The thing about Hotel Director, Nick, is that he really knows his stuff. And whilst he'd be the last person to blow his own trumpet, you'd expect him to be pretty au fait with what's what as the owner and director of a 4 star hotel, what with having grown up at Imperial Hotel and having read Hotel Management at The Scottish Hotel School and being the 3rd generation of his family to be a hotelier.
But the thing that comes across so brilliantly in this podcast is just how well Nick knows the hospitality industry, and understands his place and role in the local Great Yarmouth tourism scene, and is grateful for the team that surround him, his wife Aileen and the support he gets from others.
In Larking Gowen's latest tourism business podcast, Chris and Nick talk across a huge range of topics, from dealing with the global Covid-19 pandemic and three lockdowns and how Imperial Hotel has weathered the three lockdowns, to some of Nick's passions and beliefs, the challenges of running a hotel in general, the necessity of re-investing continually in both big projects and small, what makes Imperial Hotel just that bit different, to Nick being a 3rd generation family hotelier, and how surprised yet relieved he was to see people coming to eat out on The Terrace wearing woolly hats and coats last December, how important the team are, why you should be able to drink a cocktail at a seafront café in Great Yarmouth, who is coming to stay and who isn't this summer, what Nick thinks of Trip Advisor and why customers are doing businesses a favour if you write to complain, why it's a good idea to get it right first time, and why it's important to do all in your power to give customers the best possible experience.
It's well worth a listen if you've got a spare 50 minutes.