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FOOD DRINK
NEW GENERAL MANAGER CHECKS IN TO THE HIGHCLIFF MARRIOTT LIFE MAGAZINES WENT TO MEET ANDREW FRANCIS THE NEW GENERAL MANAGER AT THE BEAUTIFULLY POSITIONED BOURNEMOUTH HIGHCLIFF MARRIOTT HOTEL ON WEST CLIFF
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MARCH2012
Sat in the beautiful library area of the hotel Life Magazines asks Andrew how he’s settling into Bournemouth. LM When did you start at the Highcliff Marriott? AF I started in early November. I had been running two Marriott hotels in Manchester and have been working for the Marriott group for the last 18 years. I’m from Manchester originally and when I joined Marriott it was to open a new Marriott hotel in Leeds. My first General Manager position was at the Goodwood Park Marriott Hotel & Country Club, Chichester which was developed from quite a small hotel to 100 bedrooms. Lord March then changed it to the Goodwood hotel when the brand became large enough to stand on its own. I always said that if the Bournemouth position became available I would be interested. LM How are you settling in? AF Good, they’re a really good bunch of people here, a great team. We’ve just re-secured the two AA rosettes which I’m really pleased about. ere was a fair bit of pressure for me as the new GM to make sure that we kept hold of those two rosettes, so I’m really, really pleased. I think that the food we cook here is superb; it is very simple, the Highcliff Grill is a seafood and grill restaurant, it’s not fussy. Where possible it’s locally sourced, in this location seafood plays a big part in what we do. LM What’s your favourite dish at the Highcliff Grill? AF Right now, it’s the Oxtail fritters served with spiced parsnip puree and onion chutney, it’s very much a winter dish, quite a seasonal dish. Superb, absolutely superb. We also make a big feature of scallops here, they’re available 12 months of the year, and they’re from Lyme Regis. On a bi-monthly basis we give them a seasonal twist based on where we are in the calendar at that time. At any time there’ll be scallops on the menu but with a seasonal twist. LM Tell me about the leisure facilities here, I’ve heard that you’ve just filled your outdoor pool? Presumably it’s heated?! AF Yes, absolutely! Most of the time it’s warmer than our indoor pool, traditionally the outdoor pool hasn’t been in use before Easter time but the last few years have brought us quite a warm Spring and we’re hoping for a repeat performance this year. LM What have you got in the calendar for 2012? AF We have a whole calendar of events from great corporate hospitality packages for the air show – I don’t think there’s anywhere better from a vista perspective than the gardens and our poolside area at the hotel. We also have some fantastic themed nights lined up this year from a night with the Bournemouth Rat Pack to an exciting murder mystery evening. I’m also really hoping that the outdoor pool area will develop into something quite unique. I’ve seen it work really well in some Marriott’s in the US where it almost becomes a second bar/restaurant area in the evening and that’s something we’d really like to develop, light the whole area with candles at night, get the bar working well, develop that area into something really special. We’re also hoping that our outdoor wedding area will develop more in 2012. We’re doing a promotion with ITV’s Daybreak at the moment together with Bournemouth Beach Weddings. To give away the first ever Bournemouth beach wedding as a prize. We’ve been on Daybreak every day one week in February when the