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.