29 March - A busy day for me trying to catch up on my back logs of invoices and revenue before I send everything off to the accountant for the formal accounting. I received a tax refund today which was a pleasant surprise... I had forgotten that it was coming. I was able to pay some outstanding bills with that!!
The pool next door is moving along nicely. It should be ready before the end of April.... I am looking forward to jumping in there.
We had a few tables for dinner last night which was unexpected... all English as well. We had no guests in the hotel last night; we'd had a young Belgium couple here for a couple of nights earlier in the week and today we have a Spanish couple in for a couple of nights. On Sunday, the first of the Semana Santa guests arrive and they will be here for the whole week. They are returning clients of ours from Barcelona; they've stayed with us three times already so quite loyal.
We've now got some art on display in the bar and reception. The artist Jaime who lives in Parauta, two village over from here, is a wood sculpture. We've been getting to know some other people in the area better via these meetings we've been having for the Valley promotion. At the last meeting on Tuesday, we agreed with Jaime to allow him to display his art for sale. We don't expect any commission either as we are happy to help sell locally made products of any kind here. Plus the art work is interesting looking and improves the bar as well. They are interesting statues, mirrors and plant pot & coat holders. It would be nice to sell some of his work for him.
And Ian and Sandrine stopped by for some tapas today. They are the couple living in Cartajima with a rug business (Andalucian rugs that is) and offering walking guide services. They offered to give us a rug or two to display in the hotel for possible sales as well. In fact, they sold several rugs to our clients in one of the art groups last fall. We are looking forward to that.
And it is going to be busy next week so Ivan's parents arrive on Sunday from Avila to lend a hand. Ivan's mother makes some nice desserts for Semana Santa and helps Ivan out in the kitchen.
Well, the Genal Valley group's last meeting was a bit disorganised and started late. The woman who organises them changed the venue at the last minute without much notification to the members. Still not sure how this will progress, there are obvious reservations by many of the participants at this point. We need to make some firm decisions at the next meeting as this is just not going anywhere.
And that's about all the time I have for now. We are almost full for Easter. We still have one double available for Thurs through Saturday nights and I sure hope it sells as I would be very happy to be full for at least two nights of the big weekend!!
one more thing, I got some new business cards made recently and picked them up yesterday. They now feature our names as everyone always asked that and wrote it on the cards and they have a slightly nicer look about them.
Weather of course.... we heard the weather for next week is not supposed to be very nice, unfortunately. We'll wait and see what happens ... it's been rather fresh since early March, cooler than in January and February. Yesterday and today though have been bright and sunny, just cool. And I have some lovely flowers to pot for the terrace now before the sun goes so I'm off.
More later. Bye for now.
Monday, 26 March 2007
26 March -
The clock moved one hour ahead this passed weekend here in Europe. That was a rude awakening on Saturday night at 1.30 AM when Ivan told me. We had a hotel just about full and had been very busy all evening so I was tired and looking forward to a good night's rest... but that was not to be; we changed the clocks and by the time the lights went out it was close to 3AM!! And we needed to be here for 9:15 at the latest!
So what's been happening here in Juzcar of late? Well, first off, today it's raining with lots of fog; I awoke thinking I was hearing rain but imagining it could not be rain. Wrong! Rain and lots of it.
I was having problems with this PC last week and so did not take the time to make a blog entry, well, in fact, I could not as the computer was driving me mad last week. It decided to become very slow, blank screens, tower making all sorts of clicking noises, slow internet connection, maddening really! I did a system restore (which appeared to do nothing to help), a virus screening (with zero results) and nearly slammed it to the floor in frustration! Then suddenly, it was functioning like normal. I just don't get it. There does not appear to be a bug or anything like that in it but now it is O.K. again.
Anyway, what's been happening here in the hotel. For St. Patrick's Day weekend, we had the lads here from London for a stag weekend. They arrived Friday, a smaller group than we expected but friends of ours. The groom, Rob, is a former colleague of Ivan's. He wanted us to attend his stag but thought it might be difficult for us to come to London so he brought the party to us here in Juzcar. We all had dinner at the bar here in the village Friday evening and then partied for a while in the hotel bar. Ivan prepared two whole suckling pigs for dinner on Saturday for the nine of us and he made Rob a special cake, the torso of a nude woman!! It looked so real and it was delicious, chocolate with a sugar topping. We all went up to Francisco's finca on Sunday for the views, his liquor and to hang and then went into to Ronda for dinner. A very nice weekend all in all with friends. The restaurant was closed to the public for this event so that we could participate as well.
