MEWS September 2020
Hello lovely ladies and gents,
First and foremost … thank you!
We know it’s not plain sailing at the moment and we are all feeling that we are working harder than usual!
Thank you all so much for being flexible, remaining positive and above all for keeping your customers happy. If you were a cat we would bring you a year’s supply of Dreamies!
A warm welcome
We are excited to welcome Richard and Kara who will be the new owners of Longcroft Banbury, and Lorna, owner of Longcroft Bury St Edmunds. We are keeping all of our paws crossed for festive openings!
Longcroft Banbury has seven suites and is located in Oxfordshire, 70 minutes North West of the closest hotel, Longcroft Flitwick. Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England. The town is situated 64 miles northwest of London, 37 miles southeast of Birmingham, 27 miles south-by-southeast of Coventry and 22 miles north-by-northwest of the county town of Oxford. The town is famed for Banbury cakes – similar to Eccles cakes but oval in shape! Kara and Richard have 3 beautiful boys, 2 cats, 12 chickens, 4 llamas, 2 dogs and a small woodland to keep them busy!
Longcroft Bury St Edmunds has eight suites and is located is a historic market town and civil parish in Suffolk. 70 minutes North East of our closest hotel, Longcroft Letchworth. Lorna lives in a stunning listed building with her husband Freddie, aka Lord Hamilton, in their beautiful home set in 10 acres of land.
Bookings and best practice
As always we are keen to remain customer centric while looking after your bookings.
Our approach towards porting deposits across has been very well received and we still apply a case by case policy. As always, if you have a unique situation that you just need to chat about do let us know.
Here is a suggested email to send to your customers … we advise sending this to your customers 7 days before the 28 day period is up. This gives your customer a reasonable amount of time to amend their plans and allows you time to take another booking if they are unable to travel:
Suggested subject line : We are looking forward to seeing you soon!
The subject line is friendly whilst reminding your customers that their stay is on the horizon.
Hello Naomi and Jack.
We hope you are safe and well.
Due to these unpredictable times we are reaching out to all of our customers who have reservations with us over the coming weeks.
If you are still planning to take your break between the 24th – 31st of October then there is absolutely nothing to do and we really look forward to welcoming you and Jack at 11.30am on Saturday the 24th of October.
If, however, you feel you would like to cancel or amend your dates then we are just letting you know that the final day to do this without the full balance becoming due is this Saturday the 26th of September.
As always please feel free to give us a ring to chat if that’s a better option for you.
All the purrs!
As always we recommend picking up the phone and having a chat to secure bookings!
Covid guidelines
While there are no new guidelines following the recent update to restrictions across the UK, we thought it would be useful to share a timely reminder of best practice:
– Bookings and viewings by appointment only so only one customer at a time. The virtual tour is available for all those that would like to share it. https://www.longcroftcathotel.co.uk/luxury-cat-hotel-virtual-tour/
– Encourage CI and CO’s for one member of the family while others remain in the car.
– Wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds prior and post CI / CO
– Maintain social distancing.
– Wipe any surfaces and the cat carrier after the guest is safely in their suite.
– Wear a face mask for CI / CO and viewings when in the suite if you want to, this is a guideline only.
Further guidance from the canine and feline sector group can be read here…
In the event that you have to self isolate or test positive for Covid 19 please let us know as soon as possible. As there is not a ‘one rule that fits all’ we will do all we can to support you, your hotel and your guests. Please assess your individual situation and let’s keep talking should guidelines change.
In the event that you are in a local lockdown area, there are no specific guidelines that differ from the general guidelines. Further guidance can be read below …
http://www.petcare.org.uk/images/Images_2018/Area_Lock_Down_Business_Guidance_.pdf
James Russell, BVA President, said: “Last night’s speeches will not change much in terms of how veterinary professionals work in clinical practice and our advice and guidance on working safely remains in place. But the statements do serve as a timely reminder for everyone to follow social distancing requirements and as a strong message to clients to both follow and respect the requests and decisions that individual practices make in the interests of keeping colleagues and clients safe.
“We know how well practices have already adapted to new restrictions and adjusted their ways of working so that they can offer a safe working environment while keeping animal health and welfare front and centre. Now that the UK governments have given a clear signal that we may have many months of restrictions and challenges ahead, we’d recommend that teams continually assess their ways of working to make sure they and their clients feel safe and supported.”
Christmas
We will pop a survey on Love Longcroft but the general feel is that you all liked the black and pink boxes we had made and to repeat the dot pattern blankets from two years ago. We will be placing the order in the next two weeks as the pandemic is playing havoc with supply chains.
Pet travel guidelines from January
Nothing to do here, just keeping you all in the loop.
There may be new pet travel guidelines from January 2021 if the UK becomes unlisted due to Brexit. Headliners below:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pet-travel-to-europe-after-brexit
