May Newsletter – 9th May 2023

Some of you will have seen that the opening date for the Lochranza Country Inn (LCI) was not achieved.

In planning the opening, sadly it was not the obvious things that have caught us out it was the less obvious.

Equipment attrition has been higher than expected with several pieces of kitchen and bar equipment failing as they were brought back into service. Some of this had been anticipated and managed but not all. Modern standard of banking using electronic payment have been an obstacle course to get through which was one of the key lessons learnt last week. We also chose to improve the flooring critical to opening the kitchen area, which as many of you will know, once you start uninstalling a kitchen to lay flooring the task can becomes rather disheartening

overwhelming!

It should also not be forgotten that maintaining standards in an open business is different to opening a business that has been closed to the public – now three years.

One very tangible area is that the top floor. This use to house most employees of the hotel but the standard of accommodation would now even be accepted by students who have ensuite facilities in most if not all rooms. We must admit that upgrading this has been, and remains, our greatest

challenge.  It needs considerable investment to accommodate the employees of the LCI at present.

In addition the willingness of customers and employees to use litigation has increased dramatically. As one member of the team incurred a nasty fall on-site in the pursuit of progress,  we must address this before opening.

The actual opening date remains for the LCI to communicate but NACBS remain focused on the overall improvement of the asset purchased for the long term benefit of the community. The team, both NACBS and LCI, some remote to the island, continue to work tirelessly to open the hotel in a safe and responsible manner, and to address what will remain the greatest challenge of commencing guest accommodation in June.