sawday's member magazine: issue 1

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Meet CharlOtte

Our new Head of Membership tells you a

bit about herself and her role

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The owners of Strattons, one of the greenest hotels in the UK, share their secrets on running an eco-friendly hotel

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share their secrets on running an eco-friendly hotel

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Your QuestIonsWe answer your queries on how to market your places – and much more

More GuestS!Boost bookings and get the most from your membership p10 PROMOTE YOURSELFBADGE OF HONOUR

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Membership tells you a

M E M B E R M A G A Z I N E

S P R I N G 2 0 1 4 | I S S U E 1


S P R I N G 2 0 1 4 | I S S U E 1

SAW01b.UK_cover_v10ian.indd 16 22/03/2014 10:32 am

We just have to publish this mini-magazine! We have so much to

say about the 5,000 owners who nourish us and whom we, in our turn, seek to nourish. We illuminate different aspects of our work. We have practical tips, people to introduce and ideas to play with. Let us know if you think we are on to something.

Alastair SawdayFounder

Toby SawdayManaging Director

www.sawdays.co.uk

Meet the Sawday’s teamFOUNDER Alastair Sawday

MANAGING DIRECTOR Toby Sawday Twitter: @tsawday

DIRECTOR Chris Thurling [email protected]

HEAD OF MEMBERSHIP Charlotte [email protected]

PR & PRESS MANAGER Emily [email protected]

EDITORRachel [email protected]

Contributors Nicola Crosse, Lianka Varga, Will Wellesley-Davies. Thanks to TIB Design

Contact Sawday’sAlastair Sawday Publishing Co. Ltd Merchant’s House, Wapping Road, Bristol BS1 4RW+44 (0) 1172 047 810

JOIN US ON FACEBOOKwww.facebook.com/Sawdays

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER@sawdays

© Alastair Sawday Publishing Co. Ltd 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. Alastair Sawday Publishing Co. Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales. Registered number: 2812527.

Printed by Park Lane Press on FSC certifi ed paper, using fully sustainable vegetable oil-based inks, power from 100% renewable resources and waterless printing technology. Print production systems registered to ISO 14001:2004, ISO 9001:2008 and EMAS standards. All site emissions are offset through The Rainforest Concern Charity via their Forest Credits scheme, and over 95% of waste is recycled.


Welcome... to our first issue!

2

SAW01b.UK_02_03_v08ian.indd 2 22/03/2014 10:51 am

What do you do?I am Head of Membership, which involves doing all I can, with the help and support of the team, to ensure that members have the best possible experience with us.

What do you love most about your job?There are so many things. Primarily I love the people at Sawday’s. Everyone is kind, generous, good fun and all have interesting stories to tell. No two days are the same and as with many small companies you often have to fi nd creative solutions to problems. There is a unique culture at Sawday’s where individuality is encouraged. This is really refreshing for me, having come from more homogenous and hierarchical corporations.

Current book?Secrets of the Baby Whisperer - a desperate attempt to learn how to get my seven-month-old baby to sleep through the night!

For work, I’ve been reading a case study of Zappos, a retailer which has transformed the idea of customer service.

What are you listening to at the moment?Motherhood does indeed change you – I’ve switched from Radio Four to Radio Two as, with the sleepless nights, I no longer have the brain power to concentrate on R4 during my commute!

Music-wise I have horrendous taste but have recently listened to a lot of Pharrell Williams which I think is reasonably respectable so let’s not delve into my more embarrassing collections.

Best holiday?Probably Costa Rica in 2008. My husband and I spent three weeks travelling from one side of the country to the other. We walked, cycled, white-water rafted and kayaked. It was one of the toughest things I’ve done (Costa Rica is a hilly country) but it was rewarding and the generosity of the locals was amazing.

Worst holiday?Gambia would probably be one of the worst – our plane was struck by lightning, so we arrived really late and found our hotel room

infested with cockroaches. That said, the country is stunning and we had some amazing experiences – including the freshest fi sh dish I’ve ever eaten.

What’s on your to-do list right now? Improving the service we offer to members, and as part of that, really understanding what it is our members want.

I’m looking at the membership application process to make this faster and smoother while also looking at how we can reward our longstanding loyal members.