We had not planned on having any other guests in the hotel that weekend but there was a slight disaster with one of the adventure company's, called OcioSport! They are based in Malaga and had asked us a few weeks ago if we had some availability for a group of 130 odd people coming to the valley for a 4X4 event. We explained that we would not have any rooms available that weekend but we would check in the apartments next door. They sent us an email with a list of 6 couples asking for rooms....I book all five units for them in the apartments and sent them response explaining the prices and room sizes. They accepted the price quote, transferred the payment to Paul, the owner, and then never bothered to follow up with a list of names of the people who would be staying there. Of course 7 couples turned up for 5 units at 6PM Saturday and I had to deal with the mess this company made; all of them had prepaid for their lodgings. So I had to explain to them that there were only 5 units available and I had a list of names and I crossed off the ones I could not fit. In the end, we had to rent two rooms to this group as we had them available and they had no where to go. Obvious to say we won't be working with this company in the future.
This was the same company that put us in a brochure put out by the Junta de Andalucia for package offers for seniors without out permission. We have no agreement on pricing, payment method or booking procedure... but we are in the catalog and are expecting to get some enquires. we've told them we are not happy with this but they have not bothered to come and speak with us.
After the lads left on Monday, we had a couple here from Monday through Friday; one of them was a friend of one of our guests from last month and his German girlfriend. They travelled around the area including Ronda, the coast and the Cueva de Pileta, a cave with 25,000 year old drawings and a 25,000 years old calendar as well.
Then we received a booking though one of the on-line agents, something that does not happen very often (we wish for more of that of course) for Friday and Saturday. They turned out to be a Scottish couple with a place on the coast. Very nice and interested in providing ideas for promoting the hotel. In fact, Campell suggested we try to get on a radio talk show based in San Pedro aimed at the English speaking community on the coast to talk about the hotel, our services and the restaurant. He said that he's been on the program a couple of times himself and he would recommend us to the producer who I've already emailed. We'll see how that goes.
On Friday (23/03 which was my birthday), a couple of Dutch ladies dropped in asking for a room. Turns out they live in Amsterdam so we had a jolly conversation with them about the Netherlands, one of our favorite places! And they then decided to stay for one more night as well. On Friday evening, while we were in the bar with our four guests, Ivan came out with my birthday cake and we all had some which was very nice.
Strangely enough, there were 5 other people in the hotel on Saturday with birthdays in these few days starting with one each on 20 and 22, me and one other on 23, another on 24 and one more on 26 March! All Aries, as I went through their IDs upon check in and saw this, I asked myself, what's going on here?!!
On Saturday, the hotel was nearly full with seven rooms booked, first time since New Year's that we had so many rooms at once. That's why I was running so much on Saturday evening. we didn't expect so many people at once and so it was just make and Ivan. But in the end, all were happy with the food and the service. The English family of four who left this morning told me last night that they thought all went very smoothing on Saturday evening even though I thought they waited (patiently I add) for their desserts. They said service was so bad back in England that this was quite well run! We also had an American in the hotel Saturday night, a guy living in Cadiz with his English fiance.
Yesterday, most guests checked out. It was a gorgeous clear day as well. The Dutch ladies were walking to Ronda or hitching if they could get a ride.
Now we are starting our preparations for Semana Santa. Guests start arriving for that on Friday. We have quite a few bookings but still have one double available for the weekend itself thanks to some screw up by someone. This guy called on Thursday last week asking for rooms, we had a suite and a double left at that point. After speaking with his wife, and calling me twice more with questions, he booked the double as he did not want to pay 80 Euros for the suite. Someone else called right after that and took the suite. This guy then called again the next morning to cancel because his wife wanted a room with a balcony or terrace!! Meanwhile I had turned away two other queries for the same time because he booked and was going to make a deposit the next morning. Now I still have that room free and am very annoyed at this man for having jerked me around. The trails of being in this business I suppose!! There is still time to book the room nevertheless still annoying!
Well, I need to go and get myself ready to run into Ronda as we have some shopping to do. Maria Jesus just arrived to clean the rooms and feed Diego (who I still need to tell you about in another entry).
Hasta luego.
