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Old 15-10-2015, 12:19
SolarSail
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It's Mike who does the replies on TA. To be fair, practically all of the reviews they get are 5* but when they get a poor one, Mike's response is verbose, very long-winded and incredibly rude - very much like stuff you'd imagine Basil Fawlty would come up with if Fawlty Towers had been set in the internet age.
His responses remind me of Julian Peck's (The Fieldhead) He refuses to accept criticism, makes accusations and effects character assassinations. Resorting to personal abuse of complainants is never a very smart move either. Mike's also rather too fond of using the word 'ersatz' which I am now inclined to apply to his five star hosting skills I think he feels it makes him seem articulate and superior. It doesn't.

I don't think it's a clever idea to be so disparaging about your local competition either, in fact savvy business owners tend to work 'with' each other rather than 'against' and it's all well and good to take the plaudits when things go well, but to me it's more revealing a testimony how a host or manager responds when there's a problem.

I'm slightly confused about the breakfast situation at the Castle, because a lot of the reviews refer to Continental, with cooked from a buffet at extra cost. Maybe they've changed this or perhaps they priced to include the full cooked and served to order option for the show.
Regarding the 'debacle' I can quite see how cooks are flustered when producing breakfast alongside a camera crew in the kitchen, but for a professional and staffed 'hotel' kitchen to drop a couple of frozen items in their fryer and then get it wrong is ridiculous. To then have a hissy fit and refuse to replace the items is plain stupid.
They're positioning themselves as a luxury establishment so their public personas and level of service should support that.
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Old 15-10-2015, 12:37
MadBetty
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His responses remind me of Julian Peck's (The Fieldhead) He refuses to accept criticism, makes accusations and effects character assassinations. Resorting to personal abuse of complainants is never a very smart move either. Mike's also rather too fond of using the word 'ersatz' which I am now inclined to apply to his five star hosting skills I think he feels it makes him seem articulate and superior. It doesn't.

I don't think it's a clever idea to be so disparaging about your local competition either, in fact savvy business owners tend to work 'with' each other rather than 'against' and it's all well and good to take the plaudits when things go well, but to me it's more revealing a testimony how a host or manager responds when there's a problem.

I'm slightly confused about the breakfast situation at the Castle, because a lot of the reviews refer to Continental, with cooked from a buffet at extra cost. Maybe they've changed this or perhaps they priced to include the full cooked and served to order option for the show.
Regarding the 'debacle' I can quite see how cooks are flustered when producing breakfast alongside a camera crew in the kitchen, but for a professional and staffed 'hotel' kitchen to drop a couple of frozen items in their fryer and then get it wrong is ridiculous. To then have a hissy fit and refuse to replace the items is plain stupid.
They're positioning themselves as a luxury establishment so their public personas and level of service should support that.
Mike's from Rhodesia...having an ex-husband who is South African and who is from a very large family I've met more than my fair share of white Rhodesians and Afrikaaners among his relatives and the majority of them are just like Mike - arrogant, lofty and very class-conscious in a manner that is peculiar to white people from that part of the continent. I recall a cousin of my ex's visiting from Swaziland and his wife, who'd been born in Rhodesia, and I was introducing them to a member of my own family who has olive skin, dark hair and brown eyes. She looked at him and said over her wine glass...."Tell me, are you Anglo-Indian by any chance?".

No...he is 6th generation Australian with Irish convict blood.

I couldn't bear a moment in Mike's company to be honest.
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Old 15-10-2015, 12:52
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... They also charge £30 an hour if guests want to check in early...
I read that

It reminds me of good service we once had.
We were going to an afternoon wedding in Northern Ireland and booked a room at the hotel where the reception was being held. It was March and because I'd felt the weather could be unreliable I booked exceptionally early flights meaning that although we couldn't check in to our hotel until around 2pm, we were actually there by about half seven in the morning.
Likewise because of other commitments we had to leave very early the next morning, prior to breakfast service.

Feeling I had nothing to lose, I asked if it would be possible to have the breakfast which was included in our room rate, a day early and explained our circumstances

Not only did they immediately find us a table and look after us very well, they provided us with a room straight after breakfast, explaining that our room wasn't yet ready, but they wanted to give us somewhere to relax until it was.
We'd have been perfectly happy to stay in the same room, but as we'd booked a superior grade, they insisted we should have that and to clean two rooms was no problem at all.

