"Staff shortages" to blame for "chaotic" Christmas lunches at Thurcroft hotel

A HOTEL manager who came under fire with a string of Christmas party complaints insists changes have been made to avoid a repeat.
Jesus Rosales, manager of the Best Western Consort Hotel in ThurcroftJesus Rosales, manager of the Best Western Consort Hotel in Thurcroft
Jesus Rosales, manager of the Best Western Consort Hotel in Thurcroft

Jesus Rosales this week put the problems reported by dozens of pensioners with their festive celebrations at the Best Western Consort Hotel in Thurcroft down to staff shortages.

The Advertiser told two weeks ago how revellers had been left upset by the “chaos” at their senior Christmas lunches earlier this month.

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Pensioners waited hours to be served small portions, customers rolled up their sleeves to help serve and one party of 65 was told when they arrived that their booking had been cancelled.

Mr Rosales (37) said it had been a “learning week” and there had been “service issues” during three of the senior lunch functions, due to staff shortages.

He said: “My food was ready, my service was prepared, but due to these matters we could not perform properly.

“The hotel works perfectly except in these three functions.”

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Contingency plans had now been put in place, he said, which included hiring 15 new staff members who lived nearer to the hotel.

Staff now have to arrive 30 minutes before a function for a team briefing and customers are asked to fill in comment cards, Mr Rosales added.

Mr Rosales said the unhappy guests had been invited back for a complimentary party in January.

He said the “isolated cases” of customers collecting glasses and serving drinks were due to them being impatient and that some customers came “ready to look for more problems” after reading online reviews.

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Mr Rosales said that due to the bad reviews a party of 20 had wanted to cancel their Christmas Day booking but he had persuaded them not to and they had left a good review afterwards.

Mr Rosales proudly showed off a picture of himself with satisfied guests who had captioned the snap, “Jesus saves Christmas” - referring to the Advertiser’s front page from December 15.

Mr Rosales, from Tenerife, has worked in hospitality for 22 years across the world and said the most challenging week of his career had been working in Mexico in 2013 when a hurricane hit.

He said he had “always dreamed of working in England” and joined the Consort on November 11 this year, with his wife and three children joining him from Spain two weeks ago

Bad reviews were difficult to endure as a manager, he said, but he was determined to make the hotel a success, with 30 weddings booked in for next year.

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