4th July 2022
Dear Friend of Gliffaes Hotel
After 75 years of Gliffaes Hotel being under the stewardship of the Brabner family Susie, Peta and I are retiring and are closing the hotel at the end of September this year.
We have all loved living in such a beautiful place watching the seasons roll past year after year and it will be a big wrench for us to move on and start somewhere new. We have also enjoyed looking after our guests without whom we would have never been able to live here. Thanks must go to you all for your support over many many years, I know that a lot of you have been returning to Gliffaes off and on for a lifetime.
Why are we leaving after all these years?
Many of you are aware that Susie is not well and she has been undergoing treatment for several years, her condition although fairly stable is not going to improve. Running the hotel has always been a team effort for us and there is no chance I can steer the ship single-handed. The fourth generation has seen the amount of work involved and has decided to stick to their own careers.
Other factors have also contributed to our decision to leave hospitality behind. After nearly 25 of years of being ‘on call’ it will be pleasant to have more time to ourselves. The costs involved in looking after a large old building and 33 acres of grounds are not insignificant and when added to spiraling energy bills, food costs, tax and wage increases there is not a lot left at the end of the month.
Since the end of Covid restrictions, the staffing situation across the board in hospitality has been and still is dire. We have been running a five-day week since January, which is no way to run a profitable hotel. Only today I read a report from U.K. Hospitality claiming that there are 174 000 job vacancies in the industry. Perhaps there are too many hotels, restaurants and pubs in the country and this is the process of natural selection? In England alone, over the last three years there has been a 40% increase in cottages being let for holidays.
Anyway, we think the time is right for us to bow out now while we can.
We are indebted to each and every one of you who came down the drive to enjoy what we had to offer in this beautiful corner of Wales. Thank you for forgiving our quirks and foibles but above all thank you for just ‘getting it’. Just getting what Gliffaes was about; relaxed, comfortable, unstuffy, not over-bearing and decidedly uncorporate – like staying in a rich friend’s house as one guest memorably described it to me.
As a final accolade to Gliffaes we were delighted to see that we were one of just 10 hotels mentioned in the Saturday Telegraph (12th June) article titled, ' 10 Beautiful British Hotels that show true style is ageless.'
We hope that some of you might be able to make one last trip to Gliffaes before we shut the doors on the 23rd September, it would be great to say thank you and farewell in person.
With grateful thanks and best wishes
James & Suise Suter and Peta Brabner
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