The Hotel Inspector cometh (again)......

Six weeks after we opened the AA man arrived unannounced as we mentioned at the time: http://theoldbakery.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/today-hotel-inspector-called.html

Last year's visit was much quicker; with a different Inspector knocking on the door mid morning when we were in the middle of a changeover and still cleaning the B&B room. Fortunately we had our excel spreadsheet showing what we clean every day and a cake was due out of the oven so the aroma hit him as he walked through the door. That meant that we retained our 4 star Gold Award and our Breakfast Award which was a big relief.

Last year's visit was a year almost to the day of the first visit so Mike has been on tenterhooks for the lat month expecting a visit at any moment.

Last week, when I was having a couple of days off (after six months at the NHS) and whilst Mike was doing his civic duty and giving blood I found that the AA Inspector had left his calling card in the porch. So I gave him a call and he said he could be with me in 15 minutes. Just enough time to put away the piles of laundry, the ironing board, clean the downstairs loo and check the B&B rooms.

You might think it's a nice life eating out and sampling all sorts of meals and staying all over the country but as the AA's own article shows, it's quite demanding and not everywhere is top notch:
http://www.theaa.com/hotel/hotel-inspector.html

Today the report arrived from the AA and this is a selection of his comments:

" It was a pleasure to return to The Old Bakery and catch up on the latest developments and plans for this fine old house. Since last inspection, the new bedroom has come on stream and is proving to be a real success. The new room is beautifully presented, well planned and free space is maximised. .....

.....The bathroom has an obvious quality, lighting is very good and decor of a superior quality (that's Mike's tiling!) Fixtures/fittings are of a good quality and towels were soft and well laundered (Mike's insistence that you don't use fabric conditioner with towels).......

.......Housekeeping throughout the house is of a high standard (fortunately he doesn't get to see our living areas! - there is only so much we get time to do)...and there was a real sparkle to the bathrooms......(lots of lime-scale cleaner is the reason).

The Old Bakery has confidently retained a Four Star Bed and Breakfast grade along with the AA Gold Stars Award. The AA "Breakfast Award" is also retained"

What he didn't say is that Mike (aka Mr Hospitality) also deserves an award for keeping everything going as our B&B nights have almost doubled over last years numbers (195 stayed and booked in 2013 so far compared to 105 in 2012).

As one of our recent Trip Advisor reviewers said " I've no idea how Mike managed to do everything AND make time to make us feel so comfortable"  - I'm not sure he knows either but now you may know why his blogging has not been quite so prolific in recent months.