I’m also working with our IT team to improve our systems. This sounds less exciting but it will free up the team’s time to spend more time helping all of you.

Describe yourself in three wordsBadly missing sleep!

Please drop Charlotte an email with any queries you may have. Contact her on [email protected]

Say hello to...

Our Head of Membership tells us a bit about herself and how her role at Sawday’s centres on

improving the member experience

CharlOtte Murphy

3


Q What do guests search for on the Sawday’s website?

A Guests mainly search for countries and regions. This is probably not a

surprise as our website search prompts guests to search for location. We added this prompt after fi nding out that guests were trying to search for regions on the old site, so we made it a prominent focus when we redesigned.

Answered by:Paul Nattress, User Experience Designer

Q Which countries and regions do guests search for?

A We have over a million searches a year and looking at the top of this

list doesn’t show the full picture, as search is varied. Searches cover nearly 200,000 different terms, and most people look for locations rather than property names.

At the top of the search term list are a couple of countries and then

British counties. Most of our website visitors are British so it’s perhaps not surprising that they search at the county level in Britain and country level abroad.

The bias is to popular coastal counties and regions in England (Cornwall, the Cotswolds and so on). Mixed in with these are countries which we cover outside of Britain, along with a few cities and towns.

Your questions answered

We hold many member gatherings and thought it would be useful to share the most frequently asked questions. Email us at [email protected] if you have a question you would like to see answered in the next issue

Member QuestIons

Our website search engine is very powerful and works extremely well for those who land on the site wanting to fi nd a Special Place in a certain location.

“Searches cover nearly 200,000 different terms, and most people search for locations, not property names” Answered by:

Paul Nattress, User Experience Designer

4


Q How can members make payments currently? Are

there plans for making the process easier?

A We are currently set up to take payment of membership fees by bank

transfer, on credit or debit cards in sterling or by cheque. We are working hard to make the payment process easier, for example being able to offer online payments or card payments in Euros.

Answered by: Amy Emeny,Management Accountant

Q How can guests submit feedback to the website

about my Special Place?

A Guests submit feedback through our website and give their permission for

publishing. We only publish positive feedback, and to keep things up to date, we let it stay online for a maximum of two years. If guests submit negative feedback, we pick up the phone and talk to you about it – there’s always another side to the story!

Answered by:Nicola Crosse, Membership team

Guests can click an orange tab on the left of the web page to leave feedback about a Special Place.

Pictured here is a member gathering last Autumn in Italy. Toby and Alastair made a whistlestop tour of many Italian regions and met lots of our members in the process.

A We try to spread these out throughout the year, across different parts of

each country. It’s usually a good chance to get to meet some folk from Sawday’s, hear about developments, ask questions, and most importantly meet fellow members. This year we are having more member gatherings than

ever, so we hope to meet you soon. If you haven’t done so before, and would like to host a gathering, do let us know.

Please contact me on [email protected].

Answered by:Nicola Crosse, Membership team

Q How do I hear about forthcoming member gatherings?

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5

MEMBER QUESTIONS


A The simplest way to make your Special Place stand out is through good

photography. Pictures should show the exterior of your place, ideally at different times of year, plus a selection of interior shots which show as many of the rooms as possible. A bedroom shot is essential but try and also show the other rooms, like the bathroom, kitchen, communal areas, restaurants and gardens – you want to give a real feel for your place. You can now show up to 20 photos in your Sawday’s gallery, and the best-performing places are making the most of this.

Our PR and marketing activity is often linked to collections or

themes. We aim to give our Sawday’s guests good ideas throughout the year, and we try to follow the holiday calendar, along with media and consumer trends.

If you have suggestions of collections you’d like to see featured, please do send them through to [email protected]. We are always thinking of new angles with which to approach the media too, so keep us posted with major developments at your special place, packages you are running and things you are doing which might make a good story.

Q How can members boost their number of

off-season bookings?

A Look at promotions and special offers you can run or take part in. Sawday’s

has teamed up with partners like The Guardian, The Times and MyWaitrose in recent years to run off-season promotions which have been very successful.

There are also opportunities to run your own special offers through our website or directly with your own database of guests. If you’re not keen on discounting, you can look at adding value. Perhaps include meals with your rate, or team up with other local businesses like restaurants, food suppliers or places to visit?

