Girls just wanna have fun....

It is important to us as a hotel that we support a charity every year, and so this year we are supporting Marie Curie Cancer Care.

The charity started back in 1948, the same year the NHS was launched.  Not long before the Hempstead based Marie Curie Hospital was transferred to the NHS, a group of committee members from the hospital decided to preserve the name of Marie Curie in the charitable medical field.  This was the beginning of the Marie Curie Memorial Foundation, a charity dedicated to alleviating suffering from Cancer, today known as Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Following the donation of an engagement ring to help raise funds, the first appeal was launched and brought in £4000.  By 1950 the ongoing appeal had raised a staggering £30,000 and two years later the Marie Curie Memorial Foundation officially became a charity – number 207994

The charity dedicates itself to providing more and better care for its patients and their families through the Marie Curie Nurses and its nine hospices.  It is committed to carrying out the research and innovation required to find out what the best care is and the best way to provide it.  They ensure measures are taken to give people the choice of place for their end of life care through the Marie Curie Delivering Choice Programme.  The Charity is also determined that the needs of the dying remain on the political agenda and will continue to campaign for patients to be able to die in their own home in all four countries of the UK.

A lot has changed since 1948 but their core values have remained constant, putting patients and families first.  You might be lucky and never need their services, but you might know someone who did or will.

We decided we wanted to put on an event to help raise some awareness of what they do and to hopefully raise some money for this great cause.  So....I would like to introduce the Burlington Girls Night.  A fun packed evening with Cosmopolitan cocktails, nibbles, prizes to win and lots to buy including clothes, jewellery, make-up, skin care, handbags, shoes and much more!  All in aid of Marie Curie.

We want you to have fun! Men aren't all fans of clothes shopping with the wives, girlfriends and daughters, so we thought we would arrange the perfect evening for you to enjoy shopping and leave the men at home!

We have met through various channels all those having a stand on the evening. They are people you won't find on the high street. They are independent, one off suppliers and stockists. They take pride in what they offer, and the experiences they want you to have. We all love a bargain, we all love to feel like we have our own personal shopper and this is certainly one place where you will get to have it all!

If you want to get out the house for a couple of hours, shop with your friends and have yourself styled then this is going to be right up your street.  The added bonus is you get to have loads of fun and help Marie Curie Cancer Care at the same time! IT'S FABULOUS!

When? Thursday 29th September 2011

Where? The Burlington Hotel, Earls Avenue, Folkestone, Kent, CT20 2HR

What Time? 7.30pm – 9.30pm

We hope you can make it!

TripAdvisor....Tastes better when taken with a pinch of salt....

There are so many articles, new reports and bad press surrounding TripAdvisor these days. Yet up until 6 months ago a lot of people wouldn’t ever have considered staying at a hotel before reading reviews left on the infamous site. You might find 30 or even 500 reviews left over a period of a couple of years and more. All a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. Still I can quite confidently say that those hotels would have seen many more guests passing through their doors, sleeping in their beds and enjoying their breakfasts and dinners who did not leave a review and had a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

A few months ago hoteliers finally found their voice and have brought and continue to bring to the public and presses attention that actually Trip Advisor has no way of verifying that those people leaving reviews have ever stayed in the hotel they are commenting on at all. In fact the chances are that a good handful have had a disappointing stay, the other handful are competitors who want to do damage to their rivals or just simply vindictive people posting a negative comment purely for their own satisfaction (a disgruntled member of staff perhaps). Needless to say some of the positive reviews may well have been posted by staff members, family members or friends, however the majority will probably be good honest reviews.

The point is people are finally starting to see it for what it is and what hoteliers have always known it to be but have muddled through because nobody seemed to be able to shout loudly enough about it...until recently.

Companies such as Booking.com and Laterooms.com have however got it right. They can and do have the ability to post reviews, as you can only do so if you have stayed in that hotel and booked your stay via the aforementioned websites, this is the proof the stay actually took place and means the reviews are from true customers.

More recently it has just been announced that the ASA has launched a formal investigation into TripAdvisor after receiving a complaint from a company called KwickChex.com. A Bournemouth based company that helps others manage their online reputations. They have been pursuing TripAdvisor since last year over what it claims are numerous misleading, fake and defamatory reviews posted about restaurants, hotels and bed & breakfasts. With the likes of Dragons Den entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne backing the campaign, this is certainly one investigation to keep your eye on!

I think the point I want to make is this. TripAdvisor, love it or hate it has been part of the holiday makers booking process for many years, and yet should never be taken too seriously. We as a nation much prefer to grumble and moan after the occurrence than speak up at the time, this bad feeling then festers and those who don't perhaps want a resolution will complain to Trip Advisor and such like. Those who are serious will contact the hotel and voice their concerns at the time or write a letter once back at home, giving the hotel a serious chance to rectify any fault or make amends, hopefully to the customers satisfaction.

