Inside the Merchant, Episode 1 Full BBC Documentary 2016

[Music] this is the merchant Hotel a luxurious landmark in a booming Belfast once a bank headquarters its Grand facade now conceals a Sumptuous playground for The seriously wealthy powered by a large staff committed to five-star service hello and classic cocktails Belfast is 110 to city on the move and if you don't innovate and keep moving and look out business is like being on a dynasty litter and you're going up the moment you stand still you start to go backwards attention to detail has to be one of the most important components of the job we are very Discerning clients they notice when things aren't right mother of the bride has a Navy BMW 5 series she would like to use along with our Rolls Royce so she actually lacked another Navy BMW 5 series it has to be exactly the same guys have a nice evening enjoy your evening okay passion Pizzazz profit and personality this is the story of what it texture on a five-star hotel in today's Belfast it's like you know when you go to the gym and the last push is very difficult and that makes all the difference that's the one [Music] the hotel staff have assembled on the front steps for a very special event [Laughter] this year we were awarded five AAA red star status so that was a huge achievement that's the only hotel in Northern Ireland to hold that it's been a long process we've worked on it for a number of years now it's just cause for celebration but no reason to rest on one's Laurels we are now in a very elite group and it was hard one and it will be hard to keep we are visited twice a year by the AAA who come in completed our spec and then as they check out the next day just pass the business card over a reception and ask to speak to the general manager so it's been called the headmaster's office [Music] to maintain this coveted five-star status the hotel demands the best of service from its 350 staff the merchant is a bit of a beast it does it doesn't stop get the feedback on it yeah yeah sure thank you people can't expect us to be lazier you can't just assume that we'll do you know if it's if it's not good enough I can't go out it needs to be perfect you're good at the curtains I just don't want to give anybody the opportunity to say hmm it's not right or that's not right because then that can slowly spiral I think sometimes people think my job is I just run the vacuum cleaner around and it's done we do try to deliver that untouched look we don't want people coming in and seeing hairs from a previous guest or fingerprints or whatever mess Place wasn't always a Hospitality Haven The Majestic Victorian building was transformed into a hotel just 10 years ago when owner Bill and wife Petra dreamed up an ambitious project and a crumbling corner of the city we've been together for 16 years now so by the time the merchant came I I think I was probably fairly well versed in stressful situations it was our first hotel and to have the aspiration and the ambition to create a five-star hotel as your first hotel is no mean fate tourists were starting to arrive you know prior to that if you find a tourist you know you wrapped them up and brought him home and showed him off to all your friends but they were starting to arrive in numbers I thought that the hotels that were in Belfast were famous for being blown up or if you got the luxury end there was a sort of hotel where people wore slacks and loafers and had a jumper tied around their neck usually salmon colored and I thought there was a you know market for a luxury hotel that would be more relevant to people's Lifestyles for their new Enterprise Bill and Petra found a long forgotten Jam the old Ulster Bank in Waring Street [Music] I knew within five minutes of the complete walk Round that this was convert into a hotel you can see a magnificent building but had been for sale for a couple of years and nobody wanted to touch it nobody came to this area this is what is now the great room restaurant lots of people thought that the building wouldn't lend itself to what we knew the end product would be so there was a lot of doubters I've been going through all my stuff at my desk and then I realized I found this one that my daughter did bill is a twit there's a very accurate observation even nitb as they were then tourism and I were really worried for us and and had thought that we had very much bitten off more than we could chew and that we were never ever going to get the room rates because we'd never be able to deliver on that level of of service and and and then if we did uh there wouldn't be the market for it against all the odds the couple's Hotel confounded at Skeptics and soon a modern art deco extension was added [Music] when we built phase two one of the conditions was an archaeological dig I found these eggs for for instance which we were allowed to keep and to find various pottery pieces one of them had a date which was 1684. in fact the archaeological people are watching this is there any chance may get my piece of pottery back [Music] Bill elevitz his Keen eye for detail with an all-important Personal Touch even in the hotel left back in the left to listen to my dear wife's voice Petra it's Petra because it's just important it's attention to detail I've never been to Hotel in London yet that had an Irish accent in the left so I wanted a local accent though so Petra was uh put forward she's got the cautious voice of us all the housekeeping department has 62 bedrooms two impeccably clean polish and prep prior to guest arrival it's a daily time trial for the team we do work on a pressurized environment all of the time because we're working to that deadline