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Private Notes
The staff of the The Grosvenor in Torquay are introduced for the first time. There are problems when they stage a wedding for a young couple.
It is Mark's first summer season at The Grosvenor Hotel as manager. In an effort to try and improve the hotel's cash flow and to keep the guests happy he decides to start Party Night an event nobody will ever forget.
Temperatures and tempers are rising during the summer season at the hotel. Mark decides to try and improve morale by starting an Employee of the Month scheme. Christian and Patricia, along with Christian's three grandchildren - Alexander, Olivia and Louis - come to stay at the hotel.
Mark throws the hotel's first ever pool party, with a barbecue, cocktails, ice cream galore, and 'Dolphin Racing', where children ride on the back of inflatable dolphins while the guests bet money on the winner.
'Stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap' is Mark's business philosophy, and packing the Grosvenor with coach parties paying rock-bottom prices is helping to keep the hotel afloat.
'Most hotels would be happy to achieve 70% occupancy, but for us we would go out of business,' says Mark. But without a computer, his 'failsafe' old-school booking system of Tipp-Ex, paper and coloured pens comes a cropper and the hotel is now overbooked.
Romance is in the air as two loved-up couples check into the Grosvenor.
Single mum-of-four Jane fell in love with her children's babysitter, Mike; they arrive at the hotel on a whistle-stop tour of Devon, four days after getting married.
Terry and Arelene, who've been married for 47 years, are celebrating the honeymoon they never had by staying at the Grosvenor and are hoping to spice things up in the bridal suite.
Meanwhile, recently separated manager Mark has decided to re-open the hotel's nightclub; not in the hope of finding a new partner, but in an attempt to cash in.
'I would sell the hotel on three things: location, entertainment and food,' says Grosvenor manager Mark. He's come up with a plan to revamp his old restaurant, The Inn, and he wants his new 23-year-old chef, Jenna - whom he's promoted from housekeeping after finding out she is a qualified chef - to come up with a tantalising menu.
'This hotel has caused me a lot of problems. I've lost my home, my marriage and my car. I could put up with losing my home, I could just about put up with losing my wife, but I'm really upset I lost my Bentley.'
Now living in one of his hotel bedrooms and working round the clock to keep the Grosvenor ticking over, Mark thinks it's time he rewarded himself by getting back his pride and joy, his Bentley: same colour, same number plate, but this time bought on hire purchase. This time he's determined to keep the car, whatever happens.
It's Christmas at the Grosvenor! Things get off to a bad start when the bargain bin Christmas decorations fail to transform the hotel into the anticipated winter wonderland. 'Ideally we want them to go 'Ah, this is like Santa's grotto!'... but we can't afford it, so they'll have what they get,' says Mark.
