OUR FUTURE IS IN THE STARS
Greeks have long looked to the heavens for inspiration. Indeed most of the constellations were given their names by Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer from the 2nd century BCE. Most of the names came from legendary Greek figures, both male and female which is good. So it’s not surprising that we regularly look at a set of stars to determine our own future at the Mistral.
HOW MANY STARS MAKE FIVE
Of course being in the hospitality business we’re much more focussed on just five stars – the amount of stars out of 5 that guests are happy to award us in different categories. When any guest departs the hotel after their holiday we ask them to give us feedback. But having had the hotel nearly full for the first time since Covid, we decided to independently email a survey to everybody who stayed with us this year, with a range of questions, asking them to give us their star rating out of five. A total of 181 guests were kind enough to respond and here’s what they told us.
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SERVICE AND STAFF 4.9 STARS
Overview: Hospitality is a people business and Adonis has always taken great pride in the friendly service provided by the staff at the Mistral to his Mistralite family.
Response: Whilst Adonis is extremely happy with such a good rating, he has already taken steps to recruit additional staff for Summer 2025 – the staff need to be looked after too and he knows that if they have to work too hard service levels can slip.
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POOL AND POOLSIDE FACILITIES 4.6 STARS
Overview: It’s great that we can offer guests the choice of two pools, That also means lots of room poolside during the day – even when the hotel is full there’s room to swim or just have a dip.
Response: Some guests over the season suggested that the pools could be made more easily accessible. Accordingly, over this winter, Adonis has drained both pools and is literally taking steps (well, building them actually!) in the front pool to make it easier to step into. He is also doing works in the back pool to instal better ladders.
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ROOM RATING 4.5 STARS
Overview: We asked guests how important their room was. 17% told us that they had their favourite room and that was the only place they would stay. 64% made it clear they preferred to have a choice of rooms.
Response: Whilst Adonis feels that a 4.5 star rating means most guests are happy, he has works planned on the rooms at the back of the hotel over this winter and when guests return in Summer 2025 they’ll find the accommodation spruced up and refreshed.
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FOOD RATED 4.5 STARS
Overview: It was our Head Chef Manolis’ first season at the Mistral but, once he settled in and planned his menu, things went pretty much like clockwork. In particular he managed the special dietary requirements of guests very well.
Response: Manolis is excited to return next season, a year older and a year wiser. He and Adonis meet up quite regularly to discuss new ideas for the menu. Watch this space, it’s going to get even better.
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BAR MUSIC RATED 4.1 STARS
Overview: bar music got the lowest rating of any of the categories we asked about – but when you have 35 guests in the bar in the evening it seems to be a case of ‘you can’t please all of the people all of the time’.
Response: All things considered we think Spin Master Agis did a pretty good job on the wheels of steel. Certainly the dance floor took something of a pounding. So we can’t really see any changes here, we just have to ask guests as individuals to accept that tastes differ but that we try and cater for all.
OTHER CATEGORIES
TRIPS AND TRANSFERS 4.6 STARS
VALUE FOR MONEY 4.6 STARS
MISTRAL AMBIENCE 4.7 STARS
OVERALL STAY 4.7 STARS
Overview: Overall, in most categories, over 75% of guests gave us a 5 star rating.
Response: Adonis is happy that, for most of his Mistralites, most of the time, the expectation is being met. But, as mentioned above, he is committed to investing money and resources back into the hotel to make the experience even better.
Thank you to those that not only took part in the ratings process, but also provided some very interesting opinions and views on how we were doing.
