Caterer & Hotelkeeper: March 2008

     Andrew Colley and Robin Knight have turned the Pride of the Valley into somewhere affluent local residents are happy to go. Janet Harmer reports on how the hoteliers are attracting a new market of discerning customers.

  Contact has also been made with companies based at Farnborough and Guildford business parks, as well as BAE Systems at Farnborough Airfield. “We hosted a dinner for 11 senior staff at BAE, which was very positive, as they described it as one of the best dinners that they’ve enjoyed.”

     The guidebook market is something that Colley and Knight are only just beginning to explore. “We’ve signed up for the 2009 edition of Johnasens Recommended Small Hotels & Inns for 1,600 per annum as I think we fit in with their general profile of properties, which tend to be small hotels in the countryside in slightly out-of-the-way locations,” says Colley, who believes that having a Johansens listing is a form of branding that provides peace of mind for potential guests.

     A guide he would like Pride of the Valley to be rated by is the Mr & Mrs Smith Hotel collection, as it is one that he has personally used and found to be reliable, and which fellow hoteliers say generates considerbale business.