Promotions like this in The Times have proved to be very popular with Sawday’s guests. You can easily set up a special offer on your Sawday’s web page by going to the Member Area.

Q How can we make our place really stand out? How can we maximise

our chances of getting involved in marketing and PR activity?

High-qu� i� pho� s � e impor� nt in

� � c� ng gu� � � y r p� � .

Answered by:Lauren Amos, Marketing Manager

Answered by:Emily Enright, Press and PR Manager

6

MEMBER QUESTIONS


Discounts for membersTake advantage of these special offers for Sawday’s members –

from travel books and toiletries to eco cleaning products

SploshSplosh is the great new way to buy your home cleaning, laundry and health and beauty essentials. Their products come as concentrate sachets which dissolve when you add tap water to create their products. It’s a very simple system, as well as being great value and miles better for the environment. Think of the plastic waste saved by moving from recycling to refi lling!

Splosh is offering £5 off any of its starter boxes - which contain bottles and concentrate sachets to get you going. Just pop along to Splosh.com and use the code SAWDAYS at the checkout.

Sawday’s booksFancy yourself as a bit of a bookseller? Many of our members do well selling books to guests, and as a Sawday’s member you get a whopping 65% discount on all our book titles.

Sawday’s booksFancy yourself as a bit of a bookseller? Many of our members do well selling books to guests, and as a Sawday’s member you get a whopping 65% discount on all our book titles.

Visit www.sawdays.co.uk/bookshop to see all our books and call us on +44 (0)117 204 7840 to order.

Smallprint: Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer. Offer only valid on bulk orders and not

retail or mail orders. Discount is offered on our standard price list. Excludes delivery.

Smallprint: The promotion runs until 1st June, is only available to new customers and can’t be used in

conjunction with any other offers.

15% off

£5 off

65% off

The Bramley bath and body collection consists of nine citrus-based products. The range contains the highest grade pure essential oils, 100% natural botanicals and rich cocoa and shea butters. Products contain no parabens, petrochemicals, sulphates, artifi cial colours or fragrances. Handmade in South West England, the products wholesale in fi ve-litre containers with refi llable 250ml bottles. www.bramleyproducts.co.uk.

Bramley

Bramley is offering 15% off all bulk orders placed before 1st July 2014. Please email [email protected] for details, quoting Sawdays14.

7

SAW01b.UK_07_v05ian.indd 7 22/03/2014 10:47 am

VANESSA AND LES Scott own a wonderful green hotel called Strattons in Norfolk. We caught up with them to get a feel for the place and learn some practical ways to run a sustainable business while maintaining style and quality.

“It was a natural thing to bring the environment to our business model at Stratton’s Hotel which we opened in 1990,” says Vanessa. “We were the fi rst hotel in the UK in 2000 to win the DTI’s Queen’s Award for Outstanding Environmental Performance.”

One of the things of which the couple feel most proud is that their success helps dispel the myth that quality is somehow sacrifi ced for environmental considerations. The Green policy informs all the Scotts’ business decisions at Strattons Hotel.

Go green!

The owners of one of the greenest hotels in the UK, Strattons in Norfolk, share their experiences and expertise in running an eco-friendly hotel

10 Secrets to Running an eco-Friendly Business10 Secrets to Running

There’s nowhere quite like Strattons, a country-house bolthole that doubles as a contemporary art gallery. It’s also one of Britain’s greenest hotels (arrive by public transport and pay 10% less for your room), so substance and style go hand in hand: cowhide rugs on stripped wood fl oors, busts and murals by the dozen, art packed tight on the walls. Les and Vanessa met at art school and their Queen Anne villa overfl ows with beautiful things. Bedrooms are exquisite: a carved four-poster, a tented bathroom, Indian brocade, trompe l’œil panelling. You’ll fi nd vintage wallpaper, sofas by a log fi re, new suites and apartments that spoil you rotten. Wonderful food in the candlelit restaurant is mostly organic,

Here’s what Sawday’s says about Strattons: the owners Vanessa and Les Scott

the property❖ Strattons, 4 Ash Close, Swaffham,

PE7 7NH, Norfolk❖ +44 (0)1760 723845❖ www.strattonshotel.com

Sleeping❖ 12 rooms and 2 apartments

Here’s what Sawday’s says about Strattons:

8


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1Write a policy addressing your actions as owners, staff, guests and suppliers. Refer to the

Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) for a framework. Stepping outside the business to do this is very benefi cial, a cathartic moment!

