The definition of hospitality, according to my dictionary, is “the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.”

In commercial terms it is “the business of providing food, drink, and accommodation for customers of restaurants, bars, etc., or guests at hotels.”

Surely, everyone who runs a hospitality venue will wish to entertain their customers.

So why is it that you can walk past two comparable restaurants, or pubs, or hotels, and find one busy and the other empty?

What is it that makes one hospitality business more successful than another?

This is a question I have pondered since becoming editor of GS Magazine when it launched twenty-seven years ago and my conclusion is that the answer is simple, but delivering the solution takes extreme skill.

To the question, ‘What makes a hospitality business successful?’ my answer would be ‘Understanding your customer. Knowing what they like, and delivering it consistently as an inspiring, memorable experience.’

To do that, the entire team behind the operation: management, staff, and suppliers, need to share a passion for the business and a desire to make it as good as it can be, in all areas.

This requires a high degree of motivation, great training, focus and hard work.

For those who wish to see a successful hospitality business in action look no further than the PIG collection of hotels.

From a customer’s point of view, it would be difficult to find fault with the PIG experience.

From beginning to end the customer experience is positive.

The booking process is straightforward and easy (PIGS are notoriously busy so do book well in advance).

Check-in is a relaxing, non-complicated affair.

All staff are attentive, helpful, patient, and friendly.

Rooms are always beautifully prepared.

The bars and restaurants are excellent, with menus that vary from hotel to hotel, and from season to season; they are reliant on local suppliers and from produce picked fresh from their kitchen gardens or that are locally foraged.

The attention to detail is ever-present, even during check-out staff will engage in friendly banter with guests to ensure that their experience lived up to expectation.

The newest hotel in the PIG family, the PIG – in the Cotswolds, opened recently in the charming honey-stone village of Barnsley.

A first for the PIG brand is The Village Pub, a short walk from the hotel.

This dog friendly pub is everything that a good country pub should be.

The Village Pub

It benefits from its dark interiors; low beamed ceilings, uneven stone floors, mullioned windows, original open hearth fires and random, polished wood tables and chairs but it also provides three vital ingredients to make it extra special: fine local beers served straight from the barrel; exceptional and unfussy home-cooked food, and great hostelry.

Whilst the pub industry is in decline, The Village Pub is a reminder of how special pubs can be and, when they are managed properly, how important they are to the community.

Guests staying at the hotel can book a table at the pub, anyone else should consider booking well in advance as it can become extremely busy.

The PIG in the Cotswolds offers another first for the group, a fully functional spa, with several treatment rooms, a range of thermal cabins and an outside heated hydra pool.

Other PIG hotels provide a limited spa treatment menu offer but no other facilities.

The Gardens

The hotel is housed within Barnsley House, built in 1697, and privately owned as a family dwelling until it became a hotel at the beginning of this century.

Prior to becoming a hotel, the property belonged to horticulturalist Rosemary Verey who lived there with her husband.

It was Verey who transformed the grounds into an Arts and Crafts style Garden of note, complete with her laburnum walk, Tuscan temple, knot garden and ornamental kitchen garden.

The gardens are open to the public and the hotel’s head gardener conducts daily tours which also take in the impressive fruit and vegetable beds in the back field.

Design

The main house has been ‘piggy-fied’ by designer Judy Hutson and those familiar with the PIG design concept will recognise the feature of coloured glasses that line the shelves in the window of the bar, the herb planted terracotta pots in the  restaurant and the mishmash of reupholstered sofas, armchairs, and furniture pieces that line the hallways, and clutter the lounges.

Coupled with an assortment of ornately framed and aged portrait paintings the interiors allude to a cosy old house that has never been fully modernised.

Judy Hutson once said of this style that it was ‘made to feel like you were visiting a rather eccentric aunt in the country’ and that is the perfect analogy.

The co-founders of the PIG hotels, husband and wife team Robin and  Judy Hutson, are planning their retirement and have announced that the Cotswolds PIG will be last that they will open.

The majority shareholders are private equity firm KSL Capital Partners and future expansions will be down to them.

The PIG is now a B Corp certified business, they champion local suppliers, provide real and long-lasting opportunities for their employees and are deeply passionate about their social and environmental impact.

We look forward to seeing how this exciting business evolves.

Photography  

Bedroom & Suite images: Helen Cathcart

Main house, garden & pub: Jake Eastham