Channel 4's Undercover Boss Reviewed - David Clarke Chief Exec of Best Western Chain

Normally on a Friday I spend an enjoyable morning on Youtube looking for special treats to entertain for 'Friday Film Day'. This week however I can't do that, because there was a show on last night I have to write about.

Best Western give their name to 4000 hotels in 80 countries. They have 275 hotels in the UK and a 90 million turnover. The fact that a hotel has this recognised name encourages people to book rooms. By being a part of the brand name the hotel gains around 25% more bookings. In order to join this (for want of a better word) syndicate, a hotel needs to be above three star and pass inspections by Best Western to ensure they are up to carrying their brand name.

David Clarke, the Chief Executive took part in the Channel 4 show, Undercover Boss. He visited and worked at three hotels in the disguise of Andy Green, a trainee who was learning how the hotels worked.

The first place he visited was the White House in Oxford, where he spent a day with head (and only) chef Wayne. This guy was absolute gold. He had a mountain of pots, one oven, knackered equipment and worked 80 hours a week. With all this going against him he still provided top nosh that local people were coming to eat. David was shocked at how badly he was treated and amazed by how much he still cared for his work. He had never even seen the owner, no one had ever said thank you to him for working 80 hour weeks, yet he still strived for quality and did a great job.

David stayed over and next day met with maintenance man Michael. This guy was the reverse of Wayne. His attitude was really what you'd expect from someone who has never met his boss. David helped him with a list of to-do's in preparation for an upcoming inspection by Best Western. I laughed out loud at this (or went 'lol', for those people down with the kids). Michael was moving good sofas into the rooms that were being inspected and taking tatty ones out. Though this was 'under instruction' his attitude was pretty lousy.

Next up was Castle Green and Leona, the breakfast supervisor. She was wonderful and very good with the guests. She extolled the virtues of working at a wonderful family run hotel and boasted about gym extras and staying for free. She was everything David wanted in an employee but when David asked her about Best Western she blanked. David naively believed that his £1 million 'Hotels With Personality' ad campaign about what Best Western stands for would be well known to staff.

David's next job was to help Steve, the Green Keeper at Ullesthorpe Court hotel and golf club in Leicester. Steve was working 60 hours a week on his own, for £6 an hour to keep an entire golf course that the hotel had spent 1/4 million building. How can that be right by any company's standards? £6 an hour for skilled labour. Hang your head in shame Ullesthorpe Court.

David's final undercover mission was to clean 72 rooms with Bev and her team of five housekeepers. Bev is paid just over the minimum wage for running a team of housekeepers and has to clean the rooms from 8-2, though she generally works a few hours extra. Her team have to work faster and longer because of two recent redundancies. Again paying a senior person £6 an hour is just not fair.

David called Bev 'unassuming' and was very impressed by her attitude. When he tried to pull up how unfair it was that she was working longer hours, she said, "All that matters is that the guests are happy and if the guests are happy then they will come back and we won't have redundancies."

I love you Bev.

At the end of the show David took all the employers in the office and gave them some encouraging words. Apart from maintenance man Michael who was not able to attend for some reason. Mmmm... He deserved to be sacked to be honest...

This is where I actually shed tears at the time. It was emotional! David gave Steve a holiday at Celtic Manor golf club, Leona a job as face of the company, Wayne a catering course (which was weird and felt like a punishment, why didn't he fix his broken oven!) and Bev £2500 for Great Ormond Street where here son has spent 15 years.

Then I stopped crying (I'm such a wuss) and had a good think about what David did.

It actually made me feel a little ill.

Best Western have recently aired an ad campaign with the slogan 'Hotels With Personality'. Followed by this show, where their Chief Exec finds fantastic personalities and gives them things. 

Call me cynical but what David did was one of the most fantastic PR stunts ever. He didn't help the hotels' with their problems, (if he did it wasn't shown), he didn't shout at their bosses to improve things and pay staff more, he simply made some emotive gestures to make us viewers think he really cared.

If I was a B&B owner like you I'd take good things from this show. It proved that big chains, marketing consortiums, whatever you want to call them simply can't always be there to ensure their hotels provide the level of personal service and attention to detail that you can. David only visited a few places and there were deep-rooted problems.

