As we are approaching our busy period at the park, I thought it would be a fun time to share to the world what the process is of the check-in days and what we get up to during the week. We want our customers to have the best experience whilst staying with us, so preparation, communication and good customer service is the best way to make sure everything runs smoothly.

I am the full-time receptionist at the park but on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays I’m joined by the lovely Faye and Lindsay.

Monday

We all start on a Monday morning at 8am, refreshed and ready to tackle the week. We start by logging on and checking the emails from weekends, these can be new bookings, queries from guests that have booked in or are looking to book in, or emails regarding car registrations. We work through answering these and updating bookings etc. If we have new bookings or guest requirements, we will update our Maintenance and Housekeeping team, it is especially important that we are constantly communicating with each other with updates. Between 8 and 10 we check-out the guests that are leaving today, we receive feedback from them and make sure their stay was everything they wanted it to be, we update the teams to let them know who has checked out so they can get a start on their jobs. We then work on welcome packs for arriving guests, remove previous guest’s car registrations from the system and add on the news ones; This ensures that the new guests have access to the park and the park is kept secure. Throughout the day we get updates from the team and our quality controller Deb, who gives the final thumbs up that the lodges are ready. Once they are all ready, we can start sending guests up to their lodges, we like to briefly chat to the guests and tell them the information they will need to know. When guests have all made it up to the lodges, we ring all our newly checked-in guests and make sure everything is okay and that they have settled in nicely, we notify maintenance or housekeeper if anything needs doing to help the guests. After an exceptionally long but rewarding day, we are all done and head home for the day.

Tuesday

It is just me in today, I get in just before 8 am and flick the kettle on, for that well needed cup of coffee to start the day. Whilst my computer loads up, I will make sure the reception area is tidy and the activity board is outside for guests to look at. First thing I always check my emails and messages from the team. I answer enquiries for bookings, and update bookings of the number plates supplied. As we require a damage deposit on bookings, I will take phone calls in the days to take these payments, its always good to be prepared! Whilst doing my admin work on the computer I can’t help but look out of the window to the breath-taking views of the lake and woods, it really is such a calming environment to work in, especially in the summer when the warm air and sunshine fills the office. I will get out my folder to start doing refunds for the previous Fridays guests that have checked out, I will check with housekeeping that there weren’t any damages in the lodges first; it is exceedingly rare this happens. During the day I continue to take calls and monitor emails, sometimes I will receive calls from guests in their lodges and I will send round a member of our maintenance team, they are always on call for guests in case of any issues at all. This will usually keep me busy until lunch. After a little 30-minute break and a bit of lunch I settle back down and start working on an email that gets sent to upcoming guests. In the email it has a list of events and things to do in the local area, when guests come here, we want to make sure they have the best time and make lots of memories. To put this together I use trusty google to find out what sort of fun things are going on the coming weekend for Friday’s bookings and then the week after for Monday’s bookings. I try to put together various things. For example, Shows, live music, activities for kids and things that include nature. This usually takes up my afternoon, if I do have any extra time, I will put together some dog packs for our furry friends coming to stay with us. To finish the day, I will tidy up reception and make sure everything is tidy, I will then put down all the blinds and lock up and close for the day.

Wednesday

Today is very much the same as Tuesday. I do all my usual jobs of emails and refunds for the guests that check-out on the Monday. I will make sure we have all the car registrations on system for the upcoming check-in on Friday. If there is any we do not have, I will send an email out to make sure we have them. We like to give our guests a little carton of milk for when they arrive, so today I will order the milk for Fridays and Mondays bookings, these get delivered the next day, we always order extra in case we have any further bookings. On a Friday housekeeping will do a count of the inventory that we have in stock, I will compare the figures to what I have on the system and amend the ones that have more or less. Throughout the day, I will take phone calls from guests that are due to come, they would like to ask questions about the lodge they are staying in and what things are in the lodges, as they pack and prepare for their holiday, they are hoping not to have to pack more than they must. Luckily, our lodges are very well equipped! I then finish the ‘What’s on email’ and make sure I send the one for Friday today. I then will make up the tea packs for the lodges if any are required. These will need to go up to housekeeping to put in our VIP lodges. I then tidy the reception area and close up.

Thursday

Thursday is our admin day; we get everything ready for our Friday check-in. I spend the first hour getting set up and looking through emails that have come in overnight. Between 8.30 and 9pm the milk will arrive, and it gets taken up to the housekeeping team ready to dish out to our lovely guests that are coming to stay. Lindsay and Faye come in for about 9 and we discuss what jobs each of us will do, we tend to swap these around, so we are all confident in every job that we do, and it can be done with perfection and efficiently. We will check the number guests that are due in and what lodges have been rented out for Friday, this will help when we are making up welcome packs for arriving guests, another one of us will also prepare the components for the packs ready for Monday, it is all in the minute details. We will also need to make a wine order for the VIP guests that are coming to stay with us tomorrow. The welcome packs we make, contain a hot tub disclaimer, the guests that are checking-in need to read and sign this, we like our guests to be safe and aware; these need to be scanned into our files and shredded after, GDPR is especially important! One of us will check if there are any car registrations for Friday and Monday still outstanding, and email guests to obtain these. Next, we run a departure report and a deposit form, so we can keep track of guests that are checking-out Friday morning and which ones still need to pay the damage deposit for their stay. We do tend to answer more phone calls on a Thursday, usually by excited guests coming over the weekend. After lunch it is just me and I will collaborate with our assistant general manager Emily and help her with any jobs she wants me to do. I also like to look for some bits to print out for our welcome board. It’s now the end of the day and its time to make sure everything is done ready for the next day; we always need to make sure we send over the information by email to our guests that aren’t coming until after check-in has finished.

Friday

You can almost feel the energy shift in the atmosphere as we have reached Friday. We all get in and set up our computers and put the kettle on. First thing we do on today is check the deposit box outside reception, this is where guests pop their keys If they are checking out early and the reception is closed. The preparation today is much like what we do on Mondays. It is important that we check if anymore bookings have come in overnight-we update both housekeeping and maintenance if this is the case. We check if we have enough wine and milk for the number of guests we have for that day, if not we pop up to the shop. A new pack and cards will need to be added if we have new bookings. Between 8 and 10 guests will check out and we will give the teams the heads up who have checked out, our housekeeping then starts with cleaning and maintenance start with jobs and hot tubs for the next guests. Around 10am, we make sure we have all the keys and one of us will start the welcome packs and put together the late check-ins for our late arrivals. A wine order will be made for Mondays guests and the emails are sent to guests who arrive late Monday, these need to be sent today as the reception isn’t open over the weekend. At 11, Deb comes down to get what she needs, and we inform her of anything she needs to know, we give her a list of lodges that require certain things, like pets and bed set ups. We then make sure we have all the guest’s car registrations and then swap them over on the system. Throughout the day we get regular updates, from the teams about what is being done in the lodges, Deb then tells us when all the lodges are fully ready, when they are all done, it is time to send guests up. We will ring up guests to make sure all guests are checked in and everything is okay. After a long week, it’s time for us to enjoy our weekend.