We've also stayed somewhere abroad where the beach restaurant was closed in the afternoon, but when they saw us going in that direction, they opened it up again (and got quite a few extra customers) and a nice English B&B where the host couldn't do enough for us and even gave us a lift to a local restaurant.

All these places left lasting impressions for the right reasons
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Old 15-10-2015, 13:12
SolarSail
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Mike's from Rhodesia...having an ex-husband who is South African and who is from a very large family I've met more than my fair share of white Rhodesians and Afrikaaners among his relatives and the majority of them are just like Mike...
We have South African friends and I know their manner can come across as very direct if not even a little intimidating when you're not used to it.

When we stayed in Zambia at a lodge owned and run by a Rhodesian born ex military man, we must've been very lucky because he was charming and helpful and looking at his latest responses on Trip Advisor, much more suited to the hospitality industry. Probably more successful for repeat business too.
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Old 15-10-2015, 13:15
ewoodie
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If they were staying at a regular b and b for a weekend would they really eat all their breakfast then ask for something else to be made? I doubt it. It's a classic tactic on FiAB to try to run the hosts ragged. I suppose if Karen was being clever she would have smiled and went along with it and she has probably lost points in the competition but I doubt very much if the people who stay at their place would be put off. They wouldn't be acting like that in the first place.
When it was decided that they would like more B&S, they were still eating. People ask for more of stuff all the time at breakfast - more tea, more milk, more coffee, more butter, more preserves, more toast..... Toast needs to be taken and put in the toaster. The B&S needed to be put in the oven. Asking for one item which merely needs to taken from the freezer and heated is hardly running the hosts ragged.

Let's not forget this wasn't a run-of-the-mill B&B. It was a high-end, luxury hotel with prices reflecting this. If the hosts can't be bothered to heat up a couple of frozen B&S, then it's a bad reflection of their place and them.

No-one was run ragged. Karen is a trained chef and she even had waiters to serve the breakfast. If it was that stressful, perhaps Mike should have got off his backside and helped. But that never happened. Karen behaved dreadfully whereas she should have kept her mouth shut, smiled and just got on with it.

As I said before, these two are very superior but they're not very bright because they've behaved like total @rses on TV.
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Old 15-10-2015, 13:21
ewoodie
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His responses remind me of Julian Peck's (The Fieldhead) He refuses to accept criticism, makes accusations and effects character assassinations. Resorting to personal abuse of complainants is never a very smart move either. Mike's also rather too fond of using the word 'ersatz' which I am now inclined to apply to his five star hosting skills I think he feels it makes him seem articulate and superior. It doesn't.

I don't think it's a clever idea to be so disparaging about your local competition either, in fact savvy business owners tend to work 'with' each other rather than 'against' and it's all well and good to take the plaudits when things go well, but to me it's more revealing a testimony how a host or manager responds when there's a problem.

I'm slightly confused about the breakfast situation at the Castle, because a lot of the reviews refer to Continental, with cooked from a buffet at extra cost. Maybe they've changed this or perhaps they priced to include the full cooked and served to order option for the show.
Regarding the 'debacle' I can quite see how cooks are flustered when producing breakfast alongside a camera crew in the kitchen, but for a professional and staffed 'hotel' kitchen to drop a couple of frozen items in their fryer and then get it wrong is ridiculous. To then have a hissy fit and refuse to replace the items is plain stupid.
They're positioning themselves as a luxury establishment so their public personas and level of service should support that.
I nearly mentioned him!

Not very bright is he?

Just posted something similar.
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Old 15-10-2015, 13:24
ewoodie
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Mike's from Rhodesia...having an ex-husband who is South African and who is from a very large family I've met more than my fair share of white Rhodesians and Afrikaaners among his relatives and the majority of them are just like Mike - arrogant, lofty and very class-conscious in a manner that is peculiar to white people from that part of the continent. I recall a cousin of my ex's visiting from Swaziland and his wife, who'd been born in Rhodesia, and I was introducing them to a member of my own family who has olive skin, dark hair and brown eyes. She looked at him and said over her wine glass...."Tell me, are you Anglo-Indian by any chance?".

No...he is 6th generation Australian with Irish convict blood.

