Novelty on the web site

I am glad to be able to announce that there is a novelty on our web site. A wonderful photo gallery has been added, showing not only the present images of the hotel, but also historical pictures, some more then 100 years old. Special features are two virtual panorama tours, one from the balcony on the 5th floor and one of the main hotel lounge. Please go to: http://www.hotel-toplice.com/ photo gallery.

Getting older

How on earth Mr. H. and Mr. K. found out about my birthday, I do not know. Well, it is too late, since the word is out and yes my birthday is coming. It is not one of those critical birthdays, when people go around thinking that the world is coming to an end. I had one of those when I turned 30. I was convinced at the time, that my life was not half but completely over and that nothing good can happen to me afterwards. It sounds absolutely ridiculous now, but back then I did believe it. When I turned 32 I suddenly noticed that my skin wasn’t so elastic any more, but it didn’t seem to bother me. At the age of 33 my hair dresser gave me a “nice” remark about my hair turning gray. At 34 my cosmetician said that my skin looks very young and that she would have sworn I was 33. Imagine a wonderful feeling when somebody tells you that you look a whole year younger. At the age of 35 my son told me not to accompany him to the school door, since he is big enough to do it himself and that I can easily drop him off at the corner of the street, which of course I did. Anyway, I am turning 37 on August 10th and I feel happy about it.

Christmas Holidays

Being August, it might seem to you that Christmas and New Year are still light years away, but I actually had to spend quite some time today, considering both holidays. The thing is that we need to have the contracts for the music bands that will perform during Christmas and New Year period signed as soon as possible. Otherwise we will be too late and all the good bands will be taken. Of course they have all increased the prices compared to the last year which is an important thing when considering the budget. When choosing a band for New Year's Eve one has to consider the fact that guests come from different countries and are of different age groups. Another problem is that people hardly ever share the same taste in music, especially when you talk about the crowd of 100 people or more (last year we had more then 400 people in the hotel for New Year's Eve dinner). Therefore no matter which band I choose, somebody will be disappointed..... and at least somebody will probably love it...... I feel better already, since I can not make a wrong choice, can I?

Gala dinner for regular guests

One the most precious treasures of any hotel are its regular guests. In Grand Hotel Toplice we have guests that have been coming to the hotel for many, many years, some even for more then 40 years. Each year in July we prepare a special gala dinner for them. Yesterday, we had the most wonderful time once again. Talking, laughing, dancing,… Once more I was very proud of the staff, that made our guests feel very special. We have been preparing for the event for quite some time, choosing the presents, the food, the drinks, making invitations, deciding regarding seating arrangements etc.. The smiles on their faces and many thanks I received at the end were all I could ask for. There is only one thing I have to say to our dear regular guests: “Hvala”, which is Slovene for thank you.

Winter

During a hot summer, there is nothing more entertaining then to look at a photo with snow and ice. This is an old photo of Grand Hotel Toplice during one of the winters when the lake was frozen and you could walk or skate on the lake. Actually it was taken in the same year when I was born. In those days, winters were severe, and temperatures were low enough to enable the lake to freeze over. The ice crust on the lake shore had to be broken and cut away; otherwise the ice could damage the boat house or even the hotel itself. Nowadays, we have global warming and ice on the lake is no longer an issue, which is quite sad. I do wish that we could once again discuss on the weekly staff meeting, whether or not the ice should be cut today or if it can be done a day later. That would be a “nice” problem for me.

Swimming pool

Like many other hotels. Grand Hotel Toplice has a swimming pool. Only ours is a bit different. First of all it was built 80 years ago and secondly the water in it comes from a natural thermal spring right under the hotel. The hotel was actually named after this spring, since “toplice” in Slovene language stands for spa or bath. The water has 22˚C and is very beneficial for inner organs. The spring was discovered in the beginning of the 19th century and very soon the first hotel called Luisenbad was built on the spot. Once again “Bad” in German means the same as “toplice” in Slovene. I often get requests from the guests to warm up the water, but we don’t really want to change the historical connection with hotel’s name. Besides, the quality of water will definitely change if we warm it up.

When things go wrong

Of course things go wrong sometimes. Imagine a hot summer, a hotel full of guests and a broken air-conditioning system. Yes, that’s exactly what happened to us. A part that will have to be replaced has been ordered from Belgium and it arrived on Thursday, but as it turned out they have send a wrong part. Now we have to wait for a new one to arrive. It will take another 5 days before it will arrive and in the meantime all we can do is to apologize to guests. Luckily, it wasn’t the entire system that was broken, since the air-conditioning is working in all the rooms facing the lake. Another good thing is that the part that will have to be replaced is still under warranty and we will not have to pay for a new one. Always look on the bright side of life!