they are happy if we go ahead; anything
we do there, we do it for the members.
We also have an investment plan of
over £7m in the youth club family area
and the summer house, which we plan
to start after the summer; it’ll be a 16-18
month project.
It will be a completely new build
youth club and restaurant and once that
is created the current youth club will
be flattened; we may then make 15-20
bedrooms as a result following that work.
We are looking to invest in our
bedrooms as well, and just signed off
on Zip 'n' Link mattresses. Upgrading
locks and looking into guest feedback
systems to tap into guests while they
are still on the premises, are also part
of the plans.
Where are your strongest
markets right now and where
would you like to have more
presence?
We are a country house hotel but mid
week we are completely corporate -
Monday to Thursday we have a lot of
conferences. We do many corporate golf
days. Weddings is a key market also. I am
planning on investing more time into it
and that's another area we can grow.
The whole idea behind doing the
restaurant is to also get more non-
resident footfall as well. We have 3,000
members so if every member has got a
family or friends of three or four then
we have a potential 12,000 members on
our doorstep. If we can get our offering
right, we don't need to go out too much
to market.
We have a lot of different revenue
streams so we are not relying on one
thing, but membership is our key.How long did it take you to
get used to the business and
establish the changes you
wanted to make?
I’m still getting used to it - especially
the golf side. It's a learning curve for
everyone. We have a mix of an older
and younger team; coming from a
mainstream hotel environment,
guests will only come once a year but
members come three or four times
a week on average, they can easily
sense good days from bad days, so
consistency is the key.
From the business point of view we
are working on the budget - how to get
the most out of the team. It is work inprogress and the hard work has started;
you can constantly improve and need
to keep on top of it.Have the owners set you
ambitious targets to meet?
Membership loyalty is key and is a
key part of our revenue. They have set
me realistic goals but said we need to
gradually improve the service levels,
consistency and the product, which
will hopefully that will translate into
money; we shouldn't be ashamed that
we are a profitable business.How do you manage the different
strands of the business?
Fortunately or unfortunately, due to
my appearance I always stand out,
so when things are going in the right
direction it's great, however when they
are not! You need to be visible.
As soon as I come in in the morning
at 8am I do a property walk and
sometimes by the time I've been around
the whole place and get to my desk it's
around 10am. I don't walk the whole
440 acres, I go through all aspects of
the property, but if you see a member
they want to know about plans.
I try to do walks about three or four
times a day so then I capture different
people at different times. Being
visible is so key to be an effective
manager in this kind of member-
orientated property.Foxhills is home to a
total of 70 bedrooms.Tej Walia (right) with
managing director
Marc Hayton (left).The striking mural in
The Fox dining room.22 BOUTIQUE HOTELIER | August 2019
TALK FOXHILLS