I couldn't bear a moment in Mike's company to be honest.
^^^ This. I've come across similar. What a shame these types still exist in this day and age.
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Old 15-10-2015, 13:58
amelia_lee
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I don't know if it has been said, but Mike to me looks a bit like an aging Lennon.
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Old 15-10-2015, 14:19
SolarSail
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...
Not very bright is he? ...
Certainly nowhere near as bright as he thinks he is

I don't know if it has been said, but Mike to me looks a bit like an aging Lennon.
I can see what you mean. I've also seen him compared to the late Peter Sellers. Not sure if the posters meant in his Clouseau guise

He's certainly got a lot of hair for his age.
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Old 15-10-2015, 14:46
amelia_lee
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Certainly nowhere near as bright as he thinks he is



I can see what you mean. I've also seen him compared to the late Peter Sellers. Not sure if the posters meant in his Clouseau guise

He's certainly got a lot of hair for his age.
When he was sitting at the table talking about class, all I could think was Lennon, then at the end he pulls out the Lennon circle glasses too!
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Old 15-10-2015, 15:54
Mutter
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Mike's from Rhodesia...having an ex-husband who is South African and who is from a very large family I've met more than my fair share of white Rhodesians and Afrikaaners among his relatives and the majority of them are just like Mike - arrogant, lofty and very class-conscious in a manner that is peculiar to white people from that part of the continent. I recall a cousin of my ex's visiting from Swaziland and his wife, who'd been born in Rhodesia, and I was introducing them to a member of my own family who has olive skin, dark hair and brown eyes. She looked at him and said over her wine glass...."Tell me, are you Anglo-Indian by any chance?".

No...he is 6th generation Australian with Irish convict blood.

I couldn't bear a moment in Mike's company to be honest.
Agree. I used to work for a large service industry and we so disliked South Africans. This was back in apartheid era. Talk of "House Boys" and so on was akin to the 60s. They to us were from a past Century.
The fact that he said "Rhodesia" said it all to me.
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Old 15-10-2015, 16:12
hooter
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Ha Ha Hooter, mine too, or Kippers and Curtains is another one
Believe me I can spot tat at nine yards off

I was thinking after I posted, that in the main I think I'd get on OK with Karen, so long as she didn't unleash her inner bitch. She reminds me of the kind of right old gal who'd go to the races in Debenhams' finest but by the end of the day would be ratted on champers and minus a shoe having had a whale of a time. I think Mike brings out the worst in her really.
Instead of affecting an air of superiority she should just own it and be who she is.

They really missed a trick by showcasing their disdain for the other contestants tonight instead of demonstrating how high their level of customer service is(might be)
she certainly let the `posh` facade slip....you`re right, she`d be better being herself .
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Old 15-10-2015, 16:16
2shy2007
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It's Mike who does the replies on TA. To be fair, practically all of the reviews they get are 5* but when they get a poor one, Mike's response is verbose, very long-winded and incredibly rude - very much like stuff you'd imagine Basil Fawlty would come up with if Fawlty Towers had been set in the internet age.
I think thats a very good description, he is fine and dandy while things are going his way, cross him though and he seems to flip a bit.

I always like to read the poor and terrible reviews, not because of the reviews but because of the type of replies given. it puts me off if they dismiss the customer or start to call them names.
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Old 15-10-2015, 16:59
Mutter
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This girl coming up tonight is everything I dislike in hospitality, especially her nails. Her nails stay on for weeks before being inspected. In that time, anything could be growing underneath.
Anyway, we'll see.
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Old 15-10-2015, 17:01
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Does she apply her makeup in the dark? It's like day glo makeup.
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Old 15-10-2015, 17:02
2shy2007
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No Mike tonight! there's a relief. she might be ok away from him.
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Old 15-10-2015, 17:02
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Urgent business,, he's probably just nodded off under another floppy hat
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Old 15-10-2015, 17:03
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Uncouth and vulgar but at least she's not a hypocrite.
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Old 15-10-2015, 17:04
2shy2007
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Ugh night storage heaters.
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Old 15-10-2015, 17:04
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Far too many recaps again
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Old 15-10-2015, 17:05
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The sea scares her . stupid old bat.
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Old 15-10-2015, 17:05
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Oh the sausage on a plate.
The woman who sent her cracked egg back, had a pork sausage along with smoked haddock. Is that normal?

See Mike is other wised occupied, maybe in the confines of our Police Service?
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Old 15-10-2015, 17:05
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No Mike tonight! there's a relief. she might be ok away from him.
Sadly not it seems
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Old 15-10-2015, 17:06
2shy2007
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Sadly not it seems
Oh well
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Old 15-10-2015, 17:07
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Rooms are nice. Do any get a sea view I wonder.
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