of three o'clock every day we don't want people to come in yes come in and having to be told oh sorry your room's not ready that can never ever happen here to up the pressure of that three o'clock deadline housekeeper Tanya's hard graft is also scrutinized by Eve any stubborn stains or specks of dust will not pass muster sometimes it's good when they call you back because you know small mistakes which you do what you think so it's good but it's not good enough so it's always learning actually the room when the guests coming you need to feel nobody never have in here that's what you know you need to feel like this room never have been used because everything is so clean so tidy this is a different level of cleaning we clean some of the areas of the bedrooms with cotton buds that we just go and clean it around just see if it's clean or not if you are happy with that it's a good job that means everything is nice so until it's done just close it wash it again that's it [Music] this towel is not the same like this one so we must replace it this part see it's different from this one now we have both of them so those exactly the same so yeah the team front of houses used to drama on their doorstep but a fleet of luxury cars will test their talent to the Limit [Music] I am just setting a plan in place for Aston Martin cars arriving we have Aston Martin Owners Club and the cars date from 1932 onwards so I've got experienced drivers ready and all for that if you're not confident in driving them and you want the driver to go with you feel free to ask them that'll be they'll be happy enough with that with it being the city center location we don't have much of a set down area so with cars like that being so expensive they can't sit in the street for too long so we have to have them parked as soon as possible they've been instructed to come to Waring Street yeah hopefully it all goes smooth according to plan concierge Mark seems chuffed with today's challenge I love my cars so I kind of know what's coming before before we see it I'm driving nice luxurious expensive cars and uh even the for example the key for this and the guy took it office before and he said we're not allowed to have it because it's over a thousand pounds worth just for the key it's a V12 that's the modern bandage and so it is over 150 000 pounds and for the standard model um it's one of the top specs aftermarkets you can get um when one of these comes you know you're gonna have a good day [Music] I actually thought that the owners would have been more protective over them but they weren't they were actually very laid back [Applause] this one is that orange one the guys did very well they're very brave apartment cars like that [Music] and the alarm keeps going off with three o'clock looming even Alice are still checking that all rooms meet their high standard the slightest slipper will not be tolerated [Music] we're visually checking the room the mirror table the curtains the voils making sure there's no stands or marks in them work round checking the desk and behind the desk the top of the socket the plug sockets and things there's so much I look after here and you have to be in control of it all the time and probably quite an intense person and passionate person and I would be very focused on my job there's no forgiveness in what we need to deliver it has to be right we do the top of the picture to make sure that that's dust free and there's no cracks in the glass if you run your hand along you come across any dust then you know you'll need the cloth we always leave the pan right to left as well as checking the cups to make sure they're clean I have a little smell make sure they don't smell of coffee check in here the light bulb there's quite a lot of drawers in these rooms [Music] so dish soap is presented late no debris in the sink tall card is nicely presented actually we'll get a new one of those because it's kind of gone curly at the edges so we would just throw that out and we'll give that feedback to the room attendant that they should have placed a new one I'm making sure nothing has been dropped and may be kicked under by the guests all carrier torched for areas like this starting behind the radiator and things just to make sure that it's all nice and clean and they've washed the floor again just checking that there's no dust coming off anything so she's done a good job she needs to come back then with her Hoover and run the pile of the carpet up properly because people would tend to leave hand printer write things in the rugs just those two glasses would need to be reclaimed there's a few little smudges on them so she'll have to re-wash those and bring them back downstairs the room buzzes as afternoon tea is taken a forgotten custom in the city which the hotel has helped revive afternoon tea really wasn't as much of a tradition in Belfast certainly as it is now we saw what was happening in London Paris for afternoon he was making a real Resurgence thank you we visited a number of places in Paris we went to the Plaza Teenage sank uh Balmoral and Edinburgh Ritz claridge's Savoy connot all of the main hotels that that we had aspirations to when we first went over you sort of get bowled with the level of service and then when you start to break it down you go no I see we can do this it's head pastry chef Sarah who creates over 2 000 afternoon tea cakes and cute Confections which are consumed weekly it is a labor of love [Music] I like the afternoon tea it's not the same old you know you could come up with things and you can just use whatever ingredients you want and and Source different things and it's exciting I know that sounds really sad