The clock moved one hour ahead this passed weekend here in Europe. That was a rude awakening on Saturday night at 1.30 AM when Ivan told me. We had a hotel just about full and had been very busy all evening so I was tired and looking forward to a good night's rest... but that was not to be; we changed the clocks and by the time the lights went out it was close to 3AM!! And we needed to be here for 9:15 at the latest!
So what's been happening here in Juzcar of late? Well, first off, today it's raining with lots of fog; I awoke thinking I was hearing rain but imagining it could not be rain. Wrong! Rain and lots of it.
I was having problems with this PC last week and so did not take the time to make a blog entry, well, in fact, I could not as the computer was driving me mad last week. It decided to become very slow, blank screens, tower making all sorts of clicking noises, slow internet connection, maddening really! I did a system restore (which appeared to do nothing to help), a virus screening (with zero results) and nearly slammed it to the floor in frustration! Then suddenly, it was functioning like normal. I just don't get it. There does not appear to be a bug or anything like that in it but now it is O.K. again.
Anyway, what's been happening here in the hotel. For St. Patrick's Day weekend, we had the lads here from London for a stag weekend. They arrived Friday, a smaller group than we expected but friends of ours. The groom, Rob, is a former colleague of Ivan's. He wanted us to attend his stag but thought it might be difficult for us to come to London so he brought the party to us here in Juzcar. We all had dinner at the bar here in the village Friday evening and then partied for a while in the hotel bar. Ivan prepared two whole suckling pigs for dinner on Saturday for the nine of us and he made Rob a special cake, the torso of a nude woman!! It looked so real and it was delicious, chocolate with a sugar topping. We all went up to Francisco's finca on Sunday for the views, his liquor and to hang and then went into to Ronda for dinner. A very nice weekend all in all with friends. The restaurant was closed to the public for this event so that we could participate as well.
We had not planned on having any other guests in the hotel that weekend but there was a slight disaster with one of the adventure company's, called OcioSport! They are based in Malaga and had asked us a few weeks ago if we had some availability for a group of 130 odd people coming to the valley for a 4X4 event. We explained that we would not have any rooms available that weekend but we would check in the apartments next door. They sent us an email with a list of 6 couples asking for rooms....I book all five units for them in the apartments and sent them response explaining the prices and room sizes. They accepted the price quote, transferred the payment to Paul, the owner, and then never bothered to follow up with a list of names of the people who would be staying there. Of course 7 couples turned up for 5 units at 6PM Saturday and I had to deal with the mess this company made; all of them had prepaid for their lodgings. So I had to explain to them that there were only 5 units available and I had a list of names and I crossed off the ones I could not fit. In the end, we had to rent two rooms to this group as we had them available and they had no where to go. Obvious to say we won't be working with this company in the future.
This was the same company that put us in a brochure put out by the Junta de Andalucia for package offers for seniors without out permission. We have no agreement on pricing, payment method or booking procedure... but we are in the catalog and are expecting to get some enquires. we've told them we are not happy with this but they have not bothered to come and speak with us.
After the lads left on Monday, we had a couple here from Monday through Friday; one of them was a friend of one of our guests from last month and his German girlfriend. They travelled around the area including Ronda, the coast and the Cueva de Pileta, a cave with 25,000 year old drawings and a 25,000 years old calendar as well.
Then we received a booking though one of the on-line agents, something that does not happen very often (we wish for more of that of course) for Friday and Saturday. They turned out to be a Scottish couple with a place on the coast. Very nice and interested in providing ideas for promoting the hotel. In fact, Campell suggested we try to get on a radio talk show based in San Pedro aimed at the English speaking community on the coast to talk about the hotel, our services and the restaurant. He said that he's been on the program a couple of times himself and he would recommend us to the producer who I've already emailed. We'll see how that goes.
On Friday (23/03 which was my birthday), a couple of Dutch ladies dropped in asking for a room. Turns out they live in Amsterdam so we had a jolly conversation with them about the Netherlands, one of our favorite places! And they then decided to stay for one more night as well. On Friday evening, while we were in the bar with our four guests, Ivan came out with my birthday cake and we all had some which was very nice.
Strangely enough, there were 5 other people in the hotel on Saturday with birthdays in these few days starting with one each on 20 and 22, me and one other on 23, another on 24 and one more on 26 March! All Aries, as I went through their IDs upon check in and saw this, I asked myself, what's going on here?!!