2 Join the GTBS. It’s the best model we’ve come across and the scheme is very proactive.

3 Audit your outputs to target reduction. It’s not diffi cult; it just needs to become a

cultural thing in your business.

4Write a letter to all your suppliers explaining your stance on the environment.

Ask for their co-operation to reduce waste outputs. Before doing business with a supplier, be clear about your environmental views and specify before trading the terms you are seeking (e.g. taking back boxes).

5 Create inspiring stories from your audits and turn them into press stories to inform

your guests and the local community about your work. We removed coffee

grounds from our organic waste stream, dried them and re-packaged into the original triple alliance bags and handed them out free for use on the garden as a fertiliser and mollusc deterrent. By auditing quantities we were able to state that we removed 331kgs in one year from our composting stream.

6 Involve your staff, empower them and use their creativity. The coffee grounds idea came

from our restaurant manager and she pushed it to the limit, getting buy-in from the town allotments and triggering the collection of coffee grounds from all the town coffee shops, including Costa. The story went national.

7 Challenge norms and be prepared for grumbles but learn positive ways to overcome

issues. We use apple juice from a fruit farm at Ashill just outside Swaffham, and we believe it is the best quality juice we can serve, but we have to deal with the perception that orange juice ought to be served. We make a difference to the fi nancial sustainability of local suppliers when

we support them and we also create a unique visitor experience.

8 Start a food festival. We spearheaded the fi rst Brecks Food Festival in 2010 which

went on to win national recognition in an Action for Market Towns award. Over 10,000 people visited the Farmers’ Market alone in a town with a population of 7,000. Local people loved it and spent the whole day in the market place in town.

9 Use your data to create bespoke recycling messages for your guests. For towel

messages we include water recycling initiatives, like the annual rainwater collection from the fi ve underground tanks we have installed in the grounds. We also explain how we’ve used that water to avoid calling on mains water.

10 Take part in the conversations that impact on you, your

stakeholders and the local community; don’t bury your head or leave it to others. Great things can happen at a local level if enough people care.

9

ECO SECRETS


Seven sure-fi re ways to get every ounce of value from your Sawday’s membership, from get-togethers to special offers and more

Shout it outPut our logo everywhere. Sawday’s is a badge of honour, so shout about it. If you don’t have it, you can download the logo from the Member Area of the website.

Tourist informationAdd points of interest. Think about what you look for when booking a holiday - do you like lots of information about the property and local area before you book? Fill your page with as much colour, personality and detail as you can.

Get togetherHost a member gathering or come along to one in your region. Meet

fellow Sawday’s members and learn from each other. In our experience, there is always a lot to say and the tea dries up well before the conversation! The owners of Little Comfort Farm in Devon recently hosted a member

gathering and had this to say about the experience: “Meeting other people working in the same business as us is something we really enjoy and we always learn so much. As we chatted we all tucked in to homemade highlander biscuits, beetroot brownies and tea bread, not to forget our scones, cream and jam.”

Send us your storiesWe may well use your stories in our new guest magazine or as part of our social media marketing (on our blog, Facebook page or Twitter stream). Whether it’s tales of your renovation, information to pass on about eco credentials, or just to share a recipe that always goes down well with your guests, we would love to hear from you and we’ll pass it on to others.

7 quick ways to...

get the Most out of Your MembeRship

Put this lovely image on all your literature. You have been inspected and selected, so tell everyone!

Get togetherHost a member gathering or come along to one in your region. Meet

Send us your storiesWe may well use your stories in

Member Area of the website.

information

Shout it outPut our logo everywhere. Sawday’s is a badge of honour, so shout about it. If you don’t have it, you

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“Send us your stories for use in our social media marketing (our blog, Facebook page or Twitter)”

More for lessUse special offers when it gets quiet. We know you can attract up to four times as many enquiries in a month with a special offer. There are instructions on how to do this in the Member Area on the website. We also have a special offers newsletter.

Keep in touchTalk to us. We love to hear from you. If you think there’s a problem we can help you with, please give us a call. Contact Charlotte Murphy, Head of Membership, in the fi rst instance on +44 (0)117 204 7810.

