Peak season at Kenegie Manor is now well underway and we are in the midst of one our busiest seasons to date. Some say it has been one continuous peak season since the 12th April.

The combination of the excellent (recent !) weather and the confusing and regular changes to overseas travel has proved to be a considerable driver.

We now have very little availability until early October 2021 and will continue to endeavour to optimize pricing where we are able to.

The early 2022 booking market is strong and we will shortly move our marketing focus onto 2022 to create urgency and drive booking conversions for next year.

It is great to see the UK Staycation market open up to consumers that have not thought of this before. It is great to hear when guests return their keys, so many stories from satisfied guests – new to us, and planning to return next year.

Although general performance is good, we have to share that behind the scenes (as is the same throughout the industry) the “pingdemic” effect is having a tough effect on staff resource and our supply chain.  As a team and with careful planning and plenty of overtime and good humour ,we are committed to drive firmly through any slight challenges this faces, to deliver a consistent product.

We feel however, that open communication on any challenges is essential.

We all want to get back to normal operation as quickly as possible and  we hope the easing of restrictions on “pings”  next month will assist this.

We reported last week that due to both a shortage of registered drivers and “pinged” drivers that we were experiencing a delay in bin collections by DCW Waste.

This had a effect the latter part of last week at early this week.  We have increased the volume of bins on site by around 50% to try  to mitigate any forward problems.

We all know that the hospitality sector has been hit hard by staff shortages, (including Kenegie)  particularly in Cornwall. Due to these challenges , this has led to many companies, pubs, attractions etc having to run limited operations.

For example, our trusted and long term laundry supplier is running on reduced capacity and are struggling to deliver.   In order to overcome this we are now collecting additional laundry directly from the factory, if needed to assist, and provide continuity.  For those in the industry a long time you may recall the Devon and Cornwall linen shortage of 2005 ?

In other news,  Mc Cains (our gourmet chip supplier) can not find enough staff to pick the spuds so we are having to use a different chip suppliers …. maybe the chef’s can use their knife skills !

Today(or tomorrow)  all owners on the Letting Scheme will receive their letting statement to cover all arrivals until 30th June 2021. The next statement will be sent  around 30th September 2021 to cover July and August arrivals.

This weekend, we are delighted to be hosting an outdoor (weather permitting) performance of Bryher’s Boys, the traditional Cornish Choir,  starting at 730pm (seating from 4pm)  *limited capacity, and we are waiting on the boats landing at Newlyn with this weekends fish  specials.

We are delighted to be re-joined by Gardener Simon who will be re-joining us part-time from next week until the end of the Season, to assist Mark. Some of you may remember Simon from 2017/2018?

Anyway, it’s back to the coalface.

Have a great weekend and until next week, stay safe, stay sane and keep smiling !

Ed
x

PS  The storm was fairly fierce last night wasn’t it ?   Mark is in the midst of the clear up !