Hotel Directors Meeting March 2020

Why is this important: A more professional approach than was possible within the hotel is required to protect the asset of the Educational Trust, the buildings and land, and to ensure on site health and safety. There should be continuous improvement in the fabric of the building and grounds. There should be skilled and professional people involved in this work. Previous arrangements of going to B&Q and dealing with issues in an unrecorded and ad hoc way were costly and chaotic. Having a recorded system makes things transparent and ensures that quality of work can be monitored. Establishing accounts with regular suppliers maintains our reputation for payment and reduces costs. 6/3/20: as on previous feedback – Progressing and Financial elements of the arrangements are still to be finalised. My understanding that a meeting with Tania Lawrence’s company or colleagues would be held to discuss potential for rate reductions. An update is needed please. Why is this important: We cannot afford to pay anything over the odds on rates and these sometimes change with changing council policies from year to year. Tim has confirmed that once we have full completion of the work and the budgets then we can go ahead with the review of rateable value as it would have been of limited use to do the exercise prior to the room stock being added. 6/3/20: Tim has confirmed letter sent August 2019 and once new 2020 rateable value received then appeal will be considered / submitted. The budget bottom line bounced from 235k, to 201k, back up to 285 and then (finally?) 307 all in a couple of weeks and three different budget reports. Frankly this is extremely worrying and has not given the Directors and EC confidence that the SMT is fully on top of budgeting and, more importantly planning the hotel business to achieve the return required by the building investment. The Hotel Leadership Team regret that the original budget wasn’t sufficiently refined or robust enough to instil confidence and will work hard to rebuild that trust and deliver the agreed budget (see attached). 7 Budget. What has been approved is the management requirement that the hotel generates at least £285k surplus or close to this figure per annum. It was on this basis that the whole investment was made. There is no current confidence that the hotel can do this without firmer organisation and control. Why is this important : The hotel is the GFTU’s main investment. Creating a budget is part of the discipline of planning and monitoring performance. The accuracy of a budget enables targets to be set and a sense of pride in achieving them. Andrew has been working with Tim to produce a budget that we feel will stand up to scrutiny and generate the required income and Ian has produced a draft action plan etc. 6 Council Rates The budget has not yet been approved.

6/3/20: Tim and Andrew have reported on Budget.

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