Share your tipsWe’d love to hear how you make the most of being part of Sawday’s. Email your tips to [email protected].

Snap happyOur research shows that great photos make all the difference. And lots of them (up to 20). Not only do good pictures pique the initial interest of holidaymakers but they also push people into clicking through for more information. In addition to this we know that places with good, high-resolution photos will get chosen to be featured in newspapers and magazines.

Upload your photos via the Member Area on the website (it is a simple process, we promise) and decide on the order in which they appear.

Use special offers when it gets quiet. We know you can attract up

Talk to us. We love to hear from you. If you think there’s a problem we can help you with, please give

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SAWDAY’S MEMBERSHIP TIPS


Meet Nicole Franchini

Here is Nicole Franchini, our new addition to the Italy team. She’s a lady who travels the length and breadth of Italy meeting our

existing members, and fi nding new, wonderful places for us to inspect and select. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it…

our Lady in Italy

What do you do for Sawday’s?I seek out extraordinary places to stay for the Sawday’s collection and coordinate everything else in Italy, while developing specifi c marketing strategies to reinforce the brand in Italy.

Where do you live in Italy? Roma, although weekends are spent at our country house in Sabina, one hour from the city, among the olive trees.

How long have you worked for Sawday’s in Italy?Nearly a year, but in the Italian tourism sector for the past 25 years as a writer, travel agency owner, hotel marketing consultant and traveller.

Where are you from? Chicago.

How did you end up living in Italy?In my heart I always knew my path would lead me to Europe, having studied in Paris at the Sorbonne and having been raised in a

bilingual, bi-cultural family with a purebred Roman father. Italy won out.

How many Sawday’s places are there in Italy?500 – all gorgeous.

What do you love about your job?What’s not to love about exploring the back roads of this country, knocking on people’s doors, snooping in their homes, to then be invited to pull up a chair for freshly made pasta, organic products from their land, and divine local wine? I adore people.

“I always knew my path would lead me to Europe, having studied in Paris at the Sorbonne”


Describe your working dayI spend many hours in front of the computer and on the telephone listening to our Members and channelling all of this beauty into a solid business scheme.

What do you like most about Sawday’s and its places to stay?The Sawday’s ‘green, small, and quirky’ philosophy was ahead of its time, so today we have a refi ned product compatible with what many travellers are seeking; a carefully selected group of interesting places to stay, whose inherent qualities of being unusual and hosted by engaging people who love what they do, really show. The mix of types of places is what makes Sawday’s special. No two places are alike.

Top tips for happy guests?Happy guests are those who settle into a Sawday’s place and absorb the general local mood, depending on their hosts for the best suggestions on where the most authentic osteria serves a typical meal, what the current

town festivals offer, and how to reach the hidden art treasures in the area. Insider information built right into the guests’ stay.

What are the most frequent queries at Member Gatherings in Italy?Members wonder how Sawday’s is keeping up with the fast pace of the digital world and how they can defend themselves against giants like Booking.com and Trip Advisor when what most guests value is personality. They also want to know how to improve their page so as to attract more guests.

Nicole’s Favourite Places in Italy❖ Vicenza is a civilised and elegant city. A highlight of

any visit is the Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico, a jewel.❖ Monte Conero is the most scenic point on the

Adriatic coast with the hilltop town of Sirolo.❖ Argentario This is the most beautiful point on the

Tyrrhenian Sea (after the Amalfi coast). It is a mountainous promontory with two ports, Porto Ercole and Porto Santo Stefano at a stone’s throw from the magical islands of Giglio and Giannutri. All this backed with unspoiled Maremma countryside.

❖ Ponza Island is a top summer resort of the Romans: colourful block houses spilling down to the port, secret rocky coves, turquoise waters.

❖ Lecce Puglia’s recently rediscovered Baroque masterpiece (see picture below).

❖ Modica Southern Sicily’s perfectly preserved Rococco splendour.

Baroque Lecce lies in the south of Italy, near Bari. It is one of Nicole’s favourite Italian destinations.Baroque Lecce lies in the south of Italy, near Bari.