A warning to those who read reviews, remember if the site can not guarantee these reviews are genuine, don't let it effect your own judgement too much.
I hope TripAdvisor can find away of verifying that past and new reviews are genuine. I also hope that since reading this and hearing about it in the press, those of you who have shunned hotels in the past due to a bad Trip Advisor review might reconsider visiting them. We don't bite. We are open to the public. We are here to serve you. Pop in and and see us, ask for a look around, and make up your own mind.

The Folkestone Triennial

A lot of people are aware of the Triennial that takes place in Folkestone every three years, the first one being back in 2008, and yet there are a lot who do not.

The Folkestone Triennial is a free exhibition available to view every day from 10.30am until 5pm right up to the 25th September. It is a chance to see new commissions from 19 international artists. The artwork includes sculpture, film, sound works and installations and are located throughout Folkestone's streets, beaches, historic buildings and squares.

The event has been curated by Andrea Schlieker and this year’s theme is “A Million Miles from Home”. Referring to the sense of being between worlds, of displacement, separation, transience and having to find bearings in an unknown elsewhere.

The event brings in a huge amount of interest both locally and from further afield. Being a Hotel located on the Leas in Folkestone, with the walk bringing many visitors right passed our door, we thought we would take a stroll with a guide and see the exhibition for ourselves. To be able to better help those who are staying with us and need to ask questions or indeed just discuss the exhibition with us as they pass through.

We saw so much, that I couldn't possibly tell you about it all in this blog, so I will simply pick out the 4 works that stand out in my memory the most!

Our first stop was the Martello Tower 4. A work by Cristina Iglesias called “Towards the Sound of Wilderness”. This architectural intervention on the ramparts of Martello 4 gives the illusion of an entrance to another world. For me it could almost have been the entrance through to Narnia, just like in the CJ Lewis classic “The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe”. The sculpture allows you to see this historic monument for the first time in years. To get to it....simply negotiate a path cut into the shrubs and trees to a mirrored walk in a structure clad with resin foliage. A window at the end of this passageway opens up a view of the over grown tower and moat with its extraordinary wildlife. Just standing there looking at the view you could be anywhere in the world. The sound of the sea seemed very loud and quite strange as you cannot see it, yet there is something very calming about knowing it is there.

The next stop was to take a look at a clock. Pretty normal on first inspection and I wouldn't have thought any more about it, until I spotted when looking closer it had 2 sides. One, a standard 12 hour clock, the other, a 10 hour clock! There are 10 of these dotted around Folkestone in various locations. They represent a time in history when on the 5th August 1793, the recently formed Republic of France abandoned the Georgian Calendar in favour of an entirely new model, the French Republican Calendar. This became the official calendar of France for 13 years. Each day of the Republican Calendar was made up of 10 hours. Hours were divided into 100 minutes and each minute into 100 seconds. Ruth Ewan, inspired by this has created new clocks, and altered existing ones around the town to display decimal time. It took me a while to get my head around it, and then I spent some more time trying to work it all out and checking they told the right time! I also wondered if a 10 hour clock would mean I would only have to work 6 hour days. Wouldn't it be nice!

We walked further into Folkestone, down into the Town Centre passing various other works and clocks and were taken into Albion House, located above Boots. Smada Dreyfus from Israel has created a piece of art called “School”. As we entered the building and walked up the stairs, we were informed it's very dark inside but to go carefully and find the lessons we would like to join in. The options were History, Citizenship, Geography, Arabic, Bible studies, Biology and Literature. Dark was an understatement, it was pitch black! We couldn't see a thing, only hear talking, and eventually, once finding our way into a classroom, we could see the translation of what we were hearing on a black screen in front of us. A very intense Biology lesson I felt. Due to the darkness you could do nothing else but focus on what you heard and read on the screen, well worth the experience. Certainly to a few of us also a new way of viewing art!

The last stop we went on really does stick in my mind and is perhaps my favourite of all. It is a display by Hew Locke titled “For Those In Peril On The Sea”. An amazing installation that hangs from the ceiling of the oldest building in Folkestone, St Mary & St Eanswythe's Church. Consisting of around 100 model ships, from warships, trawlers, steamers, liners to brigs, rafts and junks that have been collected from around the world as well as made in Lockes' own studio out of cardboard. Such a beautiful church with such a fantastic display, really did take my breath away.

If you have not yet collected your guide and been for a walk to see some of these pieces of art for yourself, do not delay. They won’t all be here forever, and really are something to be seen. Even if you don't count yourself as an art lover, I am sure you will find at least two items that you can connect to. The beauty of art, we all see it in different ways and make our own interpretations.

