology from Buckingham Palace

I have just received a letter from Buckingham Palace....thanking me for the invite to the opening of the da Vinci and apologising for not responding earlier due to the high volume of correspondence.

The letter continues "Her Majesty was interested to read about your new concept da Vinci Art Hotel, and was grateful for your kind invitation to attend the opening on 30th May".

How nice.

The letter concludes by hoping that the opening was a successful and enjoyable occassion and wishing me "every success with the future of your business".

Of course, no one believes me when I tell them but I have the letter to prove it.

Number 51 on the list

I cannot believe that a month has passed since the opening of our first rooms at the da Vinci. The time has just flown past and I am embarrassed that I have not had the decency to update the blog and keep you informed about what is going on.

The art hotel idea has gone down very well and got us a lot of publicity. ....we even appeared in a travel article in the Sunday Times on June 15th. A two page spread followed in the ETC magazine and we had an excellent write up in the local art guide.

We have had our first review on laterooms.com and positive comments on booking.com but what is going on at tripadvisor? We are position number 51 (out of 51) in the hotel section while we await our first review....and there are some rough old dives above us on the list!!!!

In the meantime, Frank has swung into the routine of breakfasts at 8.00 and the comments about his full English are most complementary. Upstairs, work continues on our next four rooms which will be spectacular when they are finished - so watch this space.

That’s all for now but I have plenty more to talk about ....as soon as I have cleared the content with my lawyer !

PS The tripadvisor address is http://www.tripadvisor.com

Opened at last

Friday morning and the hotel swings into it’s final preparation for the opening. 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.

Meanwhile the local florists are making a fortune as bouquet after bouquet arrives from well-wishers across the UK. The attention has been immense and we were delighted to receive the Mayor and Mayoress of Eastbourne as well as numerous people involved in the tourist industry including the travel writer from the Times who stayed for two nights with us.

Our first guests arrive and we escort then to their rooms. They love the colour scheme, they admire the paintings and they adore the minimalist style ....unfortunately , the furniture is still being assembled which is why the style is minimalist!!!

At 4.00pm on Friday 30 May, the da Vinci hotel is declared open. May we take this opportunity to thank everyone responsible for helping us to open as well as the hundreds of visitors to the exhibition and the sixteen guests who stayed in our rooms on our opening night.

We hope you will visit us again sometime soon.



The da Vinci art exhibition is open every Saturday and Sunday throughout June and July from 11.00am to 5.00pm when the artists will be in attendance. Visits at other times are more than welcome by arrangement.

Hotel bookings can be made via our website at www.davinci.uk.com or by email to contact@davinci.uk.com or by telephone on 01323 727173

The final countdown 1

One day to go and the self assembly furniture is mostly assembled although some of those cupboard doors are definitely fitted back to front - how can that happen? The plugs are on the wall, the spotlights are on the ceiling and the bedding is on the beds and I am just beginning to think we might open on time when the rain returns and washes away the paint that had just been applied to the outside pillars.

Inside the hotel, the kitchen has undergone an amazing transformation with a new fireproofed ceiling which has still to be sanded and painted. The recurring damp patch in the breakfast room has been resolved and Lorraine is putting the finishing touched to the curtains in the kandinsky room. In the meantime, I am hanging paintings on every expanse of white wall and wondering when it will end.

The answer is at 2am when the last curtain track is fixed to the wall in the Klimt room and we breathe a sigh of relief that our guests will not be exposing themselves to the bypassers in Howard Square. Tomorrow is a busy day with not enough hours before 4pm and the arrival of the Mayor and the opening of the da Vinci Hotel - Eastbourne's first (and only) art hotel. The journey continues....

The final countdown 2

Less than a week to the official opening and are still no sign that we will be ready for opening. The scaffolding is still up at the front and the roof in the kitchen looks a long way from completion. Meanwhile, the guest list for the opening seems to be growing by the minute and we have just found out that the Mayor will be making an appearance

Along with the response we also get a two page compilation of how to behave....
• The Mayor arrives at the time scheduled and it is usual for him/her to be received at the entrance of the venue by the host
• If people are seated it is usual for the host to arrange for the Mayor to be announced upon entering the venue
• When addressing a male Mayor the mode of address is “Mr Mayor”. When speaking directly to a female Mayor the mode of address is “Madam Mayor”.
• Speaking about or referring to the Mayor the usual form is “The Worshipful the Mayor”
• Please reserve a parking space for the Mayoral car as near to the reception entrance as possible.
• Please indicate arrival point (i.e. main entrance) and supply map of venue/local area.

etc, etc, etc.

Another special guest on the evening is Jim Davis who is the travel writer with the Times newspaper. Jim is visiting Eastbourne to write an article about the town and council thought it might be an idea for him to stay in one of our Eastbourne’s prestige hotels ....unfortunately they were all full so he is staying with us!!!

Time for some more self assembly .....

The final countdown 3

Just over a week to the official opening and are we ready ....I should be so lucky. Four rooms are painted but it seems to be taking an eternity to self assemble wardrobes, drawers, tables and bedside lockers. Even my expertise as a mathematician does not allow me to decide which way those legs should go. In the end, I go with my intuition and find all the drawers are upside down.

In the meantime, we find ourselves in something of a room crisis as more people ask to stay over than we can accommodate here ...or at the Gladwyn which is already full. Foolishly, I decide to try to open two more single rooms in order to accommodate Tim and Norman. The ploy looks doomed to failure when we remove the old bedside lights and half the wall comes with it.

Tim and Norman are two of our regular and long standing guests who I would also classify as friends ....although I am not sure they will when they see the state of the rooms. They have both been guests at the Gladwyn for as long as I can remember and serve as a useful barometer for the changes we have instituted over time. I hope they like the new place.

Fortunately for us the Gladwyn continues to thrive under the new management of Trevor and Gary who seem to be getting more rave reviews on TripAdvisor and LateRooms than we ever did. Trevor’s breakfasts are well received and Gary is doing a grand job looking after the guests and making sure that the rooms are clean and tidy.

Time for some more self assembly .....