A very happy New Year to you all.
At the beginning of 2025 I am thinking of developers, be they owners or contractors.
May your tiles be aligned for the next 12 months.
My thoughts are aimed at them entirely because Francesca, my wife, and I are currently amid renovating our new apartment, or flat as we call them this side of the pond.
Well, when I say “we,” I mean our contractors, who might already be weary of our presence as we check their work or show interest in it and the development of our new home.
The floor has been ripped up throughout, the joists exposed; underfloor heating has been laid; the kitchen and bathroom have been dismantled, soon to get new cabinetry and a walk-in shower, respectively; and a new electrical circuit has been designed.
The remodeling of the garden will be all our creation, not that I have special skills in that area other than a knowledge of how to attract bird species.
Perhaps having written about hotels and hoteliers for decades, I have an appreciation for being the custodian of a location.
Just as a hotelier would not countenance a pile of rubbish outside their lobby entrance, neither do I, and I have been throughout the Christmas holidays wearing gardening gloves while picking up and throwing away “trash from the front yard,” as my American colleagues would say, as well as from the street, attempting to start and carry on being a good neighbor.
I try and imagine the scenario of owners and branded-hotel managers scurrying around construction sites checking up on things, keeping an eye on budgets and timelines.
Is it any different? Do contractors and designers smile and wish them gone? "Please leave it to our professionalism and judge us on our past record and the finished product," they might be saying under their breath.
Our contractor offered project-management skills, which we accepted the use of.
I have no idea what we would have done without that!
Of course, some hotels spiral downward in terms of budget and timelines, so someone does need to manage the project manager.
“We’re ready to install the shower unit. Where is it?” has been the type of question that has curdled the cream on our Christmas pudding.
“We have not ordered it. You did not ask us to do that yet?”
“The builders have asked for it,” comes the reply.
I have huge admiration for the head of development who must order 453 showers, or whatever the huge number might be.
Francesca and I now have a supply chain, although one piece of equipment went “missing” for a few days. I received a text message alerting me to the fact that it was now due to arrive on Christmas Eve at the same time, I learned five minutes later, as the arrival — as in the second time ever to mainland Britain — of an American bird, a Yellow warbler (Setophaga aestiva), 20 miles from where I live.
Well, renovations needed to take a pause so I could dash down to the glamorous New Hythe Gravel Pits to see it.
I am not sure Hilton or Wyndham development teams have such project concerns, considering there are no hotels at New Hythe Gravel Pits, but perhaps I am mistaken? One does hear of hotel work coming to a halt because rare bats have started nesting in the eaves, or because an archeological discovery has been made.
Just as do hoteliers, I am looking forward to our ribbon-cutting celebration.
In true hotelier tradition, I will not shackle myself into giving an exact date, but we are hopeful completion will be due by the end of the first quarter 2025.
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