like what it is it is it's exciting you know like I've brought like different transfers and stuff in they thought I was crazy they were cow print I'm trying to persuade them on pink leopard print but I don't know if it's gonna work for herself and for the hotel's Discerning clientele Sarah has also had to master the art of perfection [Music] I just like things to be a certain way you know my friends hate going out with me for dinner then when they get dessert I'm like well that shouldn't be like that it might look like this if I wasn't happy with it then we wouldn't use it if I'm not happy with something we don't leave it around there because there's no point you know so this is the Chinese now relax you know eight nearly 800 cakes all prepared and [Music] two hours this is not bad [Music] not only do the hotel staff seek to please their guests they also need approval from owner Bill who regularly spring surprise spot jacks [Music] I'm looking to make sure that the tiles are making sure the bathtubs spotless and then I checked soaps at the right angle the first class and most importantly that every light is working well our owner is very demanding also he has certain expectations both financial and in terms of service levels where he would you know it's his product he would it's how he wants to see the product being delivered there's an understanding that I care and uh they tolerate me a spirit is spared with Bill um yeah he'll just saying how it is if he doesn't like it he doesn't like it so we need to move on and do something else each room has a position one of the furniture is there's a map the two of that churches that you know that church should sit out like that lights in the right position art desk lights there a few inches away from the edge he was it was your business what would you do and that's a great way to think because if you make if you give the wrong answer he will tell you've made the wrong answer and he's like well no it's my business and this is what you'll do these are best critic these my eyes and ears as well you know he will come back to me and let me know if there's something that shouldn't be exactly as it is that blank she is just a little bit down to the left so I would straighten that up [Music] my first suffering wife has asked me to stop doing this particularly when we go to hotels there were absolutely nothing to do with so but I can't get rid of the habit I do that and I check my finger look no dust perfect job bill is out and about in the hotel constantly and has a lot of friends and those friends will make sure that bill knows if they had a nice experience and we need to make sure we're always on our a game I have to turn the lights off because if I don't the finance director will ring me up and tell me I've wasted 3p so I have to turn everything off [Music] to create the perfect Ambiance for fine dining in the great room restaurant the hotel commissioned Ireland's largest Chandelier it cost a mere 100 000 pounds and its upkeep requires Crystal Clear planning I could just see the chandelier in the great room getting dollar and dollar and dollar and I thought oh we have to get that cleaned that it's quite dirty at the moment now you see the way as well there's dust on the bits you know the support and arms of it it's like furry here that's a huge task and it's quite a stressful thing to organize as well because you're always so concerned that you're bringing a company in to clean this huge structure that was made it's bespoke to the merchant it's not as if we could just run out and buy another one every time it comes around it's a great expense to get the chandelier cleaned and every time it comes round and we're getting ready to sign the bellago does it really need done and then the housekeepers usually remind me of when I jumped last year when we got it done how happy you were with it and you go okay sign the invoice and send it off because you know that after after they've walked away you go oh yeah we should have done that months ago [Music] I take pictures of the before and the after then just to receive the effect of the cleaning just to see the difference [Music] cleaning the chandelier has to be done overnight and all scaffolding has to be removed before breakfast well the plan is tonight once the guests have just sort of left we're going to put scaffold up around the chandelier because it's not on a police system so we can actually clean it give us an annual clean what we're actually going to do is we lump it as well with these LED lamps which were actually designed for the chandeliers in Versailles the biggest problem is the access is the building off the scaffold clean the channel a couple of hours and then taking scaffold down before people come in for breakfast this is always the problem here they'll be flat out to the oil making sure to get it all completed on time [Music] it's a bit of a military operation to get that carried out to get them in together scaffolding up get any essential maintenance that happens at the time as well I think it'll clear down again and get the room ready for breakfast the next morning [Music] [Music] assistant manager Stephen is on night Duty and with so much activity centered around the chandelier he needs to stay Wide Awake because we are a 24-hour operation so we have to remand at all times we need to keep an eye to make sure that nobody sticks in the front doors because they should be locked at this time of the night but the guys in and out and it's not practical for us to close them and open them again so it's quiet tonight it's not too bad a few few people know on the boat but it's it's all right there hasn't been any