AS A young man, John Jenkinson vowed never to work in the hotel business.

His parents Michael and Jane were hoteliers through and through and in typical style had moved up and down the country with their work – taking John with them.

So when it came to leaving school and establishing a career, John opted to take a degree in economics and a job in marketing.

But after working for multinational food giant Nestle for about five years, including three years in Australia, he and his wife Sue ended up working with his parents who had just bought the Evesham Hotel in Coopers Lane, Evesham, and were thinking about retirement.

Sue explained: “We were based in London in 1975 and John came up to give his parents a hand and within four or five months he was working here. He had been at school in Malvern but did not know the area otherwise.

“He was never going into the hotel trade and I was always going to live by the sea. I wasn’t going to have children either and I have four gorgeous children,” said Sue, musing about the unexpected twists and turns their lives have taken.

The hotel, which had 18 bedrooms then, had a beautiful two and a half acre garden and John’s parents had the idea of employing staff to run the hotel while they did the garden as a hobby.

Over the years, with John and Sue working alongside John’s parents, they added extra bedrooms making a total of 40 until recently when one was commandeered to accommodate the newly opened spa facility.

The couple, now both in their 60s, together with their 40 staff including two who have worked there as long as the Jenkinsons, are now celebrating 40 years in the hotel industry.

In a bid to cut down their hours – it’s a 24/7 type of job – they have employed a general manager to take on some of the day to day work.

But the hotel has a reputation for offering a personal service to its customers. John, who has the front of house role, is not a corporate man and they have developed a personal rapport with both customers and staff over the years, said Sue.

“It is very much a family business and we have some customers who come here every year. One of the advantages of being in Evesham is that we very central and if family members come from different parts of the country, they can meet here,” said Sue. She added that all the staff are local and are very loyal.

“Over the years, we have had such laughs with the staff and the guests. It is like organising a party all the time. We have all the stress of organising it, but when we are having the party we have got the fun,” added Sue.

But she explained that some of the technological advances like computerised booking and payment systems had made their lives more difficult. It takes longer for people to check out of the hotel using the computer because they can only process one bill at a time.

In the good old days of manual checking out, if they had six businessman wanting to checkout at the same time, they could do it all in minutes.

She also said the online travel agents many people now use to book hotels because they think they get a cheaper price take up to 23 per cent commission and are the same price as going directly through the hotel.

The advantage of booking directly with the hotel is that it can make sure customers get exactly what they want, like a quiet room or an easy access room, said Sue, who revealed she and John still use the Good Hotel Guide when booking accommodation themselves.

While John and Sue may be reducing their hours at the hotel, she definiely won't be putting her feet up – Sue is involved in the Aspara Writing Festival and the Battle of Evesham Festival.