Update
Well, Christmas & New Year has come and gone and things are beginning to quieten down at the Mansion House. Undoubtedly this has been a very difficult year for everyone with many challenges with the economy, however let us hope that 2013 will be the start of the recovery. The weather during the year could have been better, thankfully we were not affected by the floods and we were full for most of the summer. It was so nice to see so many familiar faces returning to the Mansion House Scarborough and we continue to offer excellent service which is so important.
2013
There are many well known acts being booked at the Open Air Theatre during 2013 a lot of them are too good to miss, we will keep our guests updated by emailing you and also put the information on Facebook once the acts have been confirmed. The council has also given the go ahead for a water park, there will be numerous pools both indoor and outdoor and this will certainly be a major attraction for Scarborough; a water park which will be open all year round I think the next plan is for a multiplex cinema which is also much needed as we must be one of the few areas that does not have access to one. It is also encouraging to see a number of new restaurants opening up in Scarborough and some of our guests have commented very favourably on these new additions.
Despite the early snow our bookings are going well for 2013 but it is important that if you wanted to book a special weekend that you reserve it as soon possible as all the sea view rooms are selling quickly. All the staff strive continuously to seek new ideas for the Mansion House but we would be very receptive to any of our guest inputs. These days everybody has to move with the times and if you think there is anything we could do to improve your stay please let us know.
Staff
Owing to the increase in business we have taken on 2 extra staff, Sharon and Louise. Karolina and Marzena are back from Poland where they frequent for Christmas & New Year every other year. Karolina is now studying at Scarborough University for a 4 year course so she will continue to work with us throughout her course. Megan is sitting her A levels this year and hopes to go to York or Leeds University next summer, she hopes to continue to work at the Mansion House during her studies Everything else remains the same.
JANUARY 2013 SCARBOROUGH HOSPITALITY DINNER
Most of the staff attended a Scarborough Hospitality Association Ball held at the Spa during January, this year’s theme was James Bond with roulette tables and a disco. I attach a few of the pictures that were taken of the event. Everybody enjoyed the evening I think, here are a few photographs of the evening.
SCARBOROUGH HOTELIERS ASSOCIATION
We are very proud to have Angela the Mansion House Business Manager being re-elected to the committee of the Scarborough Hospitality Association (SHA) once again. The SHA is a committee of hoteliers and business owners who strive to represent the best interests of the town and tourism. Below is a picture of all the committee with the Scarborough Mayor.
BEST WISHES FOR 2013
All that remains is for me to wish all of our guests both past and future a very happy and successful New Year and from all the staff at the Mansion House Scarborough, we very much look forward to welcoming you back to this lovely part of the Yorkshire Coast during 2013.
MANSION HOUSE BLOG – SPRING 2012
Another year has passed and it has been our busiest yet. We opened on Friday 20th January 2012 and were full on the first night of opening. We have increased our advertising and this has meant we have been very busy all the way up to Easter which is very good. Bookings are coming in for Easter but we think everybody is leaving everything until the last minute, we still have some rooms left but please do not leave it too late. For information we will be opening earlier in 2013 probably around Friday 18 January 2013.
Not a great deal has occurred since our last blog we had a short cold snap in early February but the weather overall has been pretty good. We finally have some great acts lined up for the Open Air Theatre, Dionne Warwick, Olly Murs and JLS are coming in June, July and August, so why not book your tickets before they sell out and book your overnight stay with us, you could even make it a lovely few days away and take in all that Scarborough has to offer; keep looking at ‘What ‘s on in Scarborough’ to get the latest news.
We were all very pleased to retain our *****5 Star Rating awarded by Enjoy England in July. We also received a ‘Silver Gilt’ in the Scarborough in Bloom competition which is our best gardening achievement ever, so thanks to Paul the gardener. The Mansion House always looks lovely when the sun is out and all the flowers are in bloom.
