EP Perspective March 2017

The architectural landmark is one
which The Royal Crescent is eager
to celebrate and began planning
18 months in advance. With the aim
to have everyone involved and feel
part of the activities. The anniversary
includes a specially created logo which
will appear in printed and online hotel
material. Guests may take flight in a
Taittinger hot air balloon and soar over
the beautiful city of Bath or if staying in a Suite receive a specially
commissioned bottle of Bath Gin amongst other treats. For Jonathan
the celebration begins on the doorstep with a Afternoon Tea picnic for
local residents and the staff. A reward which illustrates the importance
placed on the team since Jonathan joined.
“When I first arrived two years ago, the mind set was to promote
Bath first and The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa second, the city was
the destination and if people visited, they would hopefully stay with
us. We swapped this mind-set to make the hotel the destination and
Bath became an experience the guest may wish to do.” Jonathan
explains how the local tourist authority has been focused on 80% day
market and 20% stayer market. Not the ideal approach for hotels and
therefore his aim was to make improvements to the product and now
they are starting to see the benefit.
The change in strategy has also been effective because this year sees
400 to 500 new rooms opening in Bath. “Luckily they are mostly in
the four star market and I don’t want to sound arrogant but I believe
our brand is now strong enough to only feel a slight impact. It could
even favour us with some guests opting to stay away from the actual
conference venues if they are in town and attending an event at these
“We swapped this mind-set to
make the hotel the destination and
Bath became an experience”
new properties. I also believe the four star market may fight between
themselves and with our location a little outside the centre, we
shouldn’t see as much effect on business as city centre hotels, which
geographically may feel something.”
Jonathan has 44 years industry experience including six years as
GM of The Old Course Hotel in Scotland. To ensure the hotel is ready
for the future of luxury hospitality, Jonathan has also implemented
a change to the hotel’s market positioning to make it competitive to
those slightly further afield – Cliveden House, Chewton Glen and Le
Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. “This allowed us to amend our room rates
so they are more comparable with this grouping. During the high
season we have brought up our rates by £100 and on the off season by
£50 to £60.”
Having a clear vision has helped Jonathan and team prepare
themselves for the future. They formed a plan for where they
wanted to be in five years and produced a mission statement for
each year. This included building a profit over time and realising
the full potential of the hotel, which is reflected in the anniversary
celebrations. Jonathan believes that behind it all is a philosophy of
what the customer journey will be and how this is delivered.
“We invest heavily in our people and support them as well as
continuously improving the product. I apply my experience and
personally run service, sales and cultural training. I want to train
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