Channel 4 Now - Life Begins Again

PasturesNew

Anybody else watching this?

Adrian and Vanessa, she was laid off as a Financial Director (?) for Age Concern... used redundancy to buy a hotel.

Day of the move and their own house hadn't sold, mortgage company wouldn't release funds until the next day - after they had their license granted... so they moved anyway and booked in as guests.

Next day, got the license, got the funds released, moved in .

Right now, they're just wandering around it.

Anyway - googled the new hotel and:
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/1.63069

"Adrian and Vanessa Moore, of South View, Evenwood, who owned the hotel from 2005 to 2006, were declared bankrupt during a hearing at Durham County Court.

The bankruptcy proceedings revealed that the couple had racked up £1,219,362 worth of debt – including more than £77,000 to creditors and almost £40,000 on credit cards.

The court also heard how they had remortgaged their home as well as taking out a further mortgage on the hotel to finance the purchase.
They invested in opening up the ballroom and obtained a civil licence in order to hold weddings at the hotel. Early reports showed that business was good, based on a steady stream of coach parties booked through travel companies.... [more]"

lostinrates

DId they/do they show the sticky ending on tv?

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

DId they/do they show the sticky ending on tv?

It's still on ... programme is following them, so I suspect it'll just end on a happy/upbeat note when the crew leave them a few months into their ownership.

dopester

PasturesNew wrote: »

Right now, they're just wandering around it.

Anyway - googled the new hotel and:
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/1.63069

Nice find PN.

Crazy. Such debt-to-risk. What a name too - The Skinburnoff Hotel. Near Silloth, Cumbria. So probably pretty remote by itself.

He looks to be kicking-on a bit as well, to lose everything, but I guess they've had quite a ride with so much debt, including credit-card debt.

Running a guest house / hotel is not my idea of taking it easy, and not in later years. Similar to restaurants.

Now there is nothing wrong with running a restaurant; in fact, they can be smashing gold mines, but they also have one of the most frighteningly high mortality rates among new business ventures. Some restaurateurs become millionaires, some become skint. Imagine you have decided to open a Ye Olde Tea Shoppe in the heart of some rural beauty spot. You may consider that you are now boss of a restaurant, an entrepreneur in the comestible division of the tourist boom. What you have actually done is given yourself a job as a waiter or waitress with no Sundays off ever. Did you want to work as a waiter?

lostinrates

OK, so I turned it on. Wht makes that a ball room as opposed to a function room?

I think being a good hotelier requires a certain sort of personality that is hard to find.

Jennifer_Jane

I think that not kicking out people who appear to have discreetly complained about the shoddy food, would also have helped them stay in business - oh, and perhaps having fresher ingredients and a good chef.

Anyway, it's only on in the JJ household because there's a Cary Grant movie on NOW!!!

Jen

PasturesNew

They've now been at it 6 months, just breaking even.

They've never run a hotel before. He's from the building trade so they're OK for maintenance, but really you need to know about marketing and have that all sewn up. No footage of their marketing plan, no mention of it, no networking with local groups/businesses - seem to just sit and wait for business to come in as there's no coverage of that side of the thing at all.

End of programme now... so that was that.

PasturesNew

Jennifer_Jane wrote: »

there's a Cary Grant movie on NOW!!!

Jen

"I Was a Male War Bride"

Sounds well dodgy!

PasturesNew

I'd never run a B&B/guesthouse/hotel. It needs a couple for starters. Somebody has to be up cooking breakfasts, somebody needs to be keeping the bar open until all guests have decided they're ready for bed. Can't easily go out shopping for more bacon if you're on your own as you have to wait in with the diary waiting for bookings - and guest queries. And there's still the bedmaking/vacuuming to do. All that washing/drying too.

On call 24/7/365 in case somebody rings, in case somebody knocks at the door, in case there's a query, in case there's a problem. As for changeover time. Guests out by 10am, next lot in at 2pm. My ex-neighbour ran a B&B and he'd go up to the room after guests had left to find they'd ripped the sink off the wall or wee'd the bed (apparently blokes do this a lot if they have too much beer) ... he chased some down to the bus station one morning - and his neighbour got run over by some guests fleeing without paying the bill.

You can't even easily take a holiday - or any time out - especially together.

Not for me.

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'd never run a B&B/guesthouse/hotel. It needs a couple for starters. Somebody has to be up cooking breakfasts, somebody needs to be keeping the bar open until all guests have decided they're ready for bed. Can't easily go out shopping for more bacon if you're on your own as you have to wait in with the diary waiting for bookings - and guest queries. And there's still the bedmaking/vacuuming to do. All that washing/drying too.

On call 24/7/365 in case somebody rings, in case somebody knocks at the door, in case there's a query, in case there's a problem. As for changeover time. Guests out by 10am, next lot in at 2pm. My ex-neighbour ran a B&B and he'd go up to the room after guests had left to find they'd ripped the sink off the wall or wee'd the bed (apparently blokes do this a lot if they have too much beer) ... he chased some down to the bus station one morning - and his neighbour got run over by some guests fleeing without paying the bill.

You can't even easily take a holiday - or any time out - especially together.

Not for me.

I quite fancy taking in some B and B's in peak season in the future. Its very popular locally, at all the big farmhouses/Vicarages. I occasionally cover for my neighbour when she's away, its fun, playing lady of the manor and I find it reletively low stress. Relying on it as a major and /or sole source of income would be very tiring and tie-ing.

purch

They've now been at it 6 months, just breaking even

Have you got it on Fast Forward ??? :eek: