Ending the Summer Victorious
This year I decided I wanted it all, my desire was to max out the holiday lets AND attend the glorious Victorious with my friends. Was this too much to ask?
Preparations started early, the pricing strategy was to go high and wait for those last minute bookings from folk who were too spontaneous to get a bargain. This put pressure on, apartments were still available at the 11th hour, some on single-night bookings to ensure that the event paid fully. Last minute and single night bookings put pressure on the team. Cleaners like to be booked ahead and to know what they are doing. Magdalena and myself bagged up the linen, piled it up in my house and waited. Agata, my cleaning manager, has been working from Poland during August and had promised to have cleaners on standby for the bank holiday.
Friday came and went without incident, we had 8 apartments to turn over for the Victorious guests. I hopped down to the Common to catch a couple of acts in the evening, once all the guests had arrived. I handed the phone to Magda who fielded the inevitable last-minute and drunken enquiries. Saturday was quiet with only 1 changeover so I managed to delegate the phone for on-call and take a day off. It was quite a day and I awoke on Sunday a little 'tired and emotional' from the big night out before. My duty day was Sunday so, as the phone plopped through the door at 7am I started work.
My husband offered to drive me around as I wasn't really in a fit state to drive. First job was to drop off the linen bags for the days' cleans. We had 6 to do at 3 sites and got the kit delivered without issue. The cleaner showed up before the guests were awake so had to start at a different location, all the jobs had been given to one cleaner and this is where the problems started. A post-festival clean is not always straightforward…bottles, bodies and unidentified fluids littered the apartments. Incoming guests were families so would be intolerant of alcohol residue or any hint of smoking smells. Myself and the cleaner rolled our sleeves up and cracked on. It is hard to throw out a guest who has paid more than double the usual rate for a bed but it had to be done. Guests leaving in a hurry don't clear up so I ran around scooping up party residue to get the places ready for the cleaner. We had 2 empty places on Sunday night so these had to be done ready for those last-minute bookings but gave us a little grace as they didn't need to be done for 2.00pm check in. The cleaner had to be rescued at 1.00pm with some assistance as she was feeling the pressure and wanted to walk away. HR disaster averted with support and some more cleaning, we got it all done. Sunday evening was back down to Victorious to catch the legendary Niall Rodgers and dance on into the night.
Monday was a repeat of Sunday's workload but the team were back in force, 2 cleaners and Magdalena ensured that we were fully on top of things.
The weekend was a great example of work hard play hard and I managed to fit in all I wanted to do. Next year it's all out for 3-day bookings only across the peak weekend of the season, I am currently recovering in a darkened room…