Esther Baldwin, front office manager at Trabolgan Holiday Village in Cork, in conversation with
SANDRA O'CONNELL
I’M AN EARLY bird, up at 7am to help drop my grandchildren to school. Usually I’m at work by about 8am, and the office opens half an hour later.
First up is to check any end-of-day items left over from the day before and to see what bookings have come in overnight online. About 30 per cent of our bookings are made online. Sometimes you’d wonder at the hour people make their bookings, but I presume it’s people coming in after a late shift.
For the most part people like to talk on the phone first, to find out about the place and what’s available. The most common query we get is about the houses – how many they sleep and what is provided.
About 80 per cent of our business is with repeat customers, however, which is a good sign. We must be doing something right. It also means you get to know the names and recognise faces when they arrive at the desk.
There are 10 of us in the office, reduced to four in winter. I’m here all year round, but we close to the public at the beginning of November.
We open on March 26th, and I much prefer when we have people around. They’re on their holidays, so there’s a great atmosphere, and the days are longer and the grounds are at their best.
In wintertime I’m kept busy updating the website, organising brochures and flyers and working on group or day-visitor promotions.
The Blue Coats, our entertainments team, come in before the season starts to prepare for their promotional road show, but really we’re all waiting for when the guests come back, because that’s the part we like most.
In the afternoon I’ll be working on administrative items such as making out rotas and time sheets. We have staff meetings regularly, to see how we’re doing with bookings and to figure out what we can do to improve them. This year bookings are up 10 per cent on the same time last year, which is great. It’s our 25th anniversary this year, and we’ve some great discounts to celebrate it, so I think that’s been a factor. I expect more people will be holidaying at home this year.
I work five out of seven days. I started eight years ago and still love it. I think it keeps me young, meeting the guests and the camaraderie of the office. It’s a nice place to work.