This is an exhibition where there is definitely something for everyone.

The Guest Who Never Checked Out.

We are now going to give you a small insight of an experience we had at the Burlington Hotel with a guest who checked in, and stayed with us for over 12 years. Yes, I really mean 12 years. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

So many people used to ask why he stayed for so long, and there were always several reasons he would respond with, including he was never alone, his food was always cooked for him whatever he wanted (and we mean whatever!) His bedroom was cleaned daily, his washing got done, he was warm, he never spent a Christmas or birthday alone, and we were there to make sure that he was well.

We are not a care home, we are a hotel, and he was very much treated as any hotel guest should be but he became a part of the family, a way of life for staff and a member of the team.

I would arrive at work at 9am and he would be sat in the foyer with his newspaper next to him whilst trying to work out how to make a call on his mobile phone. Guaranteed as he spotted me he would call “Come here, come and see me, I have something to tell you” and he would then proceed to discuss the weather, the news, his game of scrabble the night before etc. This was a daily routine, and on your days of, he would be most disappointed to not see you, or indeed cross you hadn’t been there to see him, especially if you went on annual leave! :o) He would occasionally fall asleep in the lounge on the sofa, he would join our staff parties for Christmas and he would take our General Manager out for dinner. A real character!

It is not however unusual to find a hotel has a permanent guest, just think of the Major in Fawlty Towers (please don't confuse us with Fawltey Towers though!). Anyway why not. It makes sense, if you are able bodied but don’t want to rattle around in a house on your own, or the idea of a care home is unacceptable (as it can be to many people) a hotel is a logical answer.

All our regular customers recognised him, he was happy to talk to everyone and loved to watch from a distance the weddings, parties, anniversaries and various other events that took place over the many years he was there.

He was also a lover of pets, and being a pet friendly hotel, would take great delight in fussing over the various dogs that came in and out and tempting them with doggie treats if they were ever to hand.

We sadly lost our dear old friend a year ago now, and yet he will never be forgotten by the team, the owners or our regulars. A gentleman whos life had so much history and who would always love to tell you all about the things he did, all the people he met and how to run a hotel. (He was a pro at it buy the time he departed!)

Let us take you back to the beginning.....

So here it is, our first Blog, the first of many, and before we go straight into the exciting stories that many a hotel has, we thought it would be nice to give you a little insight into the history of the town we are in and a little history of the hotel to date.

Folkestones history began with groups of Celtics who settled here during the Iron Age through to the early Middle Ages. Romans soon followed and the Jutes (said to be one of the three most powerful Germanic peoples of their time). Soon after, Folkestone became a fishing village (albeit not quite as advanced as other local fishing towns) which lead to its entry as part of the Cinque Ports in the 13th Century and from this benefited by becoming a wealthy trading port. By the start of the Tudor period it had become a town in its own right.

During the 18th Century Folkestone became involved in smuggling and at the beginning of the 1800's the harbour was built, followed in 1843 by the railways. Along with the railways the tourist trade arrived and the two industries contributed to the towns prosperity.

The major landmark in Folkestone, apart from the Harbour is the Leas, the cliffs above the beach. A Martello Tower (No3) stands on the cliff above the Copt Point. Built in 1806 as a defence against Napoleon, it has also been a Coast Guard lookout, a family home, a golf club house and a World War 2 Navel Mine control post. It now houses a visitor centre.

We also have the Folkestone White Horse which is carved on the Cheriton Hill above the Channel Tunnel terminal along with the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which includes part of the town area.

Folkestone is also close to two important Battle of Britain landmarks, including the Kent Battle of Britain Museum, the oldest in the UK.

Hotels large and small started to spring up in Folkestone after the introduction of the railway, a necessity to cater for the tourism that came with it. The Burlington Hotel was one of them and has a long history of accommodating families and travellers over the years. In 1994 the Sangiuseppe family acquired the hotel and over a period of time refurbished and modernised, taking care to keep its character and charm, and provide the modern day guest with everything they could possibly need.
Bringing it right up to date the hotel has undergone more modernising to keep up with the changing times and all 59 bedrooms are beautifully redecorated. Trinity Clinic is the latest addition to the hotel, specialising in helping you focus on detoxification and relaxation methods for cleansing the mind, body and spirit, bringing your whole being to its natural balance so that you can enjoy a healthier more energised lifestyle.

Folkestone is a great place to come, with fabulous eateries, beaches, arts and culture. A high-speed rail link from London to Folkestone and quick and easy access to the continent via the Tunnel or the Port of Dover makes it ideal for a stop over or a weekend break. You will be amazed in the way the town always manages to reinvent itself and still provides something for everyone with the help of local businesses and investors.

Based on all of this.....we hope to see you soon!