Open As Usual

Providing much needed management relief for your bed & breakfast, guest house or small hotel, leaving you to enjoy your break with peace of mind assured

Running any kind of hospitality business is very satisfying and great fun, and being in charge of your own destiny is a reward in itself. However, there are times, and not just at the end of your season, if you have one, when you need to take a break, and when you need relief management.

When you have invested your time and energy in building up your precious business, it is a huge step to leave it in someone else’s hands. Because of such apprehension, that desperately needed break gets shelved and you battle on.

About Us

Chris

Having left school at the usual time, and moved into further education, I was employed by a national construction company and placed on their training programme to be a site administrator. It did have a fancy title, but the bottom line is it was my job to make sure that the construction site was safe, admin done and staff and employees kept happy – easy! !

My next post was as a depot manager with a car hire company, and that was the beginning, of the customer service skill set I was about to undertake. One of my staff there was a recently retired Police Sergeant, and suggested that that would be career for me. Following the application process, and standing on my tippee toes to meet the then height requirement, in 1981 I began a career that shaped my future at Dishforth Training centre. Within a short period of time I was promoted to Sergeant and then Inspector, serving most of my career split between uniform patrol and CID work. It was whilst I was with the Police that I undertook the EFQM Assessor programme.

In 2001, following a throwaway remark whilst on holiday on Royal Deeside in Scotland, that Anne and I decided it would be a great idea to put our skills into play at leaving the Police, and the promised pension, owning a business and making our own way in life. Police colleagues used phrases like ‘you must be mad’ and other ditties like ‘what about your pension?’ – But who cares about such things when you have the itch to follow a rainbow. Shortly after we bought, what can only be described, as a bit of a disaster of a guest house business in sunny Grantown on Spey, deep in the Scottish Highlands. An absolutely beautiful area for people like us who just love the outdoors and wildlife. The business was non-existent when we took over, and it was a massive task to start from ground level, change the building, build a customer base and provide a service that ranked as ‘Superb’ on the review sites when we finally sold to the new owners in December 2013.

In the midst of all this, and missing the Police Service like mad, I joined the Highland and Islands Fire and Rescue Service (HIFRS), serving as an operational fire fighter for almost 10 years, until a tiny injury put me at just under 100% fitness. It didn’t stop my running, cycling and swimming sessions and the triathlons continued. Still doing that now, but a lot slower than before. Whilst with the HIFRS, I became qualified to carry out Fire Safety Risk Assessments, and have been doing that since then through my website at http://www. stampoutfire.com, with most of my experience aimed at Risk assessments at accommodation based businesses.

Whilst in Grantown on Spey I became heavily involved with the local business association, and spent several years of Chair, which gave the opportunity to pull together businesses within the area into a constituted cohesive group. That was a great learning experience too.

So what now? Well we have discovered we are not the retiring type, golf and gardening are not for me – just yet anyway, so here we are offering our own brand of personal service and experience just to you!



Anne

I don’t think that I am quite as interesting as Chris – but here is a little bit about myself.

Having left school with the required ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels, I attended Sheffield City Polytechnic for 3 years, obtaining a Diploma in Home Economics. Unfortunately, being unable to find a suitable job for that qualification, I was temporarily employed as a personnel assistant with South Yorkshire Transport. This temporary status however, got a little too permanent and I sought another career direction. I joined the Special Constabulary to begin with, which latter progressed into the regular Police in South Yorkshire. I gained extensive personnel experience in various positions, including patrol officer, control room operator, major incident room computer operator and community constable.

My police service lasted for 17 years until we had the ‘eureka’ moment in Scotland, which Chris explained above. Our new lifestyle gave us a whole new direction and challenges which we feel have enhanced our abilities.

Apart from being absorbed in our guest house business, we made the time to help to progress other businesses in the town, through the business organisation. One event which I organised in town, was the Thunder in the Glens – 2000 strong Harley Davidson motor cycle rally, which attracted participants from all over the world. Ear plugs were distributed! In addition to this event, I assisted with the organisation of the Motormania car rally event in town, and still do, even though we have left. (Facetime is a wonderful thing)

When I did have any spare time, it usually involved wildlife and our beautiful surroundings. We are both passionate about wildlife and learned a great deal from our ‘twitcher’ guests. I even found time to paint some of it in our local art group.

So, there you have it – my life in half a page!

As you can see, neither of us are the type to do nothing, as we feel we still have a lot to give in one way or another.

We are here to help – please call us for a chat.