dramas so far touchwood I can see the difference in this Sage compared to the other side the side that they've done something great what time are we on now it's gone three so they really have to be finished no later than half five six o'clock to get the restaurant turned background for for breakfast [Music] 5 a.m and the chandelier cleaners are done and dusted but will Eve be pleased with the end result it's so nice to see the difference and obviously the crystals around the outside of it the whole thing looks much much cleaner than it did before I think we have done a very good job yes the hotel is gearing up for a highlight of belfast's social calendar event fuses Cutting Edge Couture and fancy cakes a fashion show over afternoon tea and all for charity not to love with five fashion teas in just two days cakes and curtains need to be perfect it's turned into an obsession but I would be like well if I went down I was sitting somewhere I was looking at the curtains and they weren't straight it would really annoy me so let's close this side I do strive for Perfection so I'll be looking at things like the curtains and the candles and everything but it's the Minor Details I think eagle-eyed Eve swoops in to confirm that everything is to her liking some candle wax here to get bothered some here as well I don't know if it's kind of blue ox or milk that's been spelled in the middle of the room this event was Petra's idea so she too is under the spotlight [Music] the fashion teas are my baby in that and the concept was mine they very much cemented our afternoon tea for us so when you add a bit of fashion and some bubbles it's not a bad way to spend the day with less than Narada Showtime operations manager ashutosh checks that everything is catwalk ready and nothing escapes his gears if you can start fixing the curtains give them a good clean please Sofia that needs to be cleaned Damien Damien Damien come here please Damien for a sec see the butter Damian yep see it should be in the center see it's touching the saucer in the center yeah exactly from there similar space please on each table double check for me please same here if we bring me the window cleaner and cloth and can you give a good clean to that television for me please thank you Johnny when you're ready just make sure go through each table make sure the cups are all like that take the chairs away and fix the carpet first we'll fix the chairs later on see that table needs to go right up before curtain up it's team briefing time with Rachel and ashutosh okay guys so let's start business for the today Carly in the bar we are trying to upsell the glass of champagne just when you're going Ryan if you think people are near the end of their glasses it's like another glass of champagne Madame where I have a special offer on today 10 pounds per glass of moai Chandon any questions for the first show anybody I'll be all clear what we do foreign at one o'clock if there are quite a few people missing we're going to have to hold back the fashion show all right guys make a smile thank you very much [Music] with a few bumps but as usual we'll get through it and we will get through today and everything will be okay but so far so good um everything that has a rhythm we've got over it we're going to open the doors at 12 30 and then they'll be served the champion afternoon tea so and then she will come in [Music] over the next two days it's all systems go as the teams host five afternoon teas and five fashion shows thank you [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] there's little time for backstopping as the team must turn the room around in record time no worries prefer the next showing so we have to turn the whole room around 10 a half an hour for the next shown at two you focus to the glasses we will do the rest everybody has been stressed out at some point today but everyone just keeps on going there's 13 tables on this pump there's no way we can put 13 table in there it's already we are tight in the 12. there is no there is no way you can put 13 table unfortunately we're working through this way when you're walking into the department you're walking into the events room the first thing is the first impression and it got to be right if the candles are not straight if the glasses are not pulled properly because those small things makes all the difference you know can you start making coffee as well uh 45 minutes half an hour not enough but the business requires those timing you know um we need at least an hour 15 minutes but the store run very little late so we have to just make it up [Music] can you please make sure the bags are just nice and straight and all kind of stuff we got a chair but we didn't get to play Sitting you get it ready to go turn around complete the front row fashionistas seek their seats backstage there's pressure on Petra to deliver a first-rate finale and husband Bill arrives in support [Music] it's a fashion tea Triumph I'm Petra's husband Hotel owner bill is much impressed that was fantastic it's the best fashion show I've ever been at it's the only fashion show you've ever worked it was really I'm really proud of you thanks honey oh thank you both very much thank you [Music] another slice of the High Life inside the merchant next Monday night at the same time here on BBC One Northern Ireland coming up I'd say Charlie Bricker has plenty of material from last week's headlines how I got a bit more news for you is on the way next foreign

Channel: insidemerchant

Views: 374,725

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Id: VLESiJL79Cs

Length: 28min 32sec (1712 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 15 2016