On Saturday, the hotel was nearly full with seven rooms booked, first time since New Year's that we had so many rooms at once. That's why I was running so much on Saturday evening. we didn't expect so many people at once and so it was just make and Ivan. But in the end, all were happy with the food and the service. The English family of four who left this morning told me last night that they thought all went very smoothing on Saturday evening even though I thought they waited (patiently I add) for their desserts. They said service was so bad back in England that this was quite well run! We also had an American in the hotel Saturday night, a guy living in Cadiz with his English fiance.
Yesterday, most guests checked out. It was a gorgeous clear day as well. The Dutch ladies were walking to Ronda or hitching if they could get a ride.
Now we are starting our preparations for Semana Santa. Guests start arriving for that on Friday. We have quite a few bookings but still have one double available for the weekend itself thanks to some screw up by someone. This guy called on Thursday last week asking for rooms, we had a suite and a double left at that point. After speaking with his wife, and calling me twice more with questions, he booked the double as he did not want to pay 80 Euros for the suite. Someone else called right after that and took the suite. This guy then called again the next morning to cancel because his wife wanted a room with a balcony or terrace!! Meanwhile I had turned away two other queries for the same time because he booked and was going to make a deposit the next morning. Now I still have that room free and am very annoyed at this man for having jerked me around. The trails of being in this business I suppose!! There is still time to book the room nevertheless still annoying!
Well, I need to go and get myself ready to run into Ronda as we have some shopping to do. Maria Jesus just arrived to clean the rooms and feed Diego (who I still need to tell you about in another entry).
Hasta luego.
Thursday, 15 March 2007
15 March - Well I have been remiss in not posting any new entries for a couple of weeks. I've been busy with other things and have not have the time to get around to a new entry.... so I made some time today.
This morning, we had the second meeting of the people interested in promoting the Genal Valley and the Serrania de Ronda. Basically owners and service providers of one sort or another including artists. We had the first meeting last week at a place called Finca Algaba which is located off of the A369 near Ronda. This finca has been open for a year but not many people in the area actually know much about the place. Goes to the heart of the problem we have here in the area, little to no publicity, even to those of us that live here.
Anyway, Finca Algaba has a program in place where people can go and stay on the finca in a primitive surrounding to ascertain how people from long ago survived, growing their own fruit and veg, living in a primitive village that was purpose built on the finca. They are also open for other activities and have live stock wondering around the property.
We all met there to determine if we, as a group, were interested in working together to further our own businesses and interests together. There is definitely more influence and power as an organised group than as individuals. You know the saying, "united we stand, divided we fall". So this morning we had the second meeting here in the hotel. We came to some agreements and we are first going to work toward organising a website with information about all there is to do and see in this area, the area being the Serrania de Ronda and then the Genal Valley more specifically. There is also a consultant on hand who is working for the Junta de Andalucia whose advice and guidance we are seeking. His mandate with the junta is to promote cultural and tourism related activities and events in the region. Let's see where this will take us.
Business has been slow as usual. We had a three rooms last weekend including one drop-in which is always nice. We had no one for lunch on Saturday but our clients all had some dinner; Sunday was a better for lunch and we had another room arrive that day and so they also had dinner. We had a client come for lunch who has asked us to do some catering for her job in May when they are hosting some Europeans from out of Spain for a workshop. Alicia works in a language school in Ronda and Ivan made her wedding cake last year as well as her new husband's last birthday cake. She is a devoted client of ours and she thought of us when this event came up at her job. So we are going into Ronda tomorrow morning to look at the facilities to see what we can do for them.
I've been taking a few bookings these last few days for Semana Santa and Easter as well as May and June. I also had an email from Maggie about her painting workshop in October; she wrote to inform me that it is just about full and she thinks she may be able to get a second workshop organised for a few days after in October. Very good news. I also contacted the other two artists Maggie introduced to me. One confirmed workshop dates for April 2008 and the other confirmed interest in his September 2007 workshop. Artescapes has also contacted me recently saying they have confirmed their September workshop so all good news.... if only we had some of this business now to help with the current stack of bills!!!
We also finally went to meet Guy Hunter-Watts, owner of a B&B on the road to Sevilla. He also puts out a book about small places to stay in Andalucia and I want to try to get an entry in his next published guide. He was very pleasant and told us he would put us in his diary for the next time he is going to do a round of visits, after the summer. He has a beautiful home next to his B&B; he also told us his B&B will be changed into a rental property as he and his partner are now going to start travelling.... what a nice idea that is!! I'd like to do that myself some day, travel around, review hotels for a travel company or guide book.