Ni� � lo� s � � fe in I� �


2 Click on the small wheel icon in the top right-hand corner of the Facebook page once you have logged in.

From the dropdown list click Create Page and choose from the grid which kind of page you want to make.

Getting Started

1 You will now be taken through various steps to build your new page. Firstly add a category, then add your

property name, address and telephone number. Read and tick the T&Cs box and click Get Started.

2 Now it’s time to upload a profi le picture so browse your hard drive to select a good one of your place

(it’s best to choose a picture of a detail rather than a larger landscape here). Upload and press Next.

Adding the Detail

How to...

set up a Facebook Page for Your Special Place

1 To create a Page for your Special Place, you need to have a Facebook account. Go to www.facebook.com

and click the Sign Up button near the Facebook logo. Enter the required information and press Sign Up.

14


Building an on-line community to reach more guests has been transformed by Facebook. Many of our members fi nd that it’s a great way to communicate and reach new groups of guests. Our beginners’ walkthrough shows you how to create a Facebook page and gives you basic tips on posting status updates and atrracting a bigger audience

3 Click Local Business or Place from the options and fi ll in the details required. Choose a category which

most applies to your business and give a description (remember to mention your Sawday’s accreditation here).

Useful User Tips

3 Agree to add your new page to your Favourites. This means that when you are logged in to your Facebook

account, you will be able to access your Page easily. It will appear on the left-hand panel of your screen.

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Status updates At the top of your page, you will see this: “You are posting, commenting and liking as [your Special Place’s name] - change to [your name]”. Check it’s correct before you upload a status update, otherwise you could end up posting information about your business on your personal page or vice versa.

Show yourself offUpload a lovely Cover Image. This photo will feature at the top of your page so a wide image with landscape orientation is best.

Like me, please!If you already have a personal Facebook account, you can invite all your Friends to Like your new page by typing their names into the box and pressing Invite. The more Likes you have the bigger your audience.

We have put more tips on getting the best from Facebook on the

member area of our website

15

WALKTHROUGH


it’s a dog’s Life!Julia Naismith from Hollytree Cottage in

Laverton near Bath tells us about a recent winter’s day in Somerset...

NOBODY EXPECTED the recent fl ooding to come to the West Country. However, my bold guests turned up today, grateful for my offer of a cream tea in front of a blazing fi re. Then off they went to our local Mill Restaurant (more water!) for their evening meals. While enjoying breakfast the next morning, with a fi ne view of torrential rain from my patio windows, I ventured to provide them with the What’s On guide, hoping for the best after telling them that there had been a landslide on the road to the Park and Ride! Undaunted they set off and, while one or two returned early, hoping for another cup of tea, on the whole all guests had fun.

Coping with wet and muddy boots and shoes puts me in mind of another wet day recently when I had a soaking wet dog to deal with. I tell my guests about it over the cup of tea.

A couple arrived late in the evening with little time to get to the pub for their meal. “Is it alright about the dog?” they asked, as a large, smelly, wet, brown Labrador ambled in behind them. Not best pleased, I put on a brave face, gave them directions to the pub, and took the animal into the kitchen to dry off. I offered it water, and it knocked the bowl out of my hands!

At 11pm my guests came back and, while taking their breakfast order before they retired to their room, I enquired about the dog. ”What dog?” they replied. “The one you have brought with you,” I say, gritting my teeth. “It’s not our dog! It just followed us in when we arrived, so we thought it must be yours!”

Julia Naismith owns Hollytree Cottage outside Bath and has been running it as a B&B since retiring 14 years ago. She has been writing about her experiences as a landlady and compiling them in a book. “My guests over the years have provided me with plenty of material and I would love to hear from other Sawday’s members who have interesting stories to tell. A few years ago someone told me about the dogs who were seen worrying a furry something on the lawn, which turned out to be a guest’s toupé! It was rescued, washed and blow-dried, but when back on the guest’s head the following morning, no longer bore any resemblance to real hair!”

If you have any tales for the fi nal chapter of Julia’s

book, contact her on with your tales on

+44 (0)1373 830786

Members

Only

with you,” I say, gritting my teeth. “It’s not our dog! It just followed us “It’s not our dog! It just followed us in when we arrived, so we thought in when we arrived, so we thought it must be yours!”

+44 (0)1373 830786

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sawday's member magazine: issue 1

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