“Yeah. And you are…?”
“You probably know my dad, Daniel Draper?”
“Oh, you’re Dany’s boy!” His eye widened, flicked to the ceiling for a second, then back at me. “Good to see you again…Sebastian.”
Alex joined us and waved at everyone.
“Now,” Jason said, gathering all the attention on him. “Jack just called me. They’re running late because Noah had a work emergency. They told us to start without them.”
“Yeah, I can’t wait that long,” Nicholas said, but then turned to me. “Unless you want a tour?”
I was excited about the spa, but after seeing the changes to the foyer, I was equally eager to explore the rest of the hotel. I looked at Alex, whose mouth curled in amusement.
“I’ve already seen it,” he said, “but you can go on a tour.”
“How about you and me,” Jason said, pointing at Alex, “warm up the hot tub, and you two,” he glanced at Nicholas and me, “go for a quick walk around the hotel?”
“Sounds good,” Alex said. I nodded in agreement.
“Then let’s go.” Nicholas motioned for me to follow him.
As he led me upstairs, we watched Jason and Alex walk past the reception desk and down the hallway to the former dining room.
“Since you’ve been here before, try not to compare it too much to what you remember,” Nicholas said. “We’ve changed a lot, and I’m interested to hear your thoughts.”
“Just a heads up, I’m probably not the unbiased end consumer you expect. I’m actually studying hospitality and hotel management.”
He paused for a second. “That’s perfect. Then you can give me some professional advice. We’ve relied on intuition for many things, but we worked with a hotelier from Ashbourne so we wouldn’t go into it entirely blindly.”
“But you have a background in the field?”
“Not at all.” Nicholas laughed. “Sorry to disappoint.”
For having no prior experience, they had already done a fantastic job based on what I could see. “You’re doing great. Enthusiasm and fresh ideas are what the industry needs.”
“So, before I show you the rooms, here’s the idea: we’re aiming for a mix of short-term and long-term stays up to three months. Think digital nomads looking for affordable places to get out of the city and work on a project in quiet. So, fast Wi-Fi and recreational spaces are big priorities. We also want to offer hiking tours in the summer and skiing in the winter. We’ve partnered with the town and are in the process of getting a permit to build a ski lift.”
“Impressive.”
We reached the upper floor, which had the same oak paneling but felt cozier because the ceiling was lower. Two hallways stretched out to my left and right, winding around the corners of the building.
He showed me every nook and cranny. They hadn’t finished all the rooms yet, but four model rooms were fully furnished. Two were designed for short-term stays and included a bed, a bathroom, and everything guests would need. The other two were the long-term options. They had the same basic set-up, but were bigger and also included a height-adjustable desk, an ergonomic desk chair, and a kitchenette. It was quite clever of them to build two versions of each room first, so they could test the designs before finishing all the other rooms and only then figure out what they didn’t like. Nicholas asked for my opinion on which rooms I preferred, but didn’t reveal whether it matched their own.
We also toured the cinema, the co-working space in the back, and the small arcade, which had billiards, darts, shuffleboard, and three vending machines with non-alcoholic drinks, smoothies, and snacks.
The backyard was still untouched, but he explained their plans to expand the outdoor seating area, rebuild the pool, and create a small park with secluded spots where people could sit and work in the summer.
Half an hour later, we made our way back downstairs, and he led me down the hallway where Alex and Jason had gone earlier.
“This is the space we turned completely upside down,” Nicholas explained. “The kitchen, staff rooms, and dining room used to be here. But by moving everything to the foyer and into a new extension, we freed up all this space for one of our main selling points.”
“The spa?”
“Exactly.” He opened the door on the left, revealing a small but tall room with a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the back gardens. The view of the mountains behind it was magnificent, but otherwise the room was untouched, with only drywall.
“This will become the gym once we’re finished with the foyer. It will have treadmills and other equipment, as well as a small racquetball court that can be used for, well,racquetballand yoga. Jason is in the process of getting his yoga instructor certification, so he can teach classes when we open.”
Nicholas led me toward the spa, which was separated from the rest of the hotel by glass doors. A common room with shelves stocked with towels welcomed everyone before two additional doors separated the sexes.
