Wednesday 10 February 2010

The Milford Hall Hotel, Salisbury

I mentioned in a previous post that I was going interview some of the businesses I am working with to give you an insight into the the world of John Rose Photography. The first of these interviews is with Ali Greenwood of the Milford hall Hotel. Thank you to Ali for giving her time to answer this brief questionnaire.
If you are looking for a venue to hold your wedding reception, or indeed ceremony, then please give Ali a ring. There are some special offers available if you book the Milford Hall Hotel and John Rose Photography together so give Ali a ring or make an appointment to see her and she will tell you all about her wonderful hotel.


John interviews: Ali Greenwood. Ali is the Weddings & Events Manager at the Milford Hall Hotel, 206 Castle Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 3TE
(01722) 424116
conference@milfordhallhotel.com
http://www.milfordhallhotel.com/

What does your job involve?

My job involves taking enquiries and (hopefully) turning them into bookings. This could be for a civil wedding ceremony, wedding reception, funeral wake, conference, meeting, birthday party, christening, or any other social occasion. I will always send out a personalised information pack in response to a phone call or email enquiry and I am always pleased to show a potential client around the hotel before giving them our best prices and other information that they may require. Our motto really is, “If we can, we will!”.

Another aspect of my job is to produce “Function Sheets” for the other departments to work from. These are our “bibles” and ensure that every department is aware of what is happening for each event, i.e. timings, menus, room layout, final numbers etc.

How long have you worked here?

I have worked at the Milford Hall Hotel for approximately 14 years including the last 11½ years under the guidance and expertise of the Hughes’ family. I have watched the hotel grow over the years with an evolving and now very popular seafood & steak house restaurant; an extended and refurbished function room that can now accommodate up to 200 people theatre style and 11 superb new executive bedrooms taking our bedroom stock up to 45 rooms.

How important are good staff?

Good staff are absolutely vital. A beautiful building with lovely furnishings is great but nothing beats a warm welcome and consistently good service. Regular customers like to be remembered and our staff are really good at doing this. Having said this, new customers and potential new customers are every bit as important too! Good staff can avoid awkward or embarrassing customer moments; they can avert potential disasters and help to make a guest feel relaxed and valued. A smile from a member of staff can immediately put a guest in a much better mood and we receive many letters of praise for our staff which is really great!

What is your most memorable moment?

This is quite a hard question for me to answer because I feel I have had so many memorable moments. It was a great honour to be at the Award Ceremony when we first won the Hotel of the Year Award for outstanding customer service but a personal favourite for me was organising a complete wedding for a couple in less than nine weeks and being told that their guests were still talking about the fabulous day many, many weeks later!

What advice would you give to anyone thinking of using your service?

I am sure anyone thinking of using my services at Milford Hall would not be disappointed. If you have an important occasion coming up and you want to be confident that it will be looked after in a most professional manner, then do not hesitate to come and see me. Every function is tailor made and every customer is highly valued. You may begin as a customer but you will almost certainly end up as a friend!

Tell everyone why they should book with you?

Everyone should come to the Milford Hall Hotel for their wedding, wedding reception, conference, meeting, party or other special occasion because we genuinely do care about our customers. We are a small but competent team and everyone works hard to ensure that our customers go away satisfied and happy. Although no-one is perfect, we try our hardest to be the best we can possibly be and the many letters of thanks and testimonials that we constantly receive show that we are on the right track!

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