We also finally went on one of the walks in the valley after being here for 2.5 years. We took the dogs and went on this walk from Juzcar to Cartajima down through the valley and then up to Cartajima. It was really very nice and one sees such a different perspective of things when one is walking on a dirt track down in the valley.
The weather has cooled off since the beginning of the month. It's been cloudy with no rain and cool to cold in the evenings, a turn I did not expect to see again but do appreciate as when it gets hot here, it's darn hot! We have sun today but the air is cool so relatively comfortable actually.
Tomorrow we have a group of lads coming from London for a stag weekend. The groom is a friend and former colleague of Ivan's. He and his fiance have invited us to the wedding in September but I doubt we can attend because the airfare is so expensive. Anyway, he wanted us to come to the Stag Event but understood we have a business to run so he opted for bringing the lads to us. They have nearly filled the hotel which is good and will be here for 3 nights. Rob tried to get them to have a day in the countryside undertaking one of the out activities but they would not have it... they only want to drink and hang! Ivan and company (as at least 3 of the lads including the groom are chefs) will be preparing roasted suckling pig for dinner on Saturday.
Well, this is a good entry for now. Must dash.
This morning, we had the second meeting of the people interested in promoting the Genal Valley and the Serrania de Ronda. Basically owners and service providers of one sort or another including artists. We had the first meeting last week at a place called Finca Algaba which is located off of the A369 near Ronda. This finca has been open for a year but not many people in the area actually know much about the place. Goes to the heart of the problem we have here in the area, little to no publicity, even to those of us that live here.
Anyway, Finca Algaba has a program in place where people can go and stay on the finca in a primitive surrounding to ascertain how people from long ago survived, growing their own fruit and veg, living in a primitive village that was purpose built on the finca. They are also open for other activities and have live stock wondering around the property.
We all met there to determine if we, as a group, were interested in working together to further our own businesses and interests together. There is definitely more influence and power as an organised group than as individuals. You know the saying, "united we stand, divided we fall". So this morning we had the second meeting here in the hotel. We came to some agreements and we are first going to work toward organising a website with information about all there is to do and see in this area, the area being the Serrania de Ronda and then the Genal Valley more specifically. There is also a consultant on hand who is working for the Junta de Andalucia whose advice and guidance we are seeking. His mandate with the junta is to promote cultural and tourism related activities and events in the region. Let's see where this will take us.
Business has been slow as usual. We had a three rooms last weekend including one drop-in which is always nice. We had no one for lunch on Saturday but our clients all had some dinner; Sunday was a better for lunch and we had another room arrive that day and so they also had dinner. We had a client come for lunch who has asked us to do some catering for her job in May when they are hosting some Europeans from out of Spain for a workshop. Alicia works in a language school in Ronda and Ivan made her wedding cake last year as well as her new husband's last birthday cake. She is a devoted client of ours and she thought of us when this event came up at her job. So we are going into Ronda tomorrow morning to look at the facilities to see what we can do for them.
I've been taking a few bookings these last few days for Semana Santa and Easter as well as May and June. I also had an email from Maggie about her painting workshop in October; she wrote to inform me that it is just about full and she thinks she may be able to get a second workshop organised for a few days after in October. Very good news. I also contacted the other two artists Maggie introduced to me. One confirmed workshop dates for April 2008 and the other confirmed interest in his September 2007 workshop. Artescapes has also contacted me recently saying they have confirmed their September workshop so all good news.... if only we had some of this business now to help with the current stack of bills!!!
We also finally went to meet Guy Hunter-Watts, owner of a B&B on the road to Sevilla. He also puts out a book about small places to stay in Andalucia and I want to try to get an entry in his next published guide. He was very pleasant and told us he would put us in his diary for the next time he is going to do a round of visits, after the summer. He has a beautiful home next to his B&B; he also told us his B&B will be changed into a rental property as he and his partner are now going to start travelling.... what a nice idea that is!! I'd like to do that myself some day, travel around, review hotels for a travel company or guide book.
We also finally went on one of the walks in the valley after being here for 2.5 years. We took the dogs and went on this walk from Juzcar to Cartajima down through the valley and then up to Cartajima. It was really very nice and one sees such a different perspective of things when one is walking on a dirt track down in the valley.