We have already had some of our regulars stay with us and it is so nice to see guests who come on a regular basis. Furthermore, we have already taken some Corporate bookings for Scarborough Spa conferences and also the usual Rotary Clubs will be returning later in 2012 which is very encouraging. You will need to book early for any of the very busy weeks such as the Chess competition, Scarborough Jazz and the Antique Road Show comes soon.
We are currently trying to change our advertising mode to a more personal nature by using social media.
Simply click "Like" on our page (http://www.facebook.com/mansionhousescarborough) and as an incentive to join we are offering a the chance to win a Free Night In A Premier Sea View Room once we hit 500 "Likes". If you sign up to our Facebook Site then when any Special Offers are advertised you will be the first to receive the news as there will only be limited rooms on offer. If you check our website you can see that currently we have 230 who have signed up so when we get to 500 we will hold a raffle and you could win a free night with us so with nothing to lose and everything to gain, please join in.
A quieter year on the staff front, Ashley finished his degree and gained a first so he has moved on to study for his PhD. Jonathan has just returned from his travels to the Middle East in connection with his flying job Angela and Helen have been off on their usual travels. Andrew the Senior Assistant Manager has been away in the USA and has probably visited all the theme parks in the UK during the last year which is the norm. Marzena our breakfast chef has been back to Poland with her daughter Karolina. Megan and Alana are very busy with their studies at school preparing for their exams and Karolina has submitted her application to university, we hope she gets into Scarborough University so she can remain with us at the Mansion House. Margaret has been back to Scotland for a short break. New arrivals are Emily who lives just around the corner and Caron, Alana’s mum has recently joined us.
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So we are all prepared, ready and looking forward to what we hope will be a busy summer season at the Mansion House Scarborough and we look forward to welcoming back many familiar faces and also many new guests, so we hope to see you all soon. Remember ‘Like Us’ on Facebook and you could win a free night but in any event by signing up you will be the first ones to be able to know about our very latest offers.
Look forward to seeing you in lovely Scarborough.
MANSION HOUSE BLOG – SPRING 2011
Well we opened on Friday 21January 2011 after all the usual annual refurbishments and everything is looking really good. We have had some of the furniture covered in a new leather material and low voltage lighting has been installed in nearly all the rooms; we have also upgraded the dining room. All the staff are looking forward to welcoming our guests.
A reflection on what was happening in Scarborough during the 2010 season, which was a very busy year for the Mansion House and our best year since we opened. The Queen visited Scarborough to formally open the new Open Air Theatre: Jose Carreras and Dame Tiri Te Kanawa also appeared there in an Opera, which was a sell out. There were also a number of concerts at the new theatre, which were all sell outs. I probably should not mention our lamentable performance in the 2010 Soccer World Cup but this was possibly offset by a superb cricket performance in Australia with England winning the Ashes. However, another one of the highlights of the year was when QE2, which looked wonderful, as it cruised close into Scarborough South Bay on its way to its resting berth in Scotland. The local paper took some excellent photographs of the ship close to South Bay.
During late January the staff at the Mansion House attended the annual Scarborough hoteliers dinner held at the Spa. It was a mask ball and here is one of the pictures taken early on in the evening.
Not a great deal has occurred since our last Autumn 2010 blog other than the awful weather during the run up to Christmas which must have affected everybody although we managed to sell out over the New Year as we have done every year. However, during late January and early February the weather has been really nice and the views from the Mansion House are back to their very best. Paul the gardener has done such a super job on the front garden planting some very attractive spring shrubs; we were also lucky enough to win another Silver Award in the Scarborough 2010 garden competition. We also received some really goods news in November last year; we were voted the best Scarborough Guest Accommodation 2010 by Yorkshire Moors & Coast so we were all very pleased as this can be added to our *****5 Star Renewed Rating awarded by Enjoy England in August. Angela, Helen and Jonathan attended the awards ceremony at the Scarborough Rugby Club and the award was well promoted in the Yorkshire Press.
