Christmas with the Leisure Manager

When everyone at LAL was looking forward to a relaxing Christmas break after a long and hard year, one member of the team was packing his bags and changing his job description for the next fourteen days.

Simon Nelson, the Leisure Manager, is about to enter his 11th year with the company but every Christmas he goes back to his roots, as an Entertainments Manager. He heads off to the resort of Santa Susanna, which is about 40km North of Barcelona, Spain, to entertain almost 1,000 guests at the four-star Florida Park Resort Hotel. Simon has been doing this for the last four years now, along with his former assistant at LAL, David Short, and a small Spanish team. The 12-night Christmas package is all about bingo, quizzes, fun and games, sports challenges, cabaret shows and disco music.

Simon says he is a ‘jack of all trades’ in entertainment. He has been a holiday camp host, radio DJ and even did a stint working in TV, which all helps to bring the programme together. He reckons that this has led to the four most successful Christmases the hotel has had in its nineteen year history.

It all came about from a desperate phone call from the Managing Director of the chain of Group Florida Hotels who operate seven large resort hotels throughout the Costa Brava and Costa Blanca areas of Spain.

The owner and his wife, along with the group’s UK Marketing Director, are long standing personal friends of Simon and needed someone to come in and make things happen. Simon comments, “At first I was sympathetic, but not really interested. I have a good job here at LAL and by Christmas the last thing I need is two weeks of compering shows, singing, calling bingo, dressing up as Santa and all the other day-to-day things that it involves. But Sebastian and Kathy were very persuasive and in the end I agreed to go for one Christmas and get the ball rolling.

“Since then the repeat bookings have gone up from 0 to almost 25% of the total bookings and the bar takings have gone up astronomically. Every year is more successful than the last and 2008 was a bumper year. They also look after us like kings as well, they leave everything in my hands and I even have my own PA whose job it is to look after all my personal needs. David has stuck with me, I also added Toni to the team two years ago and he has proved invaluable in his role along with my hard working PA, Marina.” How long will it go on? Simon says, “I say every year, next year it is Christmas relaxing at home for me, but to be honest I do enjoy it. I would never let it get in the way of my real job with LAL of course, but it fits in really well with our Christmas holidays here at the school. So, who knows, we shall have to see in twelve months time where I will be at Christmas time.’ [SN]