The weather has cooled off since the beginning of the month. It's been cloudy with no rain and cool to cold in the evenings, a turn I did not expect to see again but do appreciate as when it gets hot here, it's darn hot! We have sun today but the air is cool so relatively comfortable actually.
Tomorrow we have a group of lads coming from London for a stag weekend. The groom is a friend and former colleague of Ivan's. He and his fiance have invited us to the wedding in September but I doubt we can attend because the airfare is so expensive. Anyway, he wanted us to come to the Stag Event but understood we have a business to run so he opted for bringing the lads to us. They have nearly filled the hotel which is good and will be here for 3 nights. Rob tried to get them to have a day in the countryside undertaking one of the out activities but they would not have it... they only want to drink and hang! Ivan and company (as at least 3 of the lads including the groom are chefs) will be preparing roasted suckling pig for dinner on Saturday.
Well, this is a good entry for now. Must dash.
Saturday, 3 March 2007
03 March - Another gorgeous day in Juzcar... too gorgeous for a normal 3rd of March. It truly feels like May already, well during the day as it was cool last night but even so not cold.
We had a group of 14 for lunch today. The arrived in their classic cars at about 2.30. They all enjoyed their lunch very much. They had last been here before we arrived and were sorely disappointed. When one of them saw the placed had changed hands via our website, they decided to give it a go and see if there was an improvement. They were very happy indeed.
We also had a few other tables for lunch so the bar and terrace were busy today. It was good day although there was another booking for lunch for a group of 13 that did not turn up nor cancel. Slightly annoying but, I ask you, watyagonnado?
I bought some flowers yesterday as it is definitely time to make sure the terraces look good. There were a few geraniums that did not make it from last summer so they were replaced as were the marigolds on the bar terrace. On Monday, we will be reinstalling the shade covering on the terrace as the sun is already that warm. The three guys that had lunch on the terrace today were in the shade of umbrellas without shirts.
Ivan made a delicious new treat, ravioli de pina colada, a ravioli made from fresh pineapple filled with pina colada flavoured mascarpone... very yummy. I took some photos of it this morning and it will be shortly featured in our menu page of the website.
There is a full lunar eclipse here tonight around midnight or so. We plan to observe that... the moon is quite full at the moment and with a cloudless sky, perfect for viewing.
I've got clients waiting for me to bring them extra pillows and pine cones to start a fire (cosy in the room a tonight this way, still) so I'm off. Ciao.
We had a group of 14 for lunch today. The arrived in their classic cars at about 2.30. They all enjoyed their lunch very much. They had last been here before we arrived and were sorely disappointed. When one of them saw the placed had changed hands via our website, they decided to give it a go and see if there was an improvement. They were very happy indeed.
We also had a few other tables for lunch so the bar and terrace were busy today. It was good day although there was another booking for lunch for a group of 13 that did not turn up nor cancel. Slightly annoying but, I ask you, watyagonnado?
I bought some flowers yesterday as it is definitely time to make sure the terraces look good. There were a few geraniums that did not make it from last summer so they were replaced as were the marigolds on the bar terrace. On Monday, we will be reinstalling the shade covering on the terrace as the sun is already that warm. The three guys that had lunch on the terrace today were in the shade of umbrellas without shirts.
Ivan made a delicious new treat, ravioli de pina colada, a ravioli made from fresh pineapple filled with pina colada flavoured mascarpone... very yummy. I took some photos of it this morning and it will be shortly featured in our menu page of the website.
There is a full lunar eclipse here tonight around midnight or so. We plan to observe that... the moon is quite full at the moment and with a cloudless sky, perfect for viewing.
I've got clients waiting for me to bring them extra pillows and pine cones to start a fire (cosy in the room a tonight this way, still) so I'm off. Ciao.
Thursday, 1 March 2007
01 March
AS I mentioned in my last post, I get these fraudulent emails.... here's an example of one received today:
On 01/03/2007 19:37:58, George Clark (george01clark@yahoo.co.uk) wrote:
Dear Sir/Madam
I want to make a reservation in your rooms for 6 delegates.
So we would need an accomodation from the 9th of April to 14th April 2007.
If the rooms are available do calculate and get back to me the total cost for 6 single or 3 double rooms including breakfast and tax. Awaiting your response. Regards, Dr.George Clark Phone +44-702-401-3213
SO I ask, is this a real person? Is that a real UK telephone number? The word "urgent" was omitted in this text showing that maybe someone is editing it and perhaps even thinking.