Small, economical, environmentally friendly B&Bs have to be the way forward for the hospitality industry. The sooner more guests see that, and stop giving their money to these irresponsible chains, the better. 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Night's Three in a Bed - Reviewed by James From The Ashton B&B, Lancaster

I'm a bit concerned James maybe after my job! This is a fantastic review well done James. I think you should go on the next series!

Well it's my last night of curling up on the sofa covering my face in a mixture of horror and delight at the B&B owners on tonight's '3 in a Bed.' It's only the last episode of series 1 and already the programme is becoming pretty formulaic; representing the knobs we have Nick & Georgina of Grade 2 listed, 5 star rated, Frampton House in gorgeous rolling Dorset. In the pleb corner we have Pat & Wilf who's 3 star Granville is perfectly situated should you need deep fried cuisine and slot machines in England's glamorous North West. Not even in the ring (but hovering in an aura cloud just above) are Melvyn & Ann who's unrated Nut Tree Cottage couldn't be better named.

Last Night's Three in a Bed - Reviewed by Emma from 4Homes

Emma is the Senior Writer for Channel 4’s 4Homes website, but opinions expressed in this post are her own and not those of Channel 4. 

I have to admit that, of all the programmes we cover at 4Homes, Three In A Bed has become a personal favourite.

Perhaps I shouldn't admit to a favourite - after all, a parent shouldn't admit to a favourite child - but I just love the personality clashes that the programme-makers put together.

This week's was no different, pitching the flamboyant Susie - whose 'little touches' for her guests include chocolate on the pillows, feathers on the breakfasts and petals everywhere, including the loo - against practical, outdoorsy Nikki and Steve, and unashamedly money-minded Ray and Julie.

At Clayton Wickham, Mike and Susie's pretty farmhouse in Sussex, the guests - notwithstanding the petal penchant - seemed to be enjoying themselves. It only started to go sour the next morning, when they eschewed Susie's extravagant fruit salad, complete with rosemary sprigs and, yes, more petals, in favour of good old toast.

And payment? Perhaps sensibly, given that they were yet to be judged themselves, both sets of guests paid exactly 100 per cent of their bill.

Next up was Nikki and Steve's Arbor Low, in the Peak District. The weather had turned a bit drizzly and it was obvious from the moment she saw the brochure that Susie wasn't going to love it. Or the weather. "God forbid I get the hair wet," she declared in the car, before she'd even arrived. "And I hope to God we're not going on a mammoth walk this afternoon..."

Three guesses what activity Nikki had lined up for the group.

Despite a breakfast where guests had to make their own tea and toast, Ray and Julie overpaid by more than 33 per cent. We all knew this was more to do with a lack of petals than an abundance of anything else, but Nikki and Steve were happy and of course, it took them into the lead.

Thirdly, to the Ashleigh Hotel in Bournemouth, where Mike and Susie managed to describe Julie and Ray's fairly plain, but modern, black and white decor as 'gaudy' - an irony obviously lost on a woman who puts feathers in her grilled tomatoes.

As ever, the best part of the programme was saved until last, because Ray - whose knee injury precluded any kind of exercise - had organised the perfect activity for the remaining bunch. Surfing. As they traipsed out in their wetsuits, I had to laugh (and it got me wondering how far in advance of filming each set of contributors chooses their activity. I suddenly imagined Ray, having originally picked something far more innocuous to do on 'his' afternoon, meeting Susie for the first time, then sneaking off to the production team to desperately beg a swap).

Next morning, Ray and Julie’s commercial-hotel-style breakfast 'troughs' didn't go down too well with either couple, but by now it was obvious how the marking would go. Susie and Mike underpaid, whilst Nikki and Steve overpaid... but not by enough to give away the top spot.

And Ray, in response, managed to sum up the whole series: "It's useful to hear what you think, but as we all know, our audiences are completely different." He might as well have said, "as we all know, we're only here because it makes great telly." And you know what? He’d be right. I don’t really care who wins each week, because it is just great telly.

Finally, Paul has mentioned before on this blog that the B&B owners on Three In A Bed always seem to go to bed with clothes on. It had been troubling me, too. But this week, I'm not sure whether or not I'm happy to report that Mike and Susie bared all (or, at least, as much of them as was visible above the covers). An image, quite frankly, that I could have done without.

 

If you haven't seen it yet (or want to see it again!) watch last night's show here

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