Hello Friends, Neighbours and Guests,
We hope to find you well and safe and wanted to try and communicate our thoughts and plans for any potential re opening in the coming weeks and months.
Those that know us will already appreciate that we take our responsibilities and particularly our Social responsibilities very seriously and would never want to put profit above anyone’s safety. We have watched the ongoing easing of lockdown with great interest but also uncertainty, having studied the latest Hospitality Sector Guidelines we are confident we can open with as much certainty of safety for our team and our customers as could possibly be assured, the greatest challenge for ourselves and many of our fellow hospitality providers is whether we can do so with an offer that is in any way viable. For small venues like ours we have only been able to do so in the past by making use of every available inch! This obviously is not an option in the “New Normal”; any offer at present would still require table service only, with two metre distancing or mitigating additional safety measures, completely controlled customer flow in and out along with all the expected increased sanitisation controls. For any offer with these restrictions in place to be viable we will have no choice but to prioritise the income streams that bring us the highest revenue and so would have to focus on our dinner, bed and breakfast business adding to this bookings for any other customers that social distancing will allow us to accommodate. To try and maximise availability and safety we are looking at a number of measures which may well include:
- Essential pre-booking.
- Social distancing withing current Scottish Government Guidelines.
- Prepayment and booking for takeaway with collection slots.
- Controlled door and toilet entry.
- Revised layout and customer flow.
- Reduced menu/offer in line with anticipated 80% drop in customer numbers.
- Increased front of house and back of house use of appropriate PPE, cleaning and sanitisation processes.
- Mobile ordering app.
- Minimum overnight stay requirements.
With much of “The Science” still under review and our own procedural reviews still ongoing we do not anticipate trying to rush the process to be open for July the 15th even if this date is confirmed. We will only do so when we are entirely satisfied that we can offer the safest service possible and our team are confident in doing so.
The New Normal,
With phased plans in trend at present, we can outline our own phased approach to reopening.
Phase One: The Hotel opens for overnight guests on a Dinner, Bed and Breakfast basis to allow our team to get used to the new working processes and restrictions whilst restocking etc. At present we anticipate this happening early in August but very much subject to change.
Phase Two: Within a week or two of Phase One, additional availability for pre-booked customers and takeaway meal collection, limited to capacity.
Phase Three: We accommodate more dining and drinking customers as further relaxations of restrictions and distancing guidelines are introduced.
Phase Four: The world returns to some sort of recognisable normal and we live happily ever after!!
May we take this opportunity of thanking all of our customers for their continued support, without which we would possibly not be contemplating opening at all!
Stay safe and we look forward to seeing you all again soon.