Yesterday, I received the following email:
"----- Original Message -----
From: "paul girlings" paul4girlings@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 11:55 PM
Subject: booking enquiry!!!
Hello there I want to make reservation for i and my 14yrs old daughter that would be coming to your country on vacation i would need just a room for 2weeks starting from the 4th of May to the 18th of May 2007,get back to me ASAP with the total cost in EURO so that reservation can be made...i hope you accept credit card as a
means of payment... PAUL +447045702971 "
ONCE again, it has that format that appears suspicious to me. I responded to this one as if it were a real booking query but, I mentioned that we do not accept advanced payments in any form and credit cards are only charged in the event of a cancellation in accordance with our cancellation policy. Naturally I have not heard back from.... "Paul".
TODAY was another gorgeous day here in Juzcar. When I drove into Ronda this morning, it became very foggy by Parauta and all the way into Ronda. By the time I returned, the sun had come out but it was still nicer here in Juzcar. I did a lot of shopping today, buying some chicken filets, cheese which we ran out of and I forgot to buy last week, dog food (not for clients of course, hehe) and a few other things. I forgot to buy legs of lamb, something we should always have on the menu as it is a favorite of our diners.
WE had a few people for lunch today as well. Yesterday, Andalucia Day, we had a few for lunch as well... not a cracking business that we hoped for but something more than a normal Wednesday nevertheless. Today we had two parties of clients drop in unexpectedly, one from Cadiz, the other from San Pedro. The ladies from San Pero have been before for lunch and said they are recommending us to all their friends as the food here is really quite good. The other couple from Cadiz drove up to have some lunch and say hello. They stayed in the hotel back in December along with their 3 year old daughter.
I also found out today that the meeting with the UK consultant is on for sure next Tuesday. I am now awaiting the agenda to see what we're discussing exactly.
More later.
Hasta la proxima!
AS I mentioned in my last post, I get these fraudulent emails.... here's an example of one received today:
On 01/03/2007 19:37:58, George Clark (george01clark@yahoo.co.uk) wrote:
Dear Sir/Madam
I want to make a reservation in your rooms for 6 delegates.
So we would need an accomodation from the 9th of April to 14th April 2007.
If the rooms are available do calculate and get back to me the total cost for 6 single or 3 double rooms including breakfast and tax. Awaiting your response. Regards, Dr.George Clark Phone +44-702-401-3213
SO I ask, is this a real person? Is that a real UK telephone number? The word "urgent" was omitted in this text showing that maybe someone is editing it and perhaps even thinking.
Yesterday, I received the following email:
"----- Original Message -----
From: "paul girlings" paul4girlings@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 11:55 PM
Subject: booking enquiry!!!
Hello there I want to make reservation for i and my 14yrs old daughter that would be coming to your country on vacation i would need just a room for 2weeks starting from the 4th of May to the 18th of May 2007,get back to me ASAP with the total cost in EURO so that reservation can be made...i hope you accept credit card as a
means of payment... PAUL +447045702971 "
ONCE again, it has that format that appears suspicious to me. I responded to this one as if it were a real booking query but, I mentioned that we do not accept advanced payments in any form and credit cards are only charged in the event of a cancellation in accordance with our cancellation policy. Naturally I have not heard back from.... "Paul".
TODAY was another gorgeous day here in Juzcar. When I drove into Ronda this morning, it became very foggy by Parauta and all the way into Ronda. By the time I returned, the sun had come out but it was still nicer here in Juzcar. I did a lot of shopping today, buying some chicken filets, cheese which we ran out of and I forgot to buy last week, dog food (not for clients of course, hehe) and a few other things. I forgot to buy legs of lamb, something we should always have on the menu as it is a favorite of our diners.
WE had a few people for lunch today as well. Yesterday, Andalucia Day, we had a few for lunch as well... not a cracking business that we hoped for but something more than a normal Wednesday nevertheless. Today we had two parties of clients drop in unexpectedly, one from Cadiz, the other from San Pedro. The ladies from San Pero have been before for lunch and said they are recommending us to all their friends as the food here is really quite good. The other couple from Cadiz drove up to have some lunch and say hello. They stayed in the hotel back in December along with their 3 year old daughter.
I also found out today that the meeting with the UK consultant is on for sure next Tuesday. I am now awaiting the agenda to see what we're discussing exactly.
More later.
Hasta la proxima!
David
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