The Mansion House is now getting busier and Angela and Andrew are actively taking a stream of bookings for Easter, Spring and the Bank Holidays, we have already had a number of our regulars who visit early on in the year and enjoy walking in and around Scarborough. Hopefully, the lovely weather will continue into the summer to support the various Conferences and tourist events that are planned. Since last year we have changed the configuration of our rooms at the Mansion House so we can offer family rooms with a separate en-suite room adjoined to the double room instead of all the beds in one room. We have also upgraded the WiFi to a higher speed with greater bandwidth and password protected which now covers every room in the property. We know how tough times are currently so we have re-introduced our special offers for the low season and that is '4 nights for the price of 3 or 3 nights for the price of two'. We will also continue to offer a free glass of wine or fruit juice on arrival to all our guests, although expensive this has always been well received so we will continue. Despite all the price hikes we have decided not to increase the prices again this year, we have kept them unchanged now for nearly 2 years and we have also absorbed the January rise in Vat. We understand that 2011 is going to be very tough year for all our guests and that is why we believe we offer great value for money at the *****5 Star Mansion House, Scarborough.
To give you an update on what the staff have been up to during the latter part of 2010, Jonathan spent October working in Malaysia & Thailand and then all of December working in Singapore before taking a break in Bali. Angela the Business Manager is keeping a professional eye on everything as usual after a very busy travelling year. Andrew the Senior Assistant Manager has been everywhere as usual in search of even more terrifying theme park rides; not satisfied with the UK horrors he spent January in Florida looking for the US equivalent. Marzena our Breakfast Chef and her family drove back to Poland for Christmas & New Year despite the weather being awful in Northern Germany. Helen our Breakfast Manager and her family have spent their usual early sabbatical at Center Parcs. Margaret, Megan, and Jason are all well after a very quiet Christmas. Some very good news, Ashley our Assistant Manager who studies at Scarborough University has been offered the chance of studying for an MA hopefully leading on to a Phd at Scarborough University so many congratulations to Ashley.
So we are all ready and looking forward to a busy summer season at the Mansion House Scarborough and we look forward to welcoming back many familiar faces and also many new guests, so we hope to see you all soon.
Autumn 2010
Here at Mansion House we would all firstly like to begin our end of summer blog by offering a huge thank you to all the lovely people we have had stay with us during the 2010 High Season.
It is always a wonderful pleasure meeting returning guests and it is also fantastic to see some friendly new faces, whom we all hope will visit us again in the near future, in particular the welcomed regulars of Wilks and Embleton, to name just a few.
All staff here form a great team spirit and are all highly professional in the service they offer. We strive to deliver the ultimate service to our guests and from the superb comments people have left us this summer we are thankful that this factor has flourished your stay with us.
Whilst we are sad to see the summer fall away we are very excited to see the return of the starry winter nights and the mesmerising illumination that this time of year brings to Scarborough South Bay.
We say farewell to the summer events in and around the fabulous Peasholm Park and all across the seafront, but we welcome a great variety of traditional Scarborough winter season activities.
Why not stay at Mansion House for these popular events? We have guests returning every year to attend the much loved biking and chess weekends as well as dance festivals and many more interesting ventures and expeditions.
Take advantage of the 10% SJT tickets for the new, much awaited winter line up that we receive this time of year. A fantastic delectable combination of theatre treats await you.
Besides the sunshine, warmth and hustle and bustle of the summer we are also saying a sad farewell to some members of our close knit team. We were very sorry to see our loyal housekeeper and weekend chef Dawn leave after 3 years of service, but she is now having success in her new career, which all of us at Mansion House are very happy about. We are also very sorry to see our newly recruited summer housekeeper and waiter Luke Carey and Assistant Manager Joe Moir leave us now they have returned to their university degree. We wish them and one of our remaining Managers, Ashley, lots of luck in their final year. We also wish lots of luck to Ashley and Joe with their management of a newly formed theatre company. This recent business adventure seems to be very successful at the moment so we hope this continues to carry on.
We thank all staff for their hard efforts and exceptional service maintained throughout their career with us.
Spring/Summer 2010
This is the first Blog of what I hope will be many giving a diary of events of what is happening at the Mansion House Scarborough and the locality. We will produce a new blog about every 8 – 10 weeks to keep our guests updated with anything knew both at the Mansion House in particular and Scarborough and the Yorkshire Coast in general.
Well after 5 years of hard work the property refurbishment has now been completed however, at times it has been a bit like the painting of the ‘Forth Bridge’. Jonathan purchased the Harcourt Hotel as it was called then 6 years ago and it has taken that long to complete the job.
The reason for the name change was that a large number of telephone enquiries were received from far-away guests asking for the ‘Hard Core Hotel’ so Jonathan changed the name as soon as the season finished. The final task was the fitting of new silk curtains to the front sea view rooms which were beautifully made and fitted by Pat Heritage of Scarborough.
The Mansion House is now getting busier and we have had some lovely weather during the spring hope it remains for the summer ahead. We have had some regular guests who have already been twice this year thank you Mr & Mrs King & The Kelly Family. It is always such a pleasure to open up the curtains in the morning to view the South Bay as it must be one of the best views in the world and certainly beats many overseas resorts.
Paul the gardener has planted all the new summer flowers in the window boxes and garden and we are having dark purple this year and they look very nice. We won a Silver Gilt in the Scarborough 2009 Garden competition so let’s hope we do as well during 2010. Ernie our expert joiner has been busy fitting new units and every other job imaginable, Ernie is absolutely unique and no task is ever too daunting and we would not know what to do without him. Marzena and Helen in the kitchen and dining room have also been busy and are preparing themselves for what we are told will be a busy summer period.
Well the Chess championships have come and gone, as has the dancing competition and a number of other conferences where we have been busy. We were full for the National Student Drama Festival and Ashley and Joe, two of our assistant managers, assisted in the production of this successful festival, during their second year at Scarborough University studying Theatre and Performance. We have had a few air displays over South Bay and the North Sea Yachting race is due to take place. The Queen visited a few weeks ago to formally open the new Open Air Theatre, Jose Carreras and Dame Tiri Te Kanawa will also appear in an Opera in a few weeks time which is a sell out. I should not mention our lamentable performance in the 2010 World Cup
Jonathan has been away again on his travels this time for one month working in the Middle East in his flying job. Dawn and husband Chris have been in New Zealand for three weeks where they used to live for 3 years. Andrew has been everywhere as usual in his quest to experience all the most terrifying theme park rides worldwide. Marzena is preparing to go to Egypt and Karolina her daughter is in Poland now for a short break. The Mansion House sometimes resembles an airport departure terminal or travel agency as there is always somebody either just going or just arrived back. Helen has been away caravanning again and her daughters Harriet and Henrietta are planning a holiday in Bali together. Harriett used to work at the Mansion House whilst she was at university but has now moved to Adelaide, Australia but she stays in touch with everyone on Skype so we all get to talk to her and find out what her next adventure is.
We have had two new staff additions recently, Luke and Joe.
They are colleagues of Ashley and are also about to embark on their third and final year studying the same subject at Scarborough University. They are settling in well and working with Margaret, Zoë, Megan, Lucy and Jason. Angela the Business manager is keeping a professional eye on everything as usual whilst preparing for her annual pilgrimage to Blackpool and Disneylandworld or whatever it is called. We are also expecting the visit of the Hotel Inspector at anytime so having watched the programmes on television we are all a little apprehensive. We were in fact invited to participate in the new series of ‘Three in a Bed’ but thought it better to decline and now just watch it on the TV.
The hotel is filling up nicely, however guests appear to be booking much later this year. We have been nearly full every weekend now but take many last minute bookings. I think a lot of guests are staying in the UK this year and wait until some good weather is predicted and then make their reservations. We have started to send out ‘Special Offers’ by email periodically so it is important we have all guests email addresses, you can also easily unsubscribe from this if you do not wish to receive these emails. It is so nice to open the door on a sunny day to welcome back so many familiar faces and all the staff really enjoy talking to returning guests. So we are all looking forward to a busy summer season at the Mansion House Scarborough and we are all prepared, just hope the weather will be as predicted, or not as the case may be